Send "The Triffids " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 If one wants to be lazy about things and discount the Triffids completely, they could describe the band as the missing link between the Go-Betweens and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. While there are instances in which the late David McComb and co. have married the classic pop sensibilities of the former to the widescreen drama of the latter, writing the band off in this way overlooks all the unique and original flavors the Triffids brought to Australian music. The Triffids dealt more explicitly with Australia as an idiosyncratic and isolating continent than their peers. Songs about trekking across expanses of undisturbed land on your lonesome were made universal and palpable by the band’s accessible melodies and McComb’s compelling voice. The Triffids were also a band that dabbled in many styles—from indie pop to bluesy rock to country to new wave and soul—all which are covered on Wide Open Road: The Best of the Triffids. Following the titular “Wide Open Road”, The Best of lays out highlights from the band’s back catalogue in a roundabout stab at chronology. Debut album Treeless Plain is represented by tough ballad “Red Pony”, then is interrupted by the unabashed pop excellence of “Reverie” (from an EP of the same name that was released one year later) and the string-filled single “Beautiful Waste”, previously absent from all Triffids studio albums and EPs. Its b-side, the somewhat funky anti-drug stomper “Property is Condemned”, shows up on Wide Open Road as well, with another Treeless Plain track, “Hell of a Summer”, wedged in between....full text |
| Contactmusic |
| The Triffids were born, post Punk fest in Perth's Leederville Town Hall, after a day long existence as Logic, and following on from their formative multimedia based early life as, firstly, Daisy and then Blok Music. 1978 saw the band start in earnest after some of their early work had met with generally unfavourable responses. The driving force behind the Triffids, David McComb, was determined the band would succeed, even to the extent of trying to pursued band members to sideline their education for the good of the band. The early years were spent gigging extensively, clocking up many miles travelling between Sydney, Melbourne and their home town of Perth. From 1978 to 1983 they managed to gain a following through putting out 6 independently produced cassettes which they sold at gigs and local record stores. Up until '83 however they only had limited label backing, releasing two EP's and a single. Their debut album was to arrive in November 1983 and was titled 'Treeless Plain'. From here on in until their last studio release, the Stephen Street produced 'Black Swan', is where The Triffids grew, where they gained their reputation and where David McComb, the main songwriter and front man with 'the voice of an outback preacher', shone. Regarded by many as a seminal Australian band, The Triffids material was often well received but was never as commercially successful as some of their antipodean contemporaries. This would be a significant factor in the bands eventual break up in 1989. David McComb, posthumously, and The Triffids, have subsequently been inductees into Australia's Hall Of Fame....full text |
| Musicomh |
| Although they were the archetypal cult band during their career, enjoying only the briefest sniff of mainstream acceptance, the Triffids' reputation has continued to grow since their demise in 1989. Add in the untimely death of lead singer and main songwriter David McComb (one of rock music's great doomed romantics) in 1999 at the criminally young age of 36, and it is hardly surprising that the group has begun to attract more attention. McComb's story may provide the backdrop to the Triffids, but it is the music he and his cohorts produced during their short career that is the real reason for the band's longevity. Active in various forms since the late '70s, and in their early years releasing scores of independent cassettes (highlights from which can be heard on the companion release to this album, the daunting 10-CD box set Come Ride With Me), the Triffids were originally a muscular indie rock band with McComb coming on like a backwoods preacher in full flow....full text |
The Triffids lyrics
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