In the years that followed, the outfit would tour internationally throughout America and Europe. It all rocketed for The Waifs with the release of 2004’s Up All Night, which features hit singles Lighthouse and London Still. Fast-forward to today, andCunningham is full of excitement for the upcoming tour around Australia in support of Beautiful You, where they’ll be performing a run of shows with Sal Kimber and Mia Dyson.
“The tour is going to be fantastic,” Cunningham says. “It’ll be great to head out to both regional towns as well as busy city centres. We’ve just finished playing in the US and the songs are really taking off live.
“This batch of songs seem to have an instant resonance with people and we feel really positive about that,” he continues. “Sometimes, you make the album and you won’t play the track before you hit the road and they take a while to settle in. I feel we are in a really positive position heading into this run of shows.”
Beautiful You is a record that sees the band head into new territory. Musically, it’s the most expansive and adventurous product The Waifs have released to date, and to make things interesting, the band turned to different production techniques for the album’s final 12 tracks.
“Up until now, the three of us have individually written songs for an album and brought them to the table to work on. To spice things up a little, we decided to try and write some songs all together,” says Cunningham. Part of this process involved getting each member to name the worst song that they’d ever written. “It created an uneasy feeling and tension and allowed us to try some different writing exercises,” he says. “It didn’t really work, though, and we ended up reverting back to how we have written since the early ‘90s.”
Heading into Byron’s Studio 301, The Waifs looked to Nick DiDia – who’s worked with the likes of Powderfinger, The Living End and Bruce Springsteen, to capture the classic sound the band has worked tirelessly perfecting over the years. The result is a glittering, emotionally charged record that talks about the band’s old home in Australia and their new abodes through the US, complete with delicate and honest songwriting.
“He [DiDia] brought a new lease on life to the songs and took them in a direction that we may not have explored had he not produced it. I think DiDia’s real emphasis is on rhythm sections and guitar. I spent a lot of time with him working on guitar parts and what fitted into which part of the songs. I think that was important to create a stronger album, where I would have just overdubbed a guitar solo here and there previously. DiDia’s really into getting a vibe and an energy to the music, and really thinks we hit the mark with Beautiful You”
BY TEX MILLER
