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22 September 04 - The Waifs' double live album "A Brief History" will be released in Australia on 1 November 2004. Of course this is great news for fans who have been teased with various dates and delays for close to a year. The cover art includes a photo of the trio in their van circa 1996 (?) and the original curly font. A track list is not available yet.
Did I forget to post news of Noah's birth on 19 June 2004? How bad am I? Hopefully you read about it on The official Waifs site.
Also, Donna has been busy touring with Ben Weaver and Jez. I caught the show in Newtown, Sydney and it was an eclectic mix of sad and sweet tunes.
11 June 04 - Mission complete... sort of. I don't have a release date for the live album, noone does, but the band have made the final selection of songs and Josh will start mixing in the next few weeks.
7 June 04 - The Waifs are enjoying some well deserved rest and relaxation - or at least some time off from touring - while Vikki prepares for the birth of her baby. We wish her and Mat all the best for the birth. Donna and Josh will be spending some time out of the spotlight too, hopefully penning some new tunes along the way. I'm on a mission to find a release date for the Live Album so stay tuned.
18 January 04 - The Waifs are touring in the lead up to their live album release in March. Sell out gigs in NSW and WA (Aust) will be followed with some US and UK dates. Planning is underway for shows at the Byron Bay Blues Fest, Adelaide and Melbourne in April.
17 November 03 - Up All Night has gone platinum and sits at number 12 on the Australian album charts this week after a reported 700 percent increase in sales following the ARIA broadcast on Channel 10.
27 October 03 - The Waifs have cancelled their remaining US dates for this year due to a family bereavement. Our heartfelt thoughts are with you guys.
21 October 03 - Congratulations to The Waifs, 2003 ARIA Award winners in the categories of Best Blues and Roots Release and Best Independent Release for Up All Night. Well done gang! You don't know how proud we all are of you.
16 October 03 - Check out the Write Ups section linked from the bottom of this page. Plenty of great Aussie journos are getting behind the Waifs in the lead up the Arias... hopefully this means they voted for our favourite band...
14 October 03 - The Australian tour is over and so is God's pilgrimage to ALL of the Waifs shows on this tour. Big congratulations to the cat with the tatts in the hat for his awesome effort. We hope to tell his story on this site soon. Only one week until the Arias...
24 September 03 - The Waifs kicked off their Australian return tour last night in Fremantle with the news under their belt that they have six Aria nominations this year (count 'em!), and that Chris Thompson has already won the Aria Artisan awards for Best Producer and Best Engineer of the year for Up All Night. They will also be performing at the Arias for the first time on October 21 and have been nominated for Channel V Oz Artist of the year. Please vote for The Waifs at www.channelv.com.au. You will need to register to vote.
Has anyone mentioned that they will be doing a 17 date European tour with Bob Dylan before Christmas?
13 August 03 - Are you a member of the Waifs Street Team (Australia only at this stage) but not on the discussion list? Please email me at groubes@hotmail.com as I have info for you about Street Team shirts. All other Street Team inquiries should go directly to the Waifs office as normal.
22 July 03 - The Waifs have announced concerts in Fremantle, Bunbury, Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle, Canberra, Wollongong, Sydney, Byron Bay, Nambour, Kuranda and Brisbane in late September and early October. They'll then rush back to LA for more festivals and gigs with Bob Dylan.
30 April 03 - Lighthouse, The Waifs second single from their fourth album Up All Night was released on Monday 28 April and is widely available in Australian music stores. It's a terrific release that not only contains the previously unreleased dirty country blues song Heartbreakin', but live versions of favourites Gillian and Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. An awesome bonus is the videos of Lighthouse and London Still in cd-rom format. A bargain for any music fan.
Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) online radio DIG recorded The Waifs' live performance at the Melbourne International Music And Blues Festival, and at 2pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on May 8, 2003, it will be streamed online (RealPlayer and Windows Media Player).
The link to the concert will be found on the front page of DIG at http://abc.net.au/dig
3 April 03 - Great news for The Waifs and music fans is that the spread of smiles will continue at Bob Dylan shows throughout America over the next few months. Fifteen shows in all will expand their audience even further and continue the band's experience of big venue, big occasion gigs. Good news for fans in Canada, Cambridge (England)and Edinburgh (Scotland) with a stack of shows so tell all your mates. We wish them big luck and fun times. 24 Feb 03 - With only Melbourne, Adelaide and Port Fairy to go now after completing a huge set of gigs with Bob Dylan and Ani di Franco, it's safe to say Australians are already looking forward to the return of The Waifs next summer.
Up All Night went GOLD only four weeks after release.
26 Jan 03 - "London Still" is Number 3 in the Hottest 100 for 2002... yeeeeeeah! Congratulations to The Waifs who heard the good news on a clock radio and to all who voted for the classic. Only the 'Spoons and the Queens beat them out. How refreshing is "London Still" amongst the rest of the noise... really...
"Lies" and "Highway One" also made the list - to Donna, Vik, Josh, Dave and Ben, thanks for the music.
20 Jan 03 - The Waifs launched their album "Up All Night" on January 13.
In its first week it reached Number 3 on the ARIA album charts, coming in at Number 1 for Australian artists and Number 1 in WA.
You can review the new album on the HMV site and the JJJ website or read what others have had to say.
After the release of "London Still" in Australia on June 3 2002 The Waifs have been played daily on all varieties of radio, internet and television around Australia and the world. You did vote for London Still, Lies and Highway One in the JJJ Hottest 100!.
If you're new to Waif World, welcome! No doubt you're here to read a bit more about our heroes. Enjoy. You'll find our guestbook in the Links section of the site.
In 2001 the Waifs became the first Australian act to appear at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival where they won over the crowd at the main stage -Michelle Shocked even invited them up as backing singers! They just kept the entire camp at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival awake with all night jam sessions, and were the pick of the Tonder Festival in Denmark.
They have a stash of new songs (see Chords for a taste).
The Waifs are an Australian folk-pop trio. In 2000 they released their third independent album Sink or Swim after eight years of plying their trade around country, coastal and bloody big capital cities in Australia. This year they created a crazy train of supporters stretching from festivals in England, Scotland, Canada, the USA and Australia.
It seems like an eternity ago but in January 2001 Vikki made her acting debut at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Josh explored the possibilities of building his own guitar, and Donna has grown back her long blonde locks. Dave MacDonald the drummer, released his own new album, "Southern Crossing" and spent a few weeks moonlighting with Jodi Martin on her new album "Water and Wood".
The Waifs also appeared at the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival at Easter last year thanks to one of their biggest moves as a band so far... signing a manager! But don't worry, they promise to stay true to themselves... Phil is a bit of a legend who also has the John Butler Trio on his books so he's a busy man!
Check out their cement plans at their tres schmick official site, but in the meantime, sit back and take in the unofficial word on The Waifs as you listen to their magical tunes on your stereo.
Keep reading for an unofficial view of this lovable band, fans' words about gigs, and a library of chords people have worked out for their songs... Donna still promises a song book for sale at shows... one day.
Keep your eye out for their new studio album in mid January 2003, and a live double album midway through the year. You might even star in it!
Take a look at TRIPLE J to see the making of this site!!
Your contributions and suggestions for this page, especially gig reviews, photos and chords, are welcomed with big smiles.