Dave seemed to know very early on that what he was doing was important enough to document. So every cassette that was recorded, no matter how shonky the actual sounds it contained might have been, came with full credits and art work, lyrics etc. This history of The Triffids takes us through the early years […]

GLOSSARY Aspro House – acid house or house music Bevvies on board, to get some – tanked, loaded, smashed, shitfaced, normalised, relaxed, recovered Brocked up – fully accessorised and decorated Brocked up Colour Viewer – TV Bugner, Bugnerise – can mean almost anything, but often broken or knackered (derived from Aust. boxer Joe Bugner) Club Fartsack – bed, to sleep, bedroom […]

Dave wrote this publicity blurb for his only solo album (released in 1994 and very hard to get). I wonder what his label at the time, Mushroom, thought about the summation of songs. Not your normal publicity sweetening for our David. I’m pretty sure the publicist’s handbook recommends steering clear of such words as sickening […]

Behind the garages of this country there are tires choked by grass. Sad. But, listen, there’s a woman behind the counter selling petrol and road-food. You can count on her; Underwritten by a weariness two thousand miles across, limbs set to burst with dust. She’ll be serving here (looking out the back door at the […]

The skies have broken out in a rash. Nocturne, the hairy illegitimate bastard-beast is skidding rampant loose on its claws on the city’s linoleum undersides The certain girl with moonlight in her arms (I have been watching her) feels sick from eating too many figs, grapes, cherries and pomegranates And her menstruation cramps crumple her […]

You don’t have to speak or make love to someone to become friends. You don’t even have to see each other in person, although it occasionally helps, if only from a distance. Heaven knows, it is even possible to conduct a friendship without the writing or exchanging of letters – even though it is true […]

“You think of everything my dear,” Frances said, an I noticed red abrasions on the skin at the base of her fingernails, “but you do not think of me”. The room was getting dark, I was tired an nervy, she was getting anaemia; bad diet, working too hard, not enough sleep, you know, burning the […]