The Triffids

With their ornate blend of rock, folk, and country and the avidly literary songs by the band’s singer and lyricist, David McComb, The Triffids were one of the most compelling acts to emerge from Australia’s post-punk boom of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Formed in Perth in 1976 while McComb and drummer Alan “Alsy” MacDonald were still in high school, the band took their name from the invading alien plants in John Wyndham’s sci-fi classic The Day of the Triffids. By the time of their 1983 debut, Treeless Plain, The Triffids had themselves grown into a hardy unit whose sound combined the nervy tension of The Velvet Underground with the rootsier inclinations of Lee Hazlewood. After moving to London, they continued to expand their ambitions on albums such as 1986’s Born Sandy Devotional and 1987’s Calenture. Following The Triffids’ split in 1989, McComb continued as a solo artist before health problems and a car accident led to his death in 1999, but reissues and reunion shows by the surviving members extended The Triffids’ legacy into the present.