The Waifs
25 years ago sisters Vicki Thorn and Donna Simpson hit the road and embarked on a journey that would carve a path for them to become one of Australia’s most iconic folk rock bands. Meeting up with Josh Cunningham en route on their first tour, the three young musicians formed The Waifs and have since gone on to release six studio albums with scores of well-known hits like ‘London Still’ and ‘Sun Dirt Water’.
By Chelsea Heaney.
To celebrate their quarter century anniversary as a band, and the release of their latest album Ironbark in February this year, the group have set out on a national tour. The Waifs are stopping by the Darwin Entertainment Centre for a show at the Playhouse Theatre, supported by Katherine-based favourite Serina Pech.
Ironbark is a 25 track alternate folk rock creation written as a thank you to their loyal fans. It involved the three musicians, who now live in different places in the US and Australia, getting together at Cunningham’s rural retreat in NSW to record in a make-shift studio. This time around the trio broke with tradition, with the song writing process involving live and complete collaboration rather than writing separately.
The result is a record that evokes a sense of home, wherever in the world that might be. Bound together by expert musicianship and the long-standing friendships the three have formed between them since the early 1990s, The Waifs continue to produce entertaining and ultimately uplifting music that celebrates and commemorates their progress and achievements as a group.
