Writer, broadcaster and director Jonathan Alley took thirteen years putting together his documentary Love in Bright Landscapes. Delayed by Covid, his magnum opus of a music doco has finally hit independent cinemas in Australia and across the globe.

As someone of a similar age to the late David McComb and his band The Triffids, this film had an emotional pull that I underestimated.

As a native of WA, there are very clear characteristics that only ‘Sandgropers’ can understand about growing up in the world’s most isolated city.

The film evoked a lot of memories of my childhood, as well as why I fell so in love with The Triffids after leaving home at 17 to join the army in a moment of rebellious desperation.

WA in the 60’sand 70’s was a bland place. Flat, dry, dusty, conservative and boring.

The positive from all that dullness was that we had to use our imaginations and explore the spectacular beaches and native bushland, creating our own fun. A ‘Huck-Finn’ like existence if you will.

How conservative? Well the long standing Premier at the time, Sir Charles Court was planning to  build a road between Perth and Brisbane direct, in cahoots with the maniacal Qld Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke Peterson in order to secede from the other states.

Presumably they hoped to tunnel through Uluru in the process.

The Triffids emerged in the early 80’s on the back of some excellent bands from Perth such as The Hoodoo Gurus, Chads Tree, The Stems and The Scientists, but The Triffids were very different.

They seemed to sound almost like a European band of the time. Lots of light and shade, dramatic, orchestral at times and intelligent, thoughtful lyrics delivered by a powerful and charismatic front man.

The first three releases, Raining Pleasure, Treeless Plain and Born Sandy Devotional hooked me immediately.

Even though the lyrics didn’t necessarily relate to WA, the songs took me back to salt water, unrelenting heat, burning your feet on the beach, ‘double-gee’ prickles and something that is so unique to WA, long distance travel.

Before the highways that are now established, nothing in WA was ‘close’, and in fact even now whenever I get a chance to go home, I forget just how far everything is to get to compared to the east coast. Sandgropers don’t talk in kilometres, but hours or beers.

It’s why The Triffids Wide Open Road is such a seminal song. Yes it’s about revenge but for me it encapsulates what it is to be a West Australian. The film clip contains the sweet smoke stacks of my home town of Kwinana 🙂

The Triffids had critical acclaim in the UK and Europe but failed to achieve major commercial success. The highs and lows are well documented here, as are David’s health issues, battles with alcohol and untimely death.

I really loved the frankness and honesty of the band’s keyboardist Jill Birt and David’s partner Jo which allowed us to get to know David a bit more intimately. Also the footage of David’s childhood is nostalgic and quite beautiful.

There is an extraordinary amount of insights into a complex and brilliant artist who at 37, left us way too early.

His commitment to his art and how he arranged words and music reminded me of Brian Wilson, someone who also faced enormous challenges but could somehow produce heavenly songs. Unfortunately that search for perfectionism, like Wilson can become debilitating.

David was fearless in his approach and seemingly had no limitations to what he set himself to achieve. Inevitably with such an obsession to one’s craft comes flaws and David’s are covered in the film openly and honestly.

David was a true original and The Triffids will forever take their place as one of the most influential bands of my generation. Thanks Jonathan for getting this stunning homage to a great artist to the screen.

Love in Bright Landscapes is on limited release at independent cinemas and there is a comprehensive website:
https://www.loveinbrightlandscapes.com

This is the trailer: