Players Please

Anna Smyrk is a Melbourne based songwriter and performer who is just putting out her debut album, though she has taken a long runup to get to this point, having released several EPs over the last decade. She started out as an acoustic folkie but has gone electric , weilding her Yamaha SG.

World Forever is the twelfth solo album by Australian guitar slinger / composer Cam Butler (Silver Ray, Ron S. Peno and the Superstitions). Butler expands on his widescreen compositional practice by adding the gargantuan roar of the Melbourne Town Hall Grand Organ to his trademark string orchestra and rock ensemble sound palette. World Forever sees the gorgeous swoon of Butler's 28-piece string section enveloped by the deep foreboding growl of the grand organ, while his immanently tasteful band anchors proceedings with gritty rock textures and distinguished stately poise. The result is a psychedelic journey through rich filmic moods, gothic terror scenes and vivid technicolour beauty, conjuring Butler's most stirring and cinematic work to date. file under: soundtrack / neo-romantic / classical rock

Dave Graney talks with Woody Campfire aka Tomas Ford. A few yarns around the billabong. Tomas Ford aka Woody Campfire. Once an electro pop cabaret indie music artist now a swaggering, bearded bushman. With a ukelele and a cork pick and an Akubra hat. Busking around Australia in all sorts of raw situations.

Keyo Rose came in to chat on my RRR Radio show which is called BLB. He had a gig coming up and I ran into him at Kim Salmons Surreal Science show at the Corner and I asked him to com in the following Tuesday. I get pages of PR every week from all over the scene. I mostly only play music from the present year and also mostly Australian music. I like to play vintage people as well as debut artists. I rarely interview debut artists though as they usually don’t have a story to tell yet. They need to try and fail and embarrass themselves a lot and then they can talk! Keyo is a natural though. Full of flash and fire.

Dave Graney talking with Jim Woff, bass player for Sydney based rock band, CROW. CROW have been active since the early 90s and last released an album in 2010. They have just released a new single from a projected 2026 album. Talk is around 80s underground Sydney , driving cabs in Sydney, playing the bass guitar, influences, fellow travellers. The engine room and the powder room (Musical terms for sections of a band) .

Dave Graney talks with Tim Smith aka TV Smith aka the singer and songwriter who first appeared in London in mid 1977 fronting the band he and his partner Gaye put together called THE ADVERTS. Two albums and many memorable. unique songs such as Looking Through Gary Gilmores Eyes, Bored Teenagers and One Chord Wonders. Following that, many solo albums. In April 2026 he is to play shows in Australia backed by The Hard Ons.

Alex Ettling is a one man independent researcher and historian. He was working with the Living Museum Of The West (refers to the Western side of Melbourne - Footscray. Like the Western side of Sydney it’s where the factories and the factory fodder lived, where people traditionally drove to work with the sun in their eyes and drove home with the sun in their eyes) . He came to talk about a gig he had organized in Footscray (a place of few gigs or cultural happenings) called Footscray Folk. A celebration of 60s Melbourne folk. Two players in Margret Roadknight and David Lumsden coming out of retirement and one, Martin Wyndham Read making it a stop on his final tour. Alex had previously issued a book called Knocking The Top Off - A History of Alcohol In Australia. We talked about folk, Australian folk, performing and music in general, as fans and people involved in its presentation.

Melbourne band Girl Monstar historically existed between 1988 and 1993. In 2026 they are putting out a new album , GRRR!!

Dave Graney and Clare Moore talk with journalist Tony Wright about Lou Reeds 1977 Australian tour and specifically, his show at the Regent Theatre in Albury, NSW on Tuesday night November 1st.

Dave Graney talks with New Zealand songwriter, writer, substacker, musician and all around interesting character George Henderson. Both vintage players, both pale South Seas human beings having lived lives as sui generis voices off in colonial outposts of the Anglo American world of popular and unpoular music. Made guys. Veterans of the psychic wars! (thank you Blue Oyster Cult). They chime strangely on so many occult scores, streams and fellow travellers. Weirdly normal types. But as Mark E Smith once quoth "ya don't have to be weird to be weird..."

eastside interview by Players Please

Peter Milton Walsh aka The Apartments once more launches his music and himself into the void with a new album on French label, Talitres. Thats Whats The Music Is For. https://theapartments.bandcamp.com/album/thats-what-the-music-is-for Fellow Australians in Europe in the 80s. The talk is all about the new album but there are questions and answers about other times and people too.

