The Toddlin' Time

Newcastle Herald

Thursday April 5, 2007

writes Chad Watson

THE last thing The Waifs' Josh Cunningham plans to do before walking into Newcastle's Civic Theatre this evening is turn off his mobile phone.

Cunningham has not been able to live down having an intimate musical interlude at the Civic three years ago interrupted by a succession of beeps from his mobile phone.

And the 33-year-old guitarist is unlikely to forget the on-stage faux pas in a hurry.

His bandmates, singing sisters Vikki and Donna Simpson, keep reminding him, and the embarrassing moment is captured forever on their best-selling 2004 live double-album.

"It all happened in the middle of a very poignant ballad," says Cunningham, explaining how he hid his phone, wallet and other valuables in a "man bag" behind his amplifier.

"I mean, if it was a loud rocking song you probably wouldn't have noticed it but it was such a quiet moment.

"All of a sudden all you could hear was that weird sort of electrical interference you get from mobile phones.

"What made things worse was that the noise actually came through my amp.

"Vikki just looked at me and said 'Josh, turn that bloody phone off', so I did quickly.

"It turned out to be a text message from one of my friends who's the tour manager for Missy Higgins. Of course, she had no idea I was on stage.

"Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure I won't make that same mistake again."

As Cunningham points out, Waifs shows nowadays are more likely to be interrupted by the cries of a wandering toddler.

The Simpson sisters have three young sons between them. Vikki was pregnant with the eldest, Noah, when the band last played the Civic at "that infamous phone gig".

"Noah turns three in June so he's a seasoned veteran of touring," Cunningham notes.

"The other little guys [Elijah and Franklin] have just turned one, so they seem to be happy wherever they are.

"They just sleep and eat, although they have started walking around.

"It's still pretty easy at this stage when they get to four or five it will no doubt get a bit more challenging."

The logistics of The Waifs' coming tour of Australia, which includes a stint next month supporting Keith Urban (aka Mr Nicole Kidman), will be adjusted to accommodate the toddlers, whom Donna calls "the three little drummers we have bred".

Instead of all piling into one van, like The Waifs did after they first hooked up in Broome in 1992, the band now travels in three vehicles.

The road crew takes the lead, followed by the "baby car", then the rest of the band.

"It's almost enough to make me clucky," Cunningham says. "Almost they're really cute kids but I can see that a lot of hard work is involved.

"I'm 33, the same as Vikki, and Donna is three years older, so I might wait until my life settles down a bit before I think about having any children of my own."

Life is not expected to settle any time soon, as The Waifs have just been in Nashville Urban's home town where they laid down their first studio album in four years.

Before you go thinking that The Waifs have gone all honky-tonk, Nashville happens to be the home of their American record company Compass (in Australia, they share successful independent label Jarrah with John Butler).

"Compass have been good for us," Cunningham says.

"They're a smaller company so we seem a lot more important to them, rather than getting lost in the system of a bigger company with hundreds of acts.

"They have time to devote to everyone on their books. And they're real music people, which means they are not just in the business to sell a million pop records.

"They only work with artists for whom they have a vibe, which sits well with us."

Cunningham is quick to confirm that their cache of new tunes is still diverse enough to keep them on their circuit of blues, folk, jazz, rock and world music festivals.

"Nashville is a real recording town, and not just for country," Cunningham says.

"There are so many great session players who live in Nashville it's incredible really."

With so many potential guests at their disposal, The Waifs decided to expand their instrumentation in conjunction with their co-producer, Compass owner Gary West.

A Hammond B3 organ and Wurlitzer electric piano were introduced into the mix, along with some steel guitar, while drummer David Ross MacDonald swapped the brushes for sticks and bass player Ben Franz slapped a double bass.

"You could say our music has become a bit more muscular," Cunningham says. "Rather than putting parameters on what The Waifs' sound should be, we just looked at each song and decided on the best way to flesh it out.

"There are a lot more grooves as we have stepped out of the boundaries of previous albums, but you can still tell that it's us at least I hope you can."

"There are a lot more grooves as we have stepped out of the boundaries of previous albums, but you can still tell that it's us." The Waifs play tonight at the Civic Theatre in Newcastle. Tickets $39 from the Civic Theatre box office, any Ticketek outlet or call 4929 1977. Doors open 7.30pm.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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