WPA to perform their classic album on stage*

For the first time ever, and for one night only at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, the classic Weddings Parties Anything album Scorn of the Women will be performed live and in its entirety with original band members including Mick Thomas, Dave Steel and Mark Wallace. Michael Barclay, Jen Anderson, Paul Thomas and Stephen O’Prey will also be joining them onstage.

The show is being organised by Empire Touring as part of its Classic album series.

First released in 1984, Scorn of the Women was the debut album from folk-rock band Weddings Parties Anything. At the time of its release, renowned musicologist Billy Pinnell described it as “The best Australian rock debut since Skyhooks’ Living in the 70s”.

Thomas’s idea behind Weddings Parties Anything was to combine punk rock inspiration with his original love for the honest storytelling in folk music. The band was essentially based on a song he'd written, Away, Away, which was the first single from Scorn of the Women.

Scorn of the Women was originally recorded as an independent release, but Warner Music soon snapped it up for a major release. This was due to the huge live following that the band had cultivated from constantly touring Australia. Eight songs were written by Michael Thomas, three by Dave Steel, and one was an adaption of a poem by Berthold Brecht.

Music critic Aaron Badgley described Scorn of the Women as “having a distinct style of folk/alternative rock, with punk influences, and traditional folk songs all rolled into one beautiful sound”.

“Lyrically, the album manages to cover a great many topics, such as infanticide (The Infanticide of Marie Farrar), women’s rights (Ladies Lounge) and poverty (Hungry Years), all within a Marxist’s perspective,” he wrote.

When asked to write his list of the Top 50 songs of all time for The Sun Herald in 2003, music writer Peter Holmes placed the title track from the album, Scorn of the Women, on that list.

Mick Thomas, the band’s lead singer and main songwriter, grew up in Geelong, where he played in bush bands in his youth. In 1981, aged 21, he moved to Melbourne and after a couple of years in the city’s pub rock scene with bands such as Where’s Wolfgang and Trial, Thomas formed the first version of Weddings Parties Anything in late 1984.

“I couldn't get any rubber on the road,” he said. “By about 1983 I stopped — and that was the closest to an epiphany I had, to quit and say ‘I have to enjoy this or there’s no point’.”

The Empire Classic Album Series is the brainchild of Empire Touring’s boss, Marc Christowski.

“There is a place in the live arena for our heritage artists to continue to shine and I became very excited about the idea of presenting a series of Classic Album shows in order to remind the public that these artists are responsible for some of the greatest music to come out of Australia,” he said.

“We have already promoted two hugely successful nights with Richard Clapton and Joe Camilleri and the decision to include Weddings Parties Anything’s Mick Thomas in the concert series was a no-brainer. They will be playing all the songs from this album as well as their biggest hits, including Monday’s Experts and Fathers Day.

Weddings Parties Anything will be bringing their trademark energetic show and this special live performance of Mick Thomas to Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Saturday 9 October .

*Based on media issued by Empire Touring.