Waif World - Gigs

The Waifs with Dave at the Troubador tent, Woodford Folk Festival 98/99

The Waifs Gigs

TONY EVA went to the Cambridge Folk Festival in August 2003 and took these simply stunning shots of Vikki and Donna.

I just wanted to report that the Waifs played here in Boston on Tuesday night, and they were fab! "Johnny D's" is a small club but the place was packed.

It seems they did a great job at the Newport Folk Festival last weekend (including being drafted into being back-up singers for Michelle Shocked) and quite a few people who were in Newport followed them up to Boston.

One thing which was quite weird is that there were quite a few people with American accents calling out requests. So it really looks like the Waifs are building up a following here!

I talked to Donna briefly afterwards, and told her about the "Sarah G fan site" feature on the JJJ web site. Sarah, did you know that you are officially "#1 Waifs fan"? Apparently people keep coming up to Donna and saying "I'm your biggest fan"; but she always corrects them, saying "No, that title belongs to Sarah!".

This past weekend the fifth annual Stan Rogers Folk Festival was held in Canso, Nova Scotia, Canada and, as before it was a smashing success. The Waifs performed many times during the weekend and were defiantly the highlight of the festival for me and many others there.

The last I heard "Sink or Swim" was the best selling CD at the festival. This is quite an accomplishment considering the festival hosted many great Canadian and maritime acts, and then all of the sudden a band from Australia takes over and becomes one of the more popular artists.

I personally did not get to see every show they did this weekend (I was busy working at the festival, because a severe windstorm decided to play havoc with the tents.) None the less I did see them perform and they were awesome, this is my first time hearing them and they rocked.

Thanks to the festival we get to hear international acts and are opened up to new music. I ended up buying their CD and got them to sign it(they then told me that they would be back next year if invited).

I also bought a CD by an Irish group DANU. In the end these gals and guy quickly won the hearts of all in attendance a whole new fan base.

Check out the info on the Stan Rogers Folk Fest @ www.stanfest.com I will be more than happy to help anyone get here for next year's festival.

A sold-out crowd was won over by The Waifs last night, who put together a great little 30-min set to open their American tour.

Despite living just a stone's throw away from Club Passim for the last three years, I had never ventured into this funky little venue until The Waifs came to town. My effort was rewarded by a great night of folk and pop - eight bands performing as part of the NEMO Conference taking place in Boston this weekend.

The Waifs were the sixth act of the night. You could tell that at first the parochial crowd were a little unsure of whether this bunch of Aussies could match up to their local favourites, but after Donna & Vikki let their voices loose (on "London" and "Lies" respectively), the applause and cheering after each song had already become louder than for any other performer that night.

It's been three years since I last saw The Waifs live (with Sarah G at the Three Weeds in Balmain). They still have that remarkable knack of sending that instant feel-good vibe through the whole crowd, but there's definitely more of a stage presence about them now than there used to be. Even though Josh stands up there looking as unobtrusive as ever, you can feel every eye in the room fixing on him as he works through his soaring soloes.

Highlights of the night for me were Vikki's slow and soulful version of "Gillian" (I had heard from back home that Josh was now singing this, but this wasn't to be last night) and to finish things off, "People Who Think They Can". I was hoping for "Love Serenade" (complete with the Sarah G / Bryan G "Oh What A Night" bridge), but can forgive the band for not being able to fit this in.

At the start of the night there were only 2 Waifs fans in the crowd (somebody else up the front requested "The Waitress", but this was a no-go without a bass player), but by the end I think we had quite a few converts. The CD sales out the front were doing a brisk business, and the sign-up sheet for the mailing list went to 2 pages. It looks like here in Boston, just as back home, people are starting to spread the Waif Word!

So now it's on to New York and beyond for the rest of the North American tour. Vikki - make sure you remember your harmonica next time!

Yeah, Dave McDonald is the Waifs' drummer and he also plays a mean finger pickin' guitar. He did a show at the Troubador with Simo (from Sensative New Age Cowpersons) on banjo and Andrew forgotten his surname again) on fiddle. I had read some of the lyrics on his webpage before Woodford so I enjoyed the songs about the pearls in WA and being close to the coast and everything. Dave seems like a big softy!

Dave "let" Josh take the second half of his set and sat himself down at the drums while Josh took centre stage. I think he led with the song about him growing up in an old one room shack in town which was filled with his family, plenty of talk, no tv and lots of love. Then one day he found an old guitar in the shed and he cleaned it up and taught himself to play the guitar, how it changed his life, and how he filled his shack with music too.

