It was a great pleasure to receive in the post this morning the collection of writings on or for David McComb and The Triffids, Vagabond Holes, edited by Chris Coughran and Niall Lucy. The book has been a while coming due to the vagaries of the publishing world rather than the sterling work done by the two editors (though at last it found the perfect – and most appropriate – slot with Fremantle Press, just up the road from the cover of Born Sandy Devotional). It contains an unusual cast of characters: fellow musicians, poets, cultural critics and historians as well as variously well-placed people around the music world and presents visual images, memoirs, critical accounts, poems and other moments of illumination, all of it a testament to the regard in which David McComb is held. I can’t say how pleased I was to be invited aboard on the strength of a mention the band received in my long poem ‘Ornithology’. I noted the song ‘Chicken Killer’ but it could have been one of many other pieces The Triffids produced, like, say, ‘Hell of a Summer’ or Jerdacuttup Man’. They were a great band and it’s good to see that their work is mostly available again after languishing awhile in copyright neverland. The book will be on sale from September 1st and can be ordered through http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/ or the US and UK Amazon sites. Published simultaneously is Beautiful Waste, a collection of David McComb’s poems.Monday, 27 July 2009
vagabond holes
It was a great pleasure to receive in the post this morning the collection of writings on or for David McComb and The Triffids, Vagabond Holes, edited by Chris Coughran and Niall Lucy. The book has been a while coming due to the vagaries of the publishing world rather than the sterling work done by the two editors (though at last it found the perfect – and most appropriate – slot with Fremantle Press, just up the road from the cover of Born Sandy Devotional). It contains an unusual cast of characters: fellow musicians, poets, cultural critics and historians as well as variously well-placed people around the music world and presents visual images, memoirs, critical accounts, poems and other moments of illumination, all of it a testament to the regard in which David McComb is held. I can’t say how pleased I was to be invited aboard on the strength of a mention the band received in my long poem ‘Ornithology’. I noted the song ‘Chicken Killer’ but it could have been one of many other pieces The Triffids produced, like, say, ‘Hell of a Summer’ or Jerdacuttup Man’. They were a great band and it’s good to see that their work is mostly available again after languishing awhile in copyright neverland. The book will be on sale from September 1st and can be ordered through http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/ or the US and UK Amazon sites. Published simultaneously is Beautiful Waste, a collection of David McComb’s poems.
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Just checked out The Triffids on Spotify - you should try this application Laurie - free music (if you can put up with the occasional ad...
It's worth noting that there's still a lot of unavailable Triffids music out there. While some of the early EPs (recorded between Treeless Plain and Born Sandy Devotional) are now gathered together the very early material, mostly released on cassette isn't. Nor are a number of the later B-sides, 12 inchers, and cover projects (like the great version of 'Good Morning, Good Morning' that appeared on an NME vinyl album in 1987 celebrating 20 years since Sgt Pepper. Oh, and one strange coincidence, noted from the Vagabond Holes book: in the mid-nineties David McComb was studying postgraduate fine arts at Melbourne University at the same time that I was doing so myself. But that's postgraduate life - I didn't know about it and didn't ever meet him.
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