To hear bassplayer David Challenger tell it, time wasn’t on the Merry Widows’ side.

Perhaps one of Wollongong’s most-loved bands, the pop-rock-folk band was around in the early 1990s.

Made up of Challenger and the three Beniuk brothers – David (vocals and guitar), Johnno (guitar) and Tim (drums) – they won the NSW campus band comp, came second in the national final, scored Sydney management and drove endless hours in a Tarago up and down the coast supporting the big bands of the day.

They broke up in 1995 but three of the members (Tim has retired from performing) are reuniting for several shows next month.

While the band did achieve some success, Challenger reckons it could have been so much different if their timing was better.

“I sometimes think, we were one of the most unlucky bands in the history of popular music in terms of timing,” Challenger says.

“We came out about three or four years too late. Literally a month or two after we started rehearsing, grunge exploded and we just weren’t in that vibe of the music scene.

“I remember, within months, every four out of five guys at the Oxford had long hair and flannelette shirts on and were trying to look like Kurt Cobain.

“If it was 1988-89, when Crowded House was huge, it’ might have been different. So I think we were a little bit misaligned with the timing.”

But Challenger still marks that early 1990s period as one of the best times of his life – and the Merry Widows as the best band he’s been in.

“It’s been the only band that I’ve been in that’s ever really mattered,” he says.

“To be able to play with those three Beniuk brothers, everything just fitted so well. From the first rehearsal I remember thinking, ‘wow, this has got it’.”

About 18 months ago, Challenger got a reminder of that when he formed a band called The Insiders for a one-off gig in Corrimal.

That band included Johnno and David, as well as bassist Mal Wales, drummer David Crowe and keyboard player Marco Forlano – all of whom will be performing in the reunited Merry Widows.

Challenger came off the stage after that Insiders show on a high – and then realised it was probably the last gig he would ever play,

But that show also changed the minds of the other members of the Widows, who had said no to getting back together just six months earlier.

“I remember when we got off the stage after that Insiders gig and I think David turned me and said “oh, that was great’,” Challenger says.

“It’s just special for me to be playing with these guys again. It was just a special part of my life in the 1990s with the Merry Widows and I certainly didn’t think it would ever happen again.”

But it is, and for David Beniuk, the idea of being 40-something and playing rock and roll isn’t a problem at all.

“The age thing is more about ‘can we get through an hour and a half on stage without running out of puff’,” Beniuk says.

“I don’t subscribe to that idea that you’re too old to play rock and roll and you’re immature if you’re still doing it.

“It’s what we love doing. Even though we’ve got a lot of other things on our plates, there’s not many things better than playing in a band when it’s cooking. We’re still making music and we still love making it.”

Preparing for the reunion shows has been tricky because, while the rest of the band is in Wollongong, Beniuk lives in Tasmania. The full band won’t play together until a few days before that first show.

And then there’s crossing the divide of 20-odd years to try and remember the damn songs. Even Beniuk, who wrote almost all of them, is struggling with that.

“There are some i have not played since that last gig in 1995,” he says.

“Some of them I didn’t even remember that we did.

“I used to always be able to visualise something about writing each song. I could think of a  song that I wrote and visualise some aspect of where I wrote it or why I wrote it.

“Some of these I’ve struggled to do that with.”

For Beniuk, his memories of the Merry Widows are mixed – he thought the band was great but quickly tired of the grind.

“It was a very hectic few years, especially after we got signed and were playing three or four nights a week all over the state,” Beniuk says.

“And we all had jobs or study too. It was a great experience but it was also a bit of a grind by the end of it to be continuing to open for other acts.

“That’s why we finished, because it was a bit of a grind and we were getting sick of that. Our manager wanted to invest in a second EP and we didn’t want him to put his money into it if our hearts weren’t in it.

“So I think we decided to pull the pin.”

Challenger remembers a different breaking point, which is understandable – it’s been more than 20 years. For him it was waiting to see if BMG, one of country’s biggest labels, was going to sign them.

“I remember thinking, after this long, if we get disappointed, it will kind of kill us,” he says.

“And that’s what happened – they passed. That was about mid ’94 and we were only together for another five or six months.”

The band is only playing four shows next month – but it seems further shows down the line haven’t been ruled out.

“No one’s discussed anything after this,” Beniuk says.

“We do like to make new music and we’ve found in recent years that we enjoy doing that together.

“It’s probably a case of never say never, but I don’t know.”

It’s the same story from Challenger.

“I honestly don’t know - I have a feeling we’ll just see how it goes. Never say never.”

The Merry Widows Wollongong shows are on July 1 at The Illawarra Brewery and a double-header with ’80s Wollongong legends Svegies Vegies at Dicey Riley’s on July 9.

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