Catherine McQuade has a new album out called The Corruption Of Memory. A fellow traveller of Dave Graney and Clare Moore from the early 80s Melbourne music scene. She was in the Ears (the band portrayed in the movie Dogs In Space) and then Deckchairs Overboard and then? A fashion shop in Sydney and then re entering Melbourne and the music world several years ago. This is her third solo album. Very sophisticated music in the writing, recording and execution. Its not indie music but she works independently. Informed by jazz and R&B and film scores. Wonderful sounds.

An interview for BLB by Dave Graney with Wes Smith from Rhizome and the Flavonoids. Out of the Gold Coast/Brisbane (Qld) and into Melbourne. Punk exotica and now ? Kind of No Wave New Wave electro funk rock? Very creative and productive and isolated. Latest album is out digitally and on cassette.

An interview by Dave Graney with Way Dynamic aka Dylan Young. Or perhaps Dylan Young aka Way Dynamic. The new Way Dynamic album is Massive Shoe.

Sean McMahon plays guitar and sings in Melbourne band, The Owls. He has released many solo albums and also led a band called Downhills Home. He is a total music culture person. He has played music since his teens and is a nice person. The music he makes with his friends just keeps getting better. I always love music with flash and drama and The Owls don't trade or fuss with either of those. No worries. We talked about his band and his friends and what he had for dinner and ambition and life.

Simon Strong lives in Melbourne but comes straight out of Sheffield in the UK. He made or makes music in The Ekranoplans and The Pink Stainless Tail before that. He presents a show on Radio 3CR in Melbourne. He tells a story of writing a novel in 2002 and then forgetting about it then retrieving it and finishing it after a dream encounter with Howard Devoto from Magazine. He released the book - The Bastardizer Polishes a Turd - in 2023 and had since released an audio version of it as well as an album of collaborations with artist "remixing" some of the audio of him talking and there is also an album of him performing/reading the book in Sheffield this year. Simon has a mad spark and a natural flow. Rabbit holes are his natural terrain. The talk goes all over popular and unpopular culture. You can access any of his stuff via https://simonstrong.bandcamp.com/audio

Mitch McTaggart has a tv show streaming called The Backside Of Television. It's all about Australian Television. He usually presents a year end round up of The Last Year Of Television but this is more of a broader look at Australian television production over the decades. Occasionally it was bold and imaginative, he reckons. A couple of episodes are specifically about Australian tv Police shows. Crime shows. Cop shows. Border Security shows. And he delves into how embedded the actual police forces were in the writing, editing and production. Specifically about some shows which weren't shepherded through to the eyes and ears of the public by the gentle hands of the Police. He's brave!

Brisbanes finest? Yes! The Stress of Leisure have been pumping out totally upbeat, grooving albums since 2006. Most songs written by Ian Powne on electric guitar. Pascalle Burton on organ/keys also sings and adds her presence. An active poet and performance poet as well. The inscrutably funky Jane Elliott on bass and Jessica Moore swinging a big beat on drums. Dave Graney and Clare Moore talk with Ian and Pascalle about music, music scenes, touring, Brisbanes two day winter, post punk influences and major chords.

Harry Howard and David McClymont have collaborated on an album called UNDER THE WORLD. David was once in Postcard Records band, Orange Juice as well as in the latterday Moodists for their last two EPS. That was in 1986-87. Then there were years travelling the world and doing nothing in the music arena. Then in 2012 he suddenly started to produce music, learning new tech and releasing a dazzling array of solo works and collaborations. He released two CDs with the Scottish musician Momus and a steady stream of independent recordings as a solo performer and in collaboration with other artists. He recently released Centuries, a double vinyl retrospective on the Last Night From Glasgow label. Harry Howard played in the second - 80s version - of Crime And The City Solution and then These Immortal Souls with his late brother, Rowland. Then there was the legendary Pink Stainless Tail. He the released three albums with Harry Howard and the NDE (featuring Clare Moore on drums and Dave Graney on vocals) before performing as DUET with then partner Edwina Preston, the electro collaboration that was ATOM and his first solo album Slight Pavilions. They talk about the recording and how it came about and also about Australian culture and film and tv and football, as seen by an outsiders perspective.

Dave Graney interview with Billy Pommer Jnr and Graham "Hoody" Hood from the Johnnys in regard to their new album (recorded in 1990) Live in Lyon. The conversation ranges from the bands beginnings in early 80s Sydney and Melbourne to their experiences in the Australian live music and recorded music scene. Touring up to and over 300 dates a year in 1986. Hardcore driving and playing. Songwriting and forming bands, venues, cities, regional towns, record companies.

