The Triffids

The Triffids, an Australian folk-pop outfit, came together in Perth during 1980 when singer/songwriter David McComb joined forces with his brother Robert on guitar and violin plus drummer Alsy MacDonald. McComb’s compositions, while rooted primarily in the Velvet Underground, also reflected the bleak isolation of his rural background, blending country and blues textures to evoke stark scenes of solitude and desire.

Although the early lineup saw frequent personnel shifts, the founding trio stayed constant. Martyn Casey and keyboardist Jill Birt joined shortly before the band cut its 1983 debut album Treeless Plain for the Hot label; the EP Raining Pleasure appeared the next year. Steel guitarist Evil Graham Lee’s arrival signaled a new phase, and 1986’s Born Sandy Devotional marked the Triffids’ artistic peak. After tracking the economical follow-up In the Pines inside a wool-shearing shed in the Australian outback, the group moved to Island Records and released the 1987 masterpiece Calenture, its first effort featuring guitarist Adam Peters.

The 1989 album The Black Swan, produced by Stephen Street, fell short of commercial hopes, prompting the band’s dissolution; the live set Stockholm surfaced the following year. David McComb subsequently collaborated with the Blackeyed Susans and launched a solo career via 1994’s Love of Will. On February 2, 1999, three days after a car accident, McComb died from undetermined causes.