After three decades on the road, The Waifs are set to kick off their latest tour in the Riverina

Despite having spent more than three decades performing music for fans at home and abroad, Vikki Thorn admits that she still gets nervous on the eve of a tour.

“There’s an excitement, but I keep thinking, can I still do this?” she said with a laugh.

“I don’t know why, but I think as I’ve gotten older, the idea of just walking on a stage with a room full of people looking at you sometimes feels terrifying!”

Vikki is one third of the iconic Aussie band The Waifs along with her older sister Donna Simpson and guitarist Josh Cunningham, and the trio will be kicking off their 2025 regional tour in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday tonight (12 March).

The Waifs have been performing together since 1992 and Vikki said it was people’s connection to their music that kept the band together.

“We all love what we do, but as an artist or as a musician, you can never take for granted that it’s just going to continue forever, and this band has gone way beyond whatever expectations we had,” she mused.

“Every year, I think – surely everyone’s heard enough! Are people going to come back this time? So it’s really incredible to me that we still get to go out and tour and shows still sell out. That’s just remarkable.”

The 17-date tour includes Albury, Queanbeyan and Swan Hill, and the band will join the SummerSalt Festival line-up to play a string of shows alongside the likes of Missy Higgins, John Butler and The Whitlams.

“These festivals like SummerSalt have these great line-ups and all these bands that are great drawcards, but I do think it’s really important that those festivals take that opportunity to put up-and-coming artists on those bills as well because that next generation needs a leg-up,” Vikki said.

“The Waifs are really lucky that we have this incredible audience, but I know a lot of artists who are struggling with the cost of touring, the cost of putting on festivals, paying crew, paying musicians.

“I think there’s still a willing audience for live music, but it’s just the cost of everything has gone up so it can be hard to get out there.”

Despite an impressive eight studio albums, it’s The Waifs’ live shows that continue to resonate and Vikki said the interaction with the audience was part of what made a great show.

“My sister Donna and I are so different and she likes to cross boundaries and break the fourth wall,” she said.

“She takes some risks and invites the audience into a space, like as an artist on stage in a theatre. It’s dark and you can’t see anyone, but it’s really nice when someone calls out from the darkness and gets a bit vocal.

“A good gig is also about those moments when, as musicians and artists, we are all on the same page and in the same space in the song.”

The Waifs’ last album, ”Ironbark”, was recorded in 2017 and in the meantime, the members have embarked on other projects.

Asked whether there were any plans to reunite in the studio, Vikki said it was a definite maybe.

“The album I’d like The Waifs to do is the one that we’ve never done, which is the one we write together,” she said.

“We’ve always just put forward our individual songs and The Waifs’ material is a collection of three individual writers.

“My dream for The Waifs is for us to collectively write an album and I hope that we can make it happen!”

The Waifs are performing at the Wagga Civic Theatre on Wednesday 12 March; the Albury Entertainment Centre on Thursday 13 March; the B – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre on Friday 14 March; and at the SummerSalt festival in Batemans Bay on Saturday 15 March.