Kim Salmon talks with Dave Graney about his new album/project/collective/live show which goes under the name Smoked Salmon. From the first question Kim goes back in time and the long conversation winds between shared experiences in teh underworld of Australian music, London and Europe in the 80s and 90s, working with large and small labels. It wanders!

Twinkledigitz aka Will Hindmarsh, once led his band of merry pranksters Go Go Sapien. Madly costumed and highly conceptual yet sophisticated and cartoonish all the while. Will and his partner Emily have guested on many Dave Graney and Clare Moore tracks over the last decade. Will also occasionally played with Clare Moore on her solo ventures as well as the Dames. Emily, Will, Clare and Jane Dust also perform as The Routines. Emily and Will also occasionally perform with Damian Cowells Disco Machine. Will and Dave Graney have also been "working" on their "hip hop/electro prophets" act as Wam and Daz for more than a decade. Time flies... Twinkeldigitz is Wills first solo outing. All electronic, totally lyrical and conceptual FIRE! Half of this talk was aired on Dave Graneys BLB program on RRR in Melbourne and teh rest was continued off air. They spoke of many things. Tasmania, Melbourne, Twinkledigitz' school days , Go Go Sapien, electronics, technology, AI, humour (is it bad for a musician?) and snacks. Further text and video links are available at https://open.substack.com/pub/davegraney/p/twinkledigitz?r=3mhrci&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Mel Wansbrough works in fashion at No. 6 , Jack Ladder is a tall, youthful rock singer from Sydney and they were invited to talk about fashion by Dave Graney in December on his radio show Banana Lounge Broadcasting. There is more text and more images to put this into context at my substack. https://open.substack.com/pub/davegraney/p/funky-but-chic-december-2024-fashion?r=3mhrci&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The Fauves 13th album Tropical Strength is a killer. All killer. TROPICAL STRENGTH. REcorded in Bali. Dave Graney and Clare Moore saw them playing songs from it on a triple bill with Brisbanes finest , Custard and The Stress Of Leisure at a hall in a paddock outside Sale in regional Victoria in late 2024. The album never stops giving, in songs, sounds, arrangements, production and lyrics. Dave Graney and Clare Moore journeyed to the Fauves compound on the Mornington Peninsula which is by the bay but very much on the far flung outer reaches of Melbourne. A good 90 minutes drive from the city. They all talked of their shared experiences of working within differing wings of Universal Records in Australia in the 90s, lyrics, war stories, production, recording in Bali as well as 90s Melbourne, how bands stay together and how they form and split as well as life, death, the futility of existence and Bin Night. There is more text and context with accompanying video links and images at our substack, Players Please https://open.substack.com/pub/davegraney/p/tropical-strength-the-fauves?r=3mhrci&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Archival interview with Eric Bloom from the Blue Oyster Cult by Dave Graney, originally intended for a newspaper article. From 2013 when the Blue Oyster Cult were to headline a "festival" (held at several inner city venues in different cities in Australia) organized by the Hoodoo Gurus. More detailed story and video links at my substack https://open.substack.com/pub/davegraney/p/eric-bloom-from-the-blue-oyster-cult

In 2015 the Pop Group - one of the greatest and most influential of late 70s UK post punk bands - reformed to tour a new album. I spoke with singer Mark Stewart ahead of their Australian tour. I had seen them a few months previously in Edinburgh, playing to a crowd containing the cream of that city's post punk identities. (By that I mean people from Josef K and the Fire Engines). They had never been to Australia and their tour would prove that people didn't know how to deal with them. Their sound was singular, The rhythm section and the thin, spindly, ultra processed guitar sounds. And Mark towering over everybody with his mad wailing, delayed and reverbed and phased and echoed and eq'd by a master mixer in Adrian Sherwood. Deep, dub , roots reggae styling. Australians didn't know how to place it. There were no flannel shirts or distortion pedals. They were brilliant! His passing in April 2023 really shook me. The guy was so tall and physically imposing. His voice was so strong and wild. One of the few music groups whose sound will never date. I mean the Pop Group, Rip Rig and Panic. Neneh Cherry, Mark Stewart and the Maffia and all who sailed in and with them. Perhaps them, the Stooges, Suicide and ..... a few others. Further writing and appropriate links at my Substack https://open.substack.com/pub/davegraney/p/mark-stewart-the-pop-group-archival

