Thornbird is the moniker of Vikki Thorn, one third of Australian Folk band The Waifs. With 30 years of recording, touring & performing under the belt she takes her maiden flight this year with her solo album titled ‘ThornBird’. Featuring 12 songs written in the deserts of Utah USA, where Vikki called home for 12 years with her husband and young family and Albany, Western Australia where Vikki is now reconnecting after so many years abroad and constant touring.
“I had some stories to tell & I don’t know how to do anything else. Something about songs sitting around in a box or unlabeled voice memos seems like an abandoned game of solitaire. May as well finish up and put your cards away - fortunately the cards lined up and I wanted to,” Vikki said on writing the album.
“I wanted to make an album that has its own sway and swagger, untethered from a musical past that was defined by a couple of hippy kids traveling in a camper van and went on to have a hit song and win a couple of ARIAs. It’s a good story and it still is a great journey. As a musician and a mother I’ve lived a few lives since, this collection of songs reflect that,” she continued.
‘ThornBird’ side steps the confessional folk of The Waifs to indulge in her love for americana and roots music, country and blues folk. It is with a slightly heavier groove that she moves out on her own.
From the opening line of Track 1 ‘That Kinda Man’, a dirty blues song Thorn describes as not ‘nice or popular’, her vocal is at breaking point as she wails to the world about “her kind of man”. While underneath the irreverent guitar playing of Luke Dux, heavy drums and double bass hold a slow blues pace. It’s a live and in-your-face ‘kinda’ thing and almost feels as though she is making an opening statement with her middle finger firmly upright and a wry smile on her face. She brings the song to a close with her Waif trademark - a wailing blues harmonica solo.
From here on the album gets comfortably free form with Thorns’ strong voice at the helm, soaring and caressing, smooth to 30 grit, backed by a chorus of male vocal harmonies and guitar hooks. Piano, organ, trumpet and strings appear throughout the record.
The songs meander between the ‘Stones - esque vibe’ of ‘Bullets and Heartache’, a wild west ode to love and relationships with big vocal harmonies, to the laid back calypso of the feel-good singalong ‘All The Things’, before settling into the sensual rumba of ‘Big Girl Pants’, a song Thorn credits with being a personal mantra to get her through a pandemic.
For the band her first choice was Ben Franz (bass player with The Waifs). He was in WA and the two started gigging together as a duo, all the while Thorn was keeping her ears open and reconnecting with the Perth music scene.
“Even though I am from WA I hadn’t lived here for 25 years so I didn’t know a lot of local players,” Vikki said. “One night in my hometown I went to the pub and these guys from Perth were playing some dirty blues/folk in the corner. They were swaying around with their instruments not paying attention to anyone that cared to listen. It was loose, so loose that it felt like they were skating, but they rode that edge for an hour. You can tell when a band has been playing together for a long time - the music is a natural conversation It was raw and edgy. I wanted to make a record with these guys.”
These guys were Perth stalwarts Luke Dux (The Floors, Kill Devil Hills) on guitar and Todd Pickett (Kill Devil Hills & Southern River Band) on drums. Thorn reached out and they were keen. With Ben Franz on bass and pedal steel guitar, the studio band was formed. The album was recorded over 7 days in November 2020 at RADA Studios with Dan Carroll (Southern River Band) in the producer/engineer seat.
“I didn’t know Dan and I didn’t know he was close friends with the players I’d found. This was really helpful for me to get comfortable in the studio with strangers. We had just one rehearsal before heading in to record,” Vikki said. “It was recorded mostly live with about half the vocals and some instrumentation being overdubbed later. Being a live performer, I was mindful of choosing songs I knew would be fun to play live. I sing better in the moment.”
ThornBird’s players get plenty of room to shine (most tracks are well above the 4 minute mark) with lengthy solos and interplay between electric guitar (Luke Dux) and pedal steel guitar (Ben Franz) and some impressively delicate drum/percussion from Todd Pickett.
Guests on the album include Thorns husband Mat Thorn, who wrote the country hoedown ‘All I Want’ where the couple sing a sweet duet that comes to a crashing crescendo and the rocking ‘Let Her Go” which was co-written by the couple.
There are songs on the album where Thorn gets out her diary, with the haunting ‘Hells Backbone’ detailing life on the edge of the wild places. ‘Calling All Cowgirls’ is a simple but sweet homage to good friends. ‘Utah Skyline’ is a driving upbeat song evoking vast landscapes with a 70’s era harmony vibe. (think: America). ‘Tempest’, the first single, gets a full run here at 5.30 minutes. The ballad of the truck stop waitress dreaming of moving to Sydney becomes fully realized with some beautiful guitar work by Luke Dux. On ‘Like A Child’ Thorns’ inner Waif shines through on this upbeat folk blues, with a bass line that’s hard not to move to.
ThornBird closes the album with the (almost) 7 minute ballad ‘Rough Patch’. Vikki describes the song: “I love this track but deliberated whether to leave it off because it’s a dark end to a record that’s fairly light in mood throughout. But this whole album was born into a pandemic so I thought I may as well see it all the way through and end this thing with the damn pandemic.”
ThornBird’s debut album further showcases the enduring quality of her songwriting and artistry. The intertwining influence of the American desert sands and the salty Australian air present a spectacular evolution of an artist that has already embedded herself into the veins of music lovers across the world.