Perth high school students David McComb (acoustic and bass guitars and vocals) and Alan "Alsy" MacDonald (drums and vocal), formed Dalsy as a multimedia project in 1976, making music, books and photographs. They wrote and performed songs with Phil Kakulas on guitars and vocals, and later all three formed The Blackeyed Susans, then Blök Musik, and finally Logic, just for one day. In May 1978 they renamed themselves The Triffids, after John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic novel 'The Day Of The Triffids', and they were soon joined by Andrew McGowan on guitar and Julian Douglas-Smith on piano, and when Byron Sinclair joined on bass guitar in September, McComb switched to rhythm guitar. The band originally began partly in response to the punk rock movement, with McComb writing over 100 original songs between 1978 and 1981, and the band recorded and independently released them on six cassette tapes over those four years. By 1979, Kakulas and Sinclair had left and were replaced by David's older brother, Robert McComb on violin and guitar, and Will Akers on bass guitar, being joined in 1980 by Margaret Gillard on keyboards. In July 1981 they released their first single, 'Stand Up', on the Shake Some Action label, recorded with Mark Peters briefly replacing MacDonald on drums. Gillard and Akers left in February 1982 and were replaced by Jill Yates on keyboards and a returning Sinclair, and April saw the release of 'Reverie', a four-track EP on Resonant Records.
By mid-year Sinclair had left again, and Martyn P. Casey joined the band on bass guitar, and the four-piece of Casey, MacDonald and the McComb brothers, signed to Mushroom Records' White Label in Melbourne, and released the 'Spanish Blue' single in October 1982, followed by the 'Bad Timing And Other Stories' EP in March 1983. By this time they'd been joined by Jill Birt on piano, organ and vocals, and after being let go by Mushroom Records following the release of their last EP, they signed with new Australian independent label Hot Records. The band's self-produced debut album on the label, 'Treeless Plain', was released in November 1983 to some critical acclaim, but they decided not to release any singles from it, and so their next 7" was 1984's 'Beautiful Waste', followed by the 'Raining Pleasure' 12" EP in July. By mid-1984, The Triffids had spent so much time travelling between Perth in the west and Sydney on the east coast of Australia that they decided to travel that little bit further and headed to Europe, with the aim of giving themselves three months to make inroads into the UK. In late August 1984 the band relocated to London, where 'Treeless Plain' and 'Raining Pleasure' had been issued by Rough Trade Records to critical acclaim, and in just six months they had graced the January 1985 cover of the influential UK magazine NME. In November 1984, they recorded 'Field Of Glass', a three track 12" EP, performed mostly live in BBC Studio 5 in London, and it was released in February 1985.
In early 1985, the band acquired their final permanent member, Graham Lee, and this new line-up recorded the 'You Don't Miss Your Water' 12" EP, with the title track being a countrified version of the William Bell classic, and it was released in August by Hot Records. During 1985 the band toured Europe, with their performances being praised by the European press, but they were struggling to get a UK record deal, and so they recorded their next album, 'Born Sandy Devotional', in London with Gil Norton producing, and it was released in March 1986 on Hot Records, with 'Wide Open Road' being taken from it as the lead single. While waiting for 'Born Sandy Devotional' to be released, the band recorded 'In the Pines' in early 1986, using basic eight-track equipment in the shearing shed at the McCombs' family property in Ravensthorpe. It was issued in January 1987 and took The Triffids deeper into folk and country music, with a lo-fi sensibility reminiscent of Bob Dylan's 'Basement Tapes'. Following the critical success of their last two albums, the band were courted by several UK major record labels, eventually signing a three-record contract with Island Records in the UK in November 1986. Between April and August 1987, the band worked again with Norton, to record 'Calenture', their Island Records debut, and the album, which was released in February 1988, saw them explore themes of insanity, deception and rootlessness, with the title referring to a fever suffered by sailors during long hot voyages.
By 1988, their fame was such that NME invited them to contribute a cover version of the Beatles' song 'Good Morning Good Morning' to a tribute album, 'Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father', alongside songs by Billy Bragg and Wet Wet Wet. The Triffids wanted to record their next album in Australia, but after the 'Calenture' experience Island wanted to keep the band nearby, and so 'The Black Swan' was recorded between September and October 1988 in Somerset, UK, and produced and engineered by Stephen Street. It was well received by critics, but was not a commercial success, and the disappointment which that engendered, plus being tired from the constant travelling and touring, led to The Triffids breaking up. The group travelled to the US in 1989 for a pair of New York dates, before taking a much-needed vacation, which turned out to be permanent. It was the sad end of a much-loved band, and they are rightly regarded as one of the very best groups to come out of Australia, and so as a tribute to them, here are all the non-album tracks that they recorded during their career, and if you don't know the band and you like what you hear, then do try their official albums, as every one of them contains an abundance of superb music.
Track listing
Disc I - 1981-1984
01 Stand Up (single 1981)
02 Farmers Never Visit Nightclubs (b-side of 'Stand Up')
03 Reverie (from the 'Reverie' EP 1981)
04 Place In The Sun (original recording from the 'Reverie' EP 1981)
05 Joan Of Arc (from the 'Reverie' EP 1981)
06 This Boy (from the 'Reverie' EP 1981)
07 Spanish Blue (single 1982)
08 Twisted Brain (b-side of 'Spanish Blue')
09 Bad Timing (from the 'Bad Timing And Other Stories' EP 1983)
10 Left To Rot (from the 'Bad Timing And Other Stories' EP 1983)
11 Being Driven (from the 'Bad Timing And Other Stories' EP 1983)
12 Snake Pit (from the 'Bad Timing And Other Stories' EP 1983)
13 Beautiful Waste (single 1984)
Disc II - 1984-1987
01 Bright Lights Big City (from the 'Field Of Glass' EP 1984)
02 Monkey On My Back (from the 'Field Of Glass' EP 1984)
03 Field Of Glass (from the 'Field Of Glass' EP 1984)
04 You Don't Miss Your Water (Till Your Well Runs Dry) (single 1985)
05 Convent Walls (b-side of 'You Don't Miss Your Water (Till Your Well Runs Dry)')
06 Time Of Weakness (b-side of 'Wide Open Road' 1986)
07 Dear Miss Lonely Hearts (b-side of 'Wide Open Road' 1986)
08 Native Bride (b-side of 'Wide Open Road' 1986)
09 Baby Can I Walk You Home (b-side of 'Bury Me Deep In Love' 1987)
10 Region Unknown (b-side of 'Bury Me Deep In Love' 1987)
Disc III - 1988-1989
01 Love The Fever (b-side of 'A Trick Of The Light' 1988)
02 Bad News Always Reminds Me Of You (b-side of 'A Trick Of The Light' 1988)
03 Everything You Touch Turns To Time (b-side of 'A Trick Of The Light' 1988)
04 Good Morning, Good Morning (b-side of 'Holy Water' 1988)
05 You Minus Me (b-side of 'Falling Over You' 1989)
06 Can't Help Falling In Love (b-side of 'Falling Over You' 1989)
07 Go Home Eddie (b-side of 'Goodbye Little Boy' 1989)
08 Shell Of The Man (b-side of 'Goodbye Little Boy' 1989)
09 Rent (b-side of 'Bury Me Deep In Love' re-issue 1989)
10 Into The Groove (b-side of 'Bury Me Deep In Love' re-issue 1989)
11 Jack's Hole (bonus track from the re-issue of 'Black Swan', recordedm1989)
12 How Could I Help But Love You (bonus track from the re-issue of 'Black Swan', recorded 1989)
