The Waifs travelling aroundand around

Tue 6th Nov, 2007 in Features

Travelling is at the heart of The Waifs ’ collective soul: the road shows itself as a recurrent theme in their lyrics, music, and personal style – even the name of the band came about from a band mate’s parents despairing about the gypsy-hippie roughness of their children’s appearance, garnered from playing the blues all over the country, sleeping rough and a whole lot of free spirit. It would appear that they’ve been everywhere along this sunburnt land, and if you’ve been within shouting distance of the nearest country local, it’s odds on they’ve played there.

Today though, Vikki Thorn is a difficult woman to get a hold of. On the road yet again, she’s weaving her way in and out of reception somewhere in country NSW. I finally manage to pin her down in Moruya, on the South Coast – she’s sitting in her car; I can hear her son playing in the back seat. Recently back on the touring trail, Vikki is relaxed and chatty. The Waifs have been touring around this sunburnt land for more than a decade, building up a following in the traditional way – hard-earned touring miles.

“It’s a great lifestyle,” the willowy singer and guitarist says, “Between gigs you spend a lot of time in some beautiful places, and the people you meet on tour – particularly other musicians and bands – can be very inspiring and fun to hang out with.” She pauses. “The obvious downside is, you know, I didn’t own my own bed ‘til I was 30, and I’m a terrible housekeeper because I’m used to throwing my towels on the floor, and having someone else pick them up for me,’ she laughs.

In support of September’s much-anticipated studio release Sundirtwater, their first in five years, the band is currently on a large national tour, taking in far north Queensland, Tasmania, and even a bit of home. As part of said tour, the band toured through both Albany (home of Vikki and her bandmate and sister, Donna) and when I interviewed Vikki, were about to play a show in Moruya (Josh’s hometown). I was curious to know, having a multi-platinum album and a fine following overseas, how did Vikki feel taking the band back home?

“Well, actually,” she sighs, “traditionally, Albany is the worst gig, because it becomes like a big catch up for all our friends and family, and no one is really listening to the music. This time, we played a non-alcohol venue and made everybody sit down, and we had a great time! That made it into a real concert, rather than a pub gig. They’re very used to their pub gigs down there. So we had a lot of fun, and people were able to bring their kids, which was really nice (laughs) because there were no drunk people.’

The proceeds from their homecoming shows went to developing the youth community’s music projects; and in addition, at the heart of The Waifs’ extensive touring schedule lies the Legs 11 festival. I mention to Vikki that they seemed to be becoming quite the philanthropists.

“Well, we haven’t been before, but once you reach a level, once you start earning some money, you get a sense of wanting to give something back,” she says. “Bbut I don’t want it to be a one-off kind of thing… I want the band to continue to do that kind of stuff more & more now. I feel it’s the responsibility of artists.”

The band has a more mature outlook these days, something that has shown up quite distinctly on their newest studio release, September’s Sundirtwater. Their first studio LP in five years, it was created in the musical landmark-town of Nashville, Tennessee. How did recording in the US come about?

“It was Josh’s suggestion,” she explains. “I was very resistant to it because I was in Australia and I didn’t want to travel that way. But there was a certain quality of recorded sound that we were looking for that we thought we could get if we recorded in America; a lot of the albums we know of and love were made in Nashville. It just happened to be co-incidence that our record company are based over there, and retrospectively, it was a good decision.”

How so?

“It was mutual ground for everybody, so that enabled us to really focus on what we’re doing, without distraction,” she says.

To relieve the pressure of following the multi-platinum award-winning Up All Night, The Waifs entered the studio with nothing but good old-fashioned jam-sessions in mind.

“The reason we said that was to take any pressure off ourselves,” she says. “We were secretly hoping we’d get a record but we didn’t want the pressure of that. Because, in the past, when we put that pressure on ourselves, we tend to get very tense, and it’s not a relaxed environment. You know, it’s constantly in the back of our heads, – œThis is an important thing, this is for the album.’ So it helped us a lot to say: – œLets play some music, who cares what it sounds like.’ It’s a psychological thing we needed to do.”

Check the Fasterlouder gig guide for deets of the Waifs tour.