The Waifs history started with him meeting Donna and Vikki and how he was besotted with Vikki, but that she thought he was odd for wearing a big hat, full length jacket, long pants and leather boots in the hot Kimberley. He joined them in music and they travelled the country side and shared many awesome times, but now Donna's living in the big smoke and times will never be the same, but he really loves both of them. Ah yes, it was very sweet and very sad, and neither Donna or Vikki had heard it before apparently... you could hear a pin drop in the wine bar during the whole song and there was an incredible cheer at the end.

"Moruya" came next ... or "been so long since I've been around". My favourite verse is when he can't find any friends cos they've all found a better place to be, but he's still got an old mate he can go and paint the town with "so I think I might just call her up... drink to old times at the Adelaide Hotel." But the pub's been shut down for twenty years so they don't quite get there. The last verse about being by the river where the kids are splashing in the water where he once played, and is thinking about staying in the town, is sweet too. Jeez, it's stuck in my head now.

There may have been one or two more songs, but he finished with a country toon which Vikki joined him for. Surprisingly, his guitar is really understated when he does his own songs (no solos at all, only one or two fiddly step ups along the way), and while he can certainly hold a fine tune, he actually talks through most of his songs, almost like Donna does at times. Only about 30-40 of us sitting around and enjoying hearing the tales of our favouritist travellers... just like old times!

The Waifs were in fine tune all throughout the Woodford festival and it was great seeing them on a variety of different venues and stages of drunkedness...no only joking they were great and I couldn't wait to see them again as soon as I got back to Sydney.

It took a moment to adjust during the first few songs at the Basement on Friday (after only just making it past the bouncers...phew) because the crowd noise was so loud compared to the hush at Woodford during performances. Still it was good to see the Waifettes (are Josh and Dave called the Waifers now?) back in their old environment.

This was also the first time I'd heard them play with Jen Anderson as well so it was fantastic to hear all the original Violin fills on the old songs. No offense to all the other fantastic fiddle players that I've seen play with the Waifs but it is good to hear the proper verion LOL

I also liked the support act...for the life of me I can't remember her name [Nicole Brophie]...she teamed up with jodie (?) [Moore] one of the fiddle players to play with the Waifs up at woodford and they were great.

The new songs are fantastic even if we do know all the words of by heart now ("night time I stage my street show"? :-� thanks Vikki) and the new album is going to be absolutly fantastic.

Anyway - YES I went to Donna and john's gig. It was fantastic. Donna played first - she probably sang about 7-10 songs. I usually love to just sit and enjoy, but I had Sarah G's voice in my ear saying "make sure you write a review - write a review!"... so I tried to remember a few little noticeable things.

Donna seemed shy and nervous at first - and unjustly so... That girl has talent to burn. I think she sang two originals first and then it wasn't until about the third that she seemed to settle down a bit. The third was a song (infact a true story) written by someone else (Richard someone?) and originally recorded by Penelope Swales. It had a very folk influence (very different to her first two songs of the night) and was very very beautiful and moving. Donna really seemed to start to relax in this song and I couldn't help but think she would have done well to sing it first to feel comfy. I couldn't hear all the words unfortunately - but it seemed to be a song about times when White aussies in general hadn't come to terms with the aborigines as equals - and it seemed to have a refrain in it where a mother was saying to her child (but not in these very unpoetic words of mine of course) - "don't go down to where the blackfellas live - coz its dangerous and they are barbaric / or sort-of cannabalistic / ( I cant' think of the word I want here).

She sang some really cool songs with quite a bluesy tone - and her voice is on fire - it just sort of gushes out of her belly and you can hear the reverberations of her experience in her breath. This sounds kind of off the point and funny but I actually pictured her breath - a real deep blue - washing around in her stomach - when she sang... Gorgeous - and beautiful and inspiring.

She could have been 10 times more confident. i really think she has talent to take her a long way - but I feel she deserves to feel more confident. I still loved the atmosphere she created though - but it didnt seem as energetic and free as when she is performing with the band.

She sang one original that had Ani Di Franco tones and rhythyms in it. I also felt it was influenced by someone else, but now I forget who.

The theme of the night seemed to be her relationships rejections, old loves. They were great little stories as usual. She talked alot about her current life in a her songs (especially one of the last ones) - and I really loved that - she brings you so close to where she's at - and is so honest and open. Actually - I took a friend who had never seen her or heard of the Waifs, and he raved about that aspect of her performance.

