Review: ThornBird at Mojos Bar
Thornbird at Mojos Bar
w/ Jez Mead
Friday, October 16, 2026
Aside from the music, there was plenty to be excited about at Mojos Bar in North Fremantle last Friday night, thanks to a sold-out performance by Vikki Thorn’s solo venture, ThornBird. Not only was it a rare Fremantle appearance for the Thorn-fronted collective of local musical luminaries, but the evening also came with an enticing promise of much more to come. The outing was the perfect opportunity for The Waifs’ founding member to give a new single, Lionheart, a live airing, with Thorn informing the audience the song is also a precursor to a new album she is currently recording.
It’s been four years since ThornBird’s self-titled debut release. With Thorn having brought a batch of songs with her when she returned to Western Australia after over a decade residing in Utah, she supplemented those with a handful of lockdown compositions. After venturing into Dan Carroll’s West Perth Rada Studios, the resulting album was unquestionably one of the finest releases of 2022. But, in taking the album to the road, Thorn then needed to gather an ensemble of musicians as formidable as the record, which was one of the other exciting aspects of ThornBird’s Friday night performance: the band.
With Thorn animatedly and persuasively leading the collective on vocals, acoustic guitar, and harmonica, Tony Bourke beautifully shimmered on keyboards while Luke Dux’s perfectly tempered electric and tenor acoustic guitar both growled and purred as the moment demanded. With Todd Pickett’s drumming and percussion providing a mesmerising display of synergy and Ryan Dux beautifully tagging in for Ben Franz on bass, the five-piece evocatively commanded every musical moment. From the gusto of songs like Shut Your Mouth to the soulful seduction of That Kinda Man and the restrained angst of Rough Patch, ThornBird’s musical execution was eloquent, faultless and seductive.
Not only would ThornBird be a hard act to follow, but one also imagines it’s not an easy task opening for them either. On that front, Jez Mead was pitch perfect. The Beverley-based Byron Bay exile was as captivating and enchanting as he was masterfully eccentric. Take his closing song, Lost, for example. Fueled by a blues-drenched crescendo of acoustic guitar, the song started with a cascading procession of rhythmically picked notes before morphing into a spellbinding flurry of schizophrenic strumming and stomp box, all the while encompassing interludes into Leadbelly and Bob Marley.
Upon taking to the stage, Mead was quick to throw forth the celebrated ballad Devil from his 2010 album, Beard of Bees. In its recorded form, the song stands as a gorgeous duet with Julia Stone, but Mead’s beguiling solo rendition on this occasion left nothing wanting. Next the singer-songwriter turned to Billy Idol for a deftly executed and hauntingly captivating acoustic rendition of the seminal White Wedding. And, by the time he followed that up with a story about sneaking on stage at a Woodford performance by The Waifs and dancing the worm, Mead then performed a song anthologising the experience and had the Mojos audience well and truly in his keeping. The sprightly Sucker was equally as virtuous and well received before Mead closed out his impeccably executed set with the epic musical travelogue of Lost.
After opening their set with Bitter Creek, ThornBird immediately dived into a faultless rendition of the new single, Lion Heart, a soulful and timely ballad that reassures us that the most courageous thing to do is often to avoid conflict. The composition’s empathetic nuance quickly gave way to the more familiar and musically assertive overtones of Big Girl Pants, a song drawn from ThornBird’s debut album. The band then stayed with the record for a trio of soulful country-esque songs, including Like a Child, Tempest, and Utah Skyline, before laudably venturing back into newer terrain with the alluring Side by Side.
Thorn then invited Bex Chilcott of Ruby Boots fame to the stage for a performance of their co-write, Middle of Nowhere from the 2014 Ruby Boots album, Solitude. While Thorn explained how the genesis of the song came about after Chilcott cold-called her in Utah about writing together, Chilcott said the inspiration for the song came after treacherously venturing many hours south from Salt Lake City to the Thorns’ remote Southern Utah ranch. With Chilcott’s tempered strumming bolstered by Thorn’s sultry harmonica (perfectly substituting the lap steel of the recorded version), the duo’s performance of the song was nothing short of sublime.
Love is a Sun was a revelation, as was Little Red Hen, while segregating those two compositions came the more familiar gospel-soaked tones of That Kinda Man. ThornBird then ventured into more countrified territory with All I Want, a duet penned by Thorn’s husband, Matt, but tonight performed with Pickett on vocals. Bullets and Heartache and All the Things were presented at their impeccable best before Rough Patch stole the show. The exquisitely haunting closing track to ThornBird’s debut album not only highlighted Thorn’s dramatic and seemingly boundless vocal conviction but also the band’s understated musical mastery, providing an evocative end to a rousing set.
A new ThornBird recording is unquestionably long overdue. But what tonight also excitedly suggested are more live outings from this exquisite ensemble.
BRETT LEIGH DICKS
Photos by Brett Leigh Dicks
