A requirement to see Graney play every three months or so is a simple
addiction that needs feeding and has the addictiveness and replay value of a
Woody Allen film. Tonight was the first time I’d experienced the newly
renovated Sando, following complaints of the old room feeling like it was going
to collapse at any given moment. My first impression was that this new room was
well and truly stable, looking like an awesome underground Comedy lounge from
the nineties. 

It was big enough to handle two heavy weights: in the left corner, Conway Savage, the renowned piano/keyboard player for The Bad Seeds. A position
he’s filled for nearly two decades now. And in the right, David Graney smashing
his way through god-knows how many albums and hundreds of hits. 

More than just a sideman, many first saw Conway Savage (one of Australia’s great hidden songwriters) play at last years All Tomorrow’s Parties
Festival. If you were like me and were blown away, then this was his long
awaited return to Sydney. I’d been trying to work out an elaborate plan to get
him here ever since ATP. It included The Holy Soul and a potato sack. 

The three
piece of Robert Tickner (guitar) and Amanda Fox (organs, accordion) and Conway
took the stage subtly and went into “Beautiful Smile” off the latest record Pussy’s Bow, which circled around a repetitious guitar lick and showcased
Savage’s brooding (but friendly) vocals - while backing harmonies took on soul. 

Savage
isn’t your typical Randy Newman storytelling piano player. Instead of being
overly positive and family friendly about life, his lyrics and style are more
logical and not screaming “We Love It!” nor is it “We Hate It!” its just “Deal
With It”. “To Be So Lonely” is another soul-flavoured sing-along that you don’t
want to end. It's probably one of his best songs, and that’s exciting to know
because it's also one of his most recent. 

Loneliness always sounds best with a wry
sense of humour – you don’t have to put up with the overly sappy bullshit. Its
making positivity of sour outcomes. After telling the crowd that they were
getting blown away on stage by the cooling system and to “please turn the
fucking fans down” they played tracks off last years “Quickie For Duckie”
including “Sisters and Brothers” and the remarkable title track. Before going
into their last song, Savage makes a crack about having CDs available for a mere
ten dollars claiming them to be “mid-life crisis prices”. After killing it on
the piano with final apocalyptic track “Crumbling World”, I couldn’t help but
hope these latest records finally gets him more attention so he doesn’t have to
self-release his records presumably from a house in St. Kilda. Its strange that
no one really cared when Roland S. Howard’s “Teenage Snuff Film” came out, but
ten years later everyone went nuts for “Pop Crimes”. Maybe this will happen
with Savage, because the level of song writing and ability showcased here is a
class act worthy of any of his contemporaries.

Next up in the ring
was the immortal David Graney, who came out swinging, dressed like a Melbourne
Junior Soccer League couch. Armed with his usual trusty Lurid Mist line up of
Clare Moore and Stu Thomas,  along with another occasional guitarist (who may or
may not be named Stu as well), they came to deliver the goods. 

Roaring into
tracks off the latest re-worked Supermodified, “Midnight Till Dawn” off that
record is so well crafted it hurts, the guitars literally tear your head off
with their sludginess and that drum roll and crash after the chorus nail it.
“The Royal Troll” is another one that urges you to get up out of your seat and
do something about it – it's fun beyond belief with demonic imagery “It’s hard
to get that flaming image, outta my mind”, Graney croons. Apparently it’s based
on a friend of his who tried all kinds of ways to get off, like electrocuting
his testicles. Anyway, it resulted in him seeing trolls ... or at least liking
them. I don’t know what he’s talking about either, but it’s a damn good ramble
and an even better song. 

“All Our Friends Were Stars” and “The Brother That
Lived” another two brilliant songs that open Supermodified - and then we move
into our terrain of “Are We Going To Fast For Love” and “My Sthick Ways A Ton”.
“Let’s Kill God Again” is always a highlight that never gets tiresome - it’s a
shame I feel like a bible basher when I walk around town singing it past
churches and Christians with clip-boards. Stu Thomas does a mind-blowing blues
jam about Minneapolis and Clare Moore sung a song from her record Liquor. Then
they open the request line and I scream out “Maggie Cassidy” and another guy
demands “A Million Dollars In The Diamond Sea”. They both got played with wild
improvisation solos by Stu who apparently only vaguely knew them.  It didn’t matter because it worked –
just as it always does with this well trained band. Both fighters were winners
and every Graney outcome is the same for the very fact that you just wanted
more of it.

 

Photos: Lyndal Irons