One of the last songs was so sweet - it had kind of a lilting - calipso feel...She talked of living in a little house on Bondi beach and having a kiwi - lad who is now gone off to tour in the theatre.

Oh - yeah - she also sang a funny song about a rather lustful experience with a boy quite some years younger than herself - made him out to be school aged. Really funny!

By the end, I don't think she had really settled down into feeling really relaxed and at home. She rushed through a couple of last songs and then quickly played "the encore you didn't ask for" (which she sort of said in a tone of shyness...)

John Butler was great - his indian influence was really noticeable and later I picked up on some celtic influence. He is an amazing guitarist. He played an improvised song where he just goes off into free-form and plays whatever he's feeling. His band (a drummer and basist) joined him and together they were really tight and had a fabulous percussive feel. sometimes, in general, I get bored with the indian tones and modes and I only occaissionally felt this with John's stuff. He is a wonderful enthusiast in Australian society - (he sounds as though born and bred in America - yeah?) - really singing about important issues - taking part in championing reconciliation, etc... I really loved that spirit in him. So passionate for the good in a community that he is relatively new to (supposedly). And he is also refreshingly honest about how he feels about every thing. He doesn't beat around the bush in saying so and he sings about his opinion bluntly - and every now and then just before a song - he would qualify a few things about what he was about to say - so that we didn't misinterpret it or take it personally!

Anyway - enough from me - ...
love life - love woodford, love music and love yourselves!
juliette.

The Waifs... or as Paulie, owner/manager of Tilleys, introduced them on Saturday night "Our Waifs". Leading off with Shiny Apple and picking up the tempo with Love Serenade seemed a perfect start to the near sellout crowd.

Whether I'm just a bit jaded from the whole festive season already or there was something missing from the show, I thought it was a little low on energy and catchiness (is that a word?) I only noticed for the first time last night that there are speakers placed right throughout Tilleys - two at the front, two in the middle and two at the back. Makes for great acoustics right? But when the manager admits after the show that they pumped the volume up twice as loud as they previously have done for The Waifs, no wonder my ears are still ringing.

Now I don't mind a bit of volume but it's frustrating when you're trying to listen to lyrics of new songs and you can't understand the words over the thump or the bass drum and the crunching of guitars - not a typical Waifs show... and when you're cringing and whincing at the high notes in Josh's solos, that's tragic. Think I've made my point.

In saying that, the sound for support Jodi Martin (and sister) was superb - maybe the engineer just let her do her own thing - simple is good right? Speaking of Jodi Martin, she was awesome. Kind of made me think I was at an open mic at Bleaker St in the Village in NY - Donna blundered nervously through a glowing introduction then handed over to Jodi who stepped up to the microphone and commenced belly banging. There was a microphone at stomach level so she used it to great effect as she sang a haunting tune to the beat of her body percussion which kept the audience spellbound and left all wannabe performers wondering why they hadn't thought of that!

Her sister chimed into the set and her "Fresh Fruit Men" about a supermarket robbery was hilarious... "did anyone get the chicken...?" Keep an eye out for Jodi in street press, especially in Sydney.

Now onto The Waifs... I guess they mainly played the regulars, the exception being Company in reggae beat - the tune's basically the same though. Vikki tossed in an impromptu "I got my first real six string..." near the end of Shelter Me, and they played a really tight rap version of Billy Jones.

As for the new tunes? The first was by Donna about living in Bondi and working in a restaurant - sorry I can't fill you in more but the lyrics were lost in guitars and drums. Sounded really funky though and at one stage they broke into a crazy flamenco before getting all serious again. Looking forward to this one again. The next was preluded with "This is a sing-a-long for next year's folk festival" and was a country influenced number about wanting to return to the town where you were born when you die. It was ok but it didn't get anyone up dancing or singing along. The third was Josh's - a solo (!) with Dave on drums and Vikki joining in on guitar at the end. Basically the line at the end of every verse and chorus was "It's been so long since I've been around" or words to that effect about going back to your home town after so many years and everything has changed. I didn't really get it because he sings "The Adelaide Hotel was closed 20 years ago" which means he used to hang out there when he was five? He explained to us after the show that he should have told the story about the song before he sang it. Basically it's him imagining going back to Moruya in 50 years... I like to think of it as Josh's tribute to Brian Mannix... ;) Oh, and I thought he was going to break into "I Kissed a Girl" after the introduction but the chords weren't quite the same. And I wonder if he really needed his own microphone stand for the whole show to use just in two songs - it meant we couldn't be quite as mesmerised by the solos.

Highlights for me were Crazy Train, The Haircut, Taken Away, Danger, Brain Damage, Lies - basically my favourites.

Fun (for us but not for them) to see that even The Waifs can make musical mistakes... but for the record I think Vikki DID get the lyrics right. Having been off the stage for close to four months, I'm looking forward to seeing them and the audience gel together in Woodford.

Wow ! Has the Waif word finally gotten out ? Around 400 or so were sardined into Newtown's Globe last Friday night and the band did not disappoint. Then again, could these gals and guys ever be disappointing ? Having now seen them 5 times in the past 6 months or so ... I think not. I first came across The Waifs when they supported the legendary Scotsman Jackie Leven at The 3 Weeds, who incidentally is touring Oz again at the moment [... he is not to be missed]. I was so blown away by them then that I scored both albums straight after that initial 40 minute support gig ... and so began spreading the Waif word.

Donna, Vikki, Josh (and new boy Dave on drums) opened with "Circles" and for the next 2 hours or so the band entertained us with just about every song off both their albums, plus 5 or 6 new ones. Highlights (for me) were "Sunflower Man", "People Who Think They Can", "Shelter Me", "Company", "Spotlight" (performed after many, many requests from the audience), "Crazy Train" (great sounds from Vikki's harmonica) and a few of the new songs that I just loooved.

They mentioned that they will be recording a single in May, but that it wouldn't be released till after they were back from performing at the Edinburgh Festival, so that they can promote it and make some money from it ... Of the new songs, my choice for this would be "Service Fee" or even "Danger" (though a song about suicides in their home town may not get them the radio airplay that they deserve). Donna's "Haircut Song" (performed solo) is also very catchy and could easily be an alternative radio hit. For those that may not have heard this song yet, check out these killer lyrics ...

When I make love, I make love to myself.
I don't have any diseases, it's good for my health.
Got my hands down my pants, down my Calvin Kleins.
Don't need you no more honey, I can come every time !!!

Her ex-friend that inspired the song most probably not only left the venue after he heard it (as Donna told us he would've if he was indeed there), but may also have boarded the first sailing boat for San Fran on Monday morning ! One question for Donna ... Have you been listening to Lucinda Williams lately ?

The bubbling personalities within the band always make a Waifs show great. When you just know that a band is having as good a time as you, it makes a show even better (something our band may have further enhanced after witnessing 1st hand most of WPA's farewell shows). Donna tells the audience she'd love someone to buy her a Bacardi and coke, only to be presented with 3 Coopers stubbies 1 song later. Much appreciated by the band, but didn't the young girl know that there are now 4 Waifs ... Donna kindly hands them out ... During the next song (the wonderful "Gillian") a guy comes to the front and makes good with a Bacardi for Donna. She gives him a big "thank you" and in the process melts every male audience member with that smile. Vikki stops mid verse and says "He's in" which totally cracks everyone up ...

Isn't it great having these guys loosely based around Sydney now (as opposed to Melbourne where everybody that is anybody in Oz music seems to be these days ...). Vikki and Josh are living down south and Donna has recently become a Sydneysider. "These are all my new friends" she tells Vikki while gesturing to the audience ... and 400 sardines wiggled a little and cheered a lot more ... and Dave the new drummer boy met a lady friend up Brisbane way and after a short courtship he told the others while on tour that he was going to the movies with the girl ... and then didn't return for 3 days. He has since moved permanently to Brisbane. So the good news for Sydney we were informed, is that they will be back to play some more shows later next month (hopefully not too late ... as my wife is 7 months pregnant) !!!

Requests are taken and belted out for the encore ... "Spotlight" (or 5 minutes in Vikki's life), the country twang of "The Waif Song" and the beautiful "Shiny Apple" clap-a-long to finish off a great evening.

Another big thank you to the band for again signing more cds for us backstage afterwards. These are now on their way to net friends far away ...

What else ... I didn't mention Josh's amazing guitar work ... but then again everyone knows what a maestro he is and we tend to take him for granted. He never says a word, but he sure writes some great songs. Don't he look cool with the new sideburns too ... Peace Josh !!!

Oh and next time gals and guys ... anywhere but The Globe please (seriously). The long room can be a tad uncomfortable when it gets as packed as it does for a band this good. Sardines need some TLC too ...

The Waifs Gigs

Catalogue of shows