In 2016 UK folk music ICON Shirley Collins came back to the world of recorded music with a new album , Lodestar, and live performances. Her last album and live performance activity had been in 1978. She had issued her first album in 1958. She is truly an icon, groundbreaking figure in folk music. She worked with folklorist Alan Lomax, travelling around the USA and recording folk songs in the early 60s. She recorded with her sister Dolly and with genius guitarists Davey Graham and Bert Jansch as well as the Albion Band. If you have heard any of PJ Harveys folk tinged albums of the last decade you would have heard echoes of Shirley Collins. I did the interview for RRR. I had been doing the show for about nine years and had inherited the time slot from Rick E Vengeance (RIP) who had presented a folk show on the station for about 30 years. I thought it would be both nice to both involve him and also to be proper and respectful to Shirley and the folk music world for someone really immersed and versed in it to be involved. Rick passed away in 2018. Further text and appropriate links at my substack https://davegraney.substack.com/p/shirley-collins-folk-icon

An archival interview from early 2023 by Dave Graney with comedian and film maker Tony Martin. Tony was about to do hiss first Melbourne Comedy Festival show for many years. Talk touches on comedy and Tonys amazing podcast Sizzletown, comedy festivals and clubs. Further text and appropriate links at my substack https://davegraney.substack.com/p/tony-martin

2023 Dave Graney interview with author Alan Paul in regard to his book on the Allman Brothers band and specifically their album Brothers and Sisters. Southern rock icons from Macon, Georgia. Playing at the enormous Watkin Glenn festival with the Grateful Dead. The deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. Greggs bust. The Dixie Mafia. Phil Walden and Capricorn Records. President Jimmy Carter. Cher. Further writing and appropriate links at my substack https://davegraney.substack.com/p/earthing-the-midnight-riders

Apologies for any odd elements or glitches in the sound. We were laughing and getting excited and had a compressor on the mic. It might "pump" audibly on occasion. Sorry about that. Thought we would have a chat about beer. Old beer and new beer. A lifetime of beer. Clare Moore grew up in a couple of pubs. Everybody drank beer and smoked. Once upon a time. When there was no choice about beer. When there was no choice but beer.

Dave Graney and Clare Moore talk all things to do with their second album of 2024, I Passed Through Minor Chord In A Morning. They talk of recent Australian live dates and recordings. Improvisation, writing, playing, mixing. Art. Music. All things.

Dave Wray aka Frank Bennett. Hardcore fellow. Sydney through and through. West side. Sax player and singer. Talking about his life in music mainly in Sydney. Sydney nightlife, bands, clubs, venues. Good luck and bad. Frank Sinatra. Jazz. R&B. Birrong. It starts abruptly and ends so too.

An interview with Billy Miller, Melbourne musician, guitar player, songwriter, producer, arranger and character. The 70s scene with his band The Ferretts, touring Australia with Blondie in 1977. Molly Meldrum as producer, Tony Cohen, St Kilda, Kings Cross, Paul Kelly.

Interview for BLB - Dave Graneys show at Melbourne's 3RRRFM - by Dave Graney with Sianna Lee from Love Outside Andromeda in regard to their 2024 album STELLA INTERRUPTED.

A one hour conversation with Dave Graney and Clare Moore, talking about their 2024 album (strangely)(emotional). How it came to be, the albums leading up to this. COVID related of course. The whole time was affected by the pandemic. Perhaps this is the most Covid album of them all? It features Already Missing The Lockdown and Poor Covid, They Walk Among Us and He's Talkin To His Base. .... It's all laid out here. Track By Track intel.

Players Please podcast. Peter Milton Walsh aka the Apartments interview/conversation. From late 70s Brisbane to New York, 80s London and France , 90s Sydney and back around to France again. Music, literature, life. Just few things goin' through our minds.

Players Please podcast. Penny Ikinger, Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne. Electric guitar player, songwriter and performer. A conversation with Dave Graney late 2020. Touches on 80s post punk scenes in Australia, working in a museum, her guitar, the Melbourne Mafia, Recording and performing, getting paid, gender and ambitions.

Players Please podcast. Dave Western , Londoner and Artist- Artist and Londoner. A conversation with Dave Graney from 2021 touching on 80s London, music, art, London, one night in Brixton 1984 when Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds did their first live gig opening (secretly) for the Moodists, London, Soho, South and North London, record collecting and probably a lot more.