Waifs set to return to where it all started...

It has been 23 years since iconic Australian band The Waifs formed as a three-piece in Broome, with the world-renowned group set to return to the Kimberley town next month as part of a highly anticipated WA tour.

It has been a whirlwind journey for the trio, who have released their seventh album, Beautiful You, and will wow a Broome audience with a mix of new material and all the old favourites.

Sisters Donna Simpson and Vicki Thorn first travelled from Albany to Broome as 20 and 16-year-olds back in 1992, where they met guitarist Josh Cunningham and immediately struck it off.

The trio formed one of Australian music’s most recognisable bands of a generation and have had worldwide success since.

Over the years the band’s style and sound has evolved, with appreciation and an ardent following all over the globe.

The Waifs have won four Australian Recording Industry Awards and have played alongside and with some of the most prestigious artists of the modern day.

The band finished their Temptation Tour at the Mangrove Resort Hotel in Broome back in 2011 – which proved to be their last show for three years.

The Waifs songstress Vicki Thorn toldThe Broome Advertiser that the gig in 2011 had the potential to be their last.

“We did that show in Broome four years ago as the last gig of our tour – something about that gig felt like we might have come full circle,” she said.

“After that Broome gig we didn’t play for three years and we didn’t really know whether we would play again but we finally decided to get back together and start to tour.

“We found there was a renewed love and passion for it and we wanted to keep going.”

Beautiful You has won acclaim from the critics already, with Thorn revealing a different method to writing the album this time round.

“We tried to write this album together, we set aside some time and rented a house on the south coast,” she said.

“The band has never written a song together, we always write independently so I had the idea of writing a whole album together – but we got down there and we couldn’t do it and couldn’t find our mojo together – it was really strange and funny.

“We ended up writing a heap of songs there but it would be one of us going off to the bedroom, writing a song and coming back to the kitchen table and playing it.

“That’s how the album came about; it wasn’t the collaborative process that we were looking for but it happened anyway.”

The first single, 6000 Miles, sees Thorn contemplate the distance between her old home in Albany and her new one in Utah, USA.

Thorn said the new album had fitted into the band’s back catalogue perfectly and the new material had been a hit in recent shows.

“It is fairly common in The Waifs’ songs but this theme of being away from home, travelling, longing – that’s what we do, that seems to be what we write about,” she said.

“Lyrically and emotionally the songs haven’t taken a big change, but it’s an upbeat album. The first few songs are fairly nostalgic and melancholic but from there it gets pretty upbeat.

“Sometimes when you tour a new album or play a bunch of new songs there is a bit of dead space in the gig where people are waiting for the old stuff but we haven’t had that happen at all. They’ve fitted into the set seamlessly.”

The Beautiful You tour will see the band perform seven gigs in the space of ten days across WA.

This will start in Kalgoorlie and see the band head to Perth before travelling up the coast to Broome – all in a camper van.

“It sounds like The Waifs of old – it is going to be a bit different as they have got us a gig most nights but I’m really looking forward to driving that coastline again,” Thorn said.

“It will be a new and fun experience that we haven’t had for a long time.

“Hopefully they have scheduled us some nice stops where we can get out and go for a swim or yell at each other and we are not just in the van the whole time. It will be a road trip – we will make it fun.”

Thorn said that she hoped WA audiences would relate to the new material, but that an eclectic mix of the band’s material would be on offer.

“The new stuff is rockin’ - it will be a fun show,” she said.

“This is our seventh album so we’ve got a lot of material to choose from to keep it upbeat. It is fun to put together these outdoor shows and put together a really rockin’ set.

“We always play the standard favourites but we have also been throwing in a few really old obscure songs as well that people don’t hear often.”

Thorn admitted that the band are looking forward to getting back to Broome, which still holds a nostalgic and special place in her heart since the band was formed here all those years ago.

“There is a lot of history there and a lot of connection,” she said.

“We always ask for Broome to be the last gig so we can hang out there. I don’t have that much time this time round because my family is not going to be with me.

“My thing when I go to Broome is I just want to go fishing and camping.”

The Waifs will play at the Roebuck Bay Hotel on Sunday, September 20. Tickets and more information is available at www.thewaifs.com.