Gee muses

Donna Simpson is tired, very tired. The guitarist and vocalist with West Australian folk rockers, The Waifs, has just played three nights in a row in Melbourne, and there have been friends, lots of friends, in attendance. And then there have been after show drinks, maybe a bite to eat, perhaps a few more drinks.

“I’m older now, I can’t party like I used to,” she says. “I could say I’ve really been exerting myself on stage that would sound better. You know, Leonard Cohen is 75 and his shows have been going three hours and 50 minutes. He does have short intermissions though. Our show has been about two-and-a-half hours. It was last night, so it’s pretty long.

“We’ve been playing lots of old stuff by request and there is so much material to choose from …”

It has been 17 years.

“Seventeen fucking years,” Donna exclaims.” You get less for murder.” And laughs. She also says that none of it – the whole rise and rise of the Waifs – was ever planned. It all just kind of happened and they just added the detail.

Born and bred in Albany, WA, the Simpson sisters, Donna and Vikki (now Vikki Thorn), were touring as a duo called Colours when they met guitarist Josh Cunningham while playing in Broome. Everybody got along and a year later, in 1992, the band changed its name to The Waifs a year later and began fulfilling their ambition of touring Australia-wide.
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Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova have won the Oscar for Best Original Song for Falling Slowly from the brilliant low-budget independent hit film, Once. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer pair of people. We, at geemuses, are stoked, and congratulate Glen - the lead singer and songwriter from the mighty Irish band, the Frames - and Marketa. Now go buy their music people. Hansard and Marketa’s CD, Frames CDs, soundtrack, the lot. Even better if you can find any of the music on vinyl!
Get to it then. You won’t regret it, it’s some of the most outstanding music in the modern world.