TM - Hi this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix and we are here with Dave Graney from Celebrating Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Thank you for having this interview with us today.
DG - Thank you.
TM - What can fans expect from your Australian tour?
DG - I hope we have a good show, there are a lot of singers involved and I am one of them. It is quite a professional band and operation who put it all together. We stayed in touch as I have done some things with them. They are nice people and great musician so it should be great music to work with. In the ninties i thought tribute bands were daggy and now I think Tribute bands deserve to be heard, because there is some really great music. Lou Reed's songs are unique and people deserve to hear them.
TM - Can you give us any hints on the setlist?
DG - I am going to be doing some songs off his albums from 1973 to 1979. Probably a song from "The Bells" which is the last album I listened to. Hopefully, I will do songs from "Rock and Roll Animal" and "Street Hassle" as they are some of my favourites.
TM - What made you want to join a Lou Reed tribute band?
DG - I knew the people who were doing it and they were nice and I have done a show with them before. I thought it would be fun and I really liked "Lou Reed".
TM - You just got off your tour with "Dave Graney 'n' The Coral Snakes" how was the tour?
DG - It was excellent we did two months and twenty-one dates around Australia. We played our album from 1995 "The Soft 'n' Sexy Sound" but we didn't play a lot of it at the start, we were two chicken to. It was quite delicate music but it was great to go and play the album in its entirety in the sequence it was on the album and I loved it.
TM - Are you putting out any new music of your own?
DG - I have about fourty albums out and hopefully next year I will be bringing out a new rock album. It is myself and my partner Claire. She plays the drums and she plays keys and I play guitar and bass so we play everything on this album. I am very happy with it and it was great fun making it.
TM - What are some of the band's you enjoy listening to?
DG - I like music from Los Angeles in the sixties. I liked the vocals of a band called "The Byrds". One member "David Crosby" who was later in the band "Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young" had a voice between the other singers and would turn them into beautiful cords. I would like to write a song good enough for a band like The Beach Boys to play.
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TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be, what song would it be and would it be in your style or their style?
DG - I love the gangsta rap period of the Ninties. I was looking for a producer in the Ninties and I said I want anyone who worked on "Tupac's" album "All Eyez On Me",to work on a song of mine. I would love to work with someone from America in the hip hop or R&B scene. It would be cool if it was "Dr Dre or Farrell Williams", I would give them a song and say do what you want with it.
TM - Who was the first band or Artist you saw live and can you tell us a story?
DG - I was ten years old and i saw an Australian band called "The Masters Apprentices" and it was in Mount Gambier. I never saw much music until I moved to a bigger City. I went with my brother who was fourteen years old and his friend and he wouldn't walk with me because he wanted to be cool.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
DG - I don't think of them as fans. I have made lots of records, and I have people who have really tuned into my music. I appreciate them listening to it and liking my music. I hope to see everyone at "Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground & Nico".
TM - Thank you for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.
DG - Thank you for having me.