David McComb, who passed away in 1999 at the age of 36, was the lead singer and songwriter of The Triffids. The band began their career in Perth in the late 1970s and broke up in 1989, and although McComb released a solo album, Love of Will, in 1994, and wrote and played with other musicians over the years, it is his first group that made him his reputation. The ripple that goes out from great art – especially when it is undervalued in its time – has a tendency to grow and spread, and this has been the case with the music of The Triffids. Now, 10 years after McComb’s death, two books appear from Fremantle Press. Vagabond Holes: David McComb & The Triffids is a collection of reminiscences and essays – filled with good intentions but not always good writing. Far better, and far more unexpected, is the arrival of a collection of poetry from David McComb entitled Beautiful Waste