But You Don't Want to Travel, which culminated in Graney's being crowned in 1996 as King of Pop, the band found themselves under pressure from their label, Mercury, to repeat their success. The Coral Snakes were one of many bands dropped when Mercury Records was taken over by the Seagrams family. The band decided they had reached the end of the road. Graney and Clare recruited former Ferrets vocalist and guitarist Billy Miller, guitarist Stuart Perera and bassist Adele Pickvance, and formed the Dave Graney Show. They played a Wednesday residency at the Nightcat, Fitzroy, for most of last year, trying out material for the new album on an ever-revolving crowd of loyal fans.
People come on board at different times.
Some get disappointed that we play too many country songs one night. Some people want me to talk a lot. I do like people who are able to talk a lot yet retain a bit of mystery, but a lot of people have taken the mystery out of it. We did a couple of dates with Robyn Hitchcock last year, and he was really inspiring. At the Nightcat shows, Graney didn't come across as an embittered former pop star dropped by his label and reduced to playing to 100 people.