The trio behind the anthemic “Blister in the Sun” will conduct their most extensive tour of Australia for the first time in 12 years and Wollongong is on the list.

Bassist Brian Ritchie said it’s “gratifying” that they’ve created a piece of musical history that he calls “just a fluke”.

“Two days ago I saw a bunch of really young teenage kids … and they were walking around singing it,” he said.

“Just to see this thing that’s almost become a folk song now, they may not even know who made it but they know the song. So it’s a great feeling.”

He said singer Gordon Gano wrote the song and his iconic riff was just a standard jazz riff and nothing new.

After parting ways for seven years the Femmes reformed in 2013 after being asked to perform at Coachella, “one of the most important music festivals in the world”.

“It was so much fun and it was great to re-engage with the audience and we found a lot of our big differences had dissipated,” he said.

“I’m amazed a psychiatrist or psychologist hasn’t already written a book about the dynamics of what it’s like to be in a rock band because it pretty much plays out the same way in almost every band.”

Australia is one of Ritchie’s favourite places to tour. Not because he now calls Australia home after living in Tasmania for over a decade, but because he said he can connect with the people and culture.

“It’s always our favourite tour because you go to Sydney and you could spend a whole week there playing the suburbs and all these different venues, Melbourne is the same. Whereas in the States and Europe it’s definitely one night stands and it’s more grueling,” he said.

“We were one of the first of our generation of bands to come to Australia in 1984. So the impact that we had generated a lot of good will that’s carried over.”

Ritchie fell in love with this big brown land when the group first toured in 1984 but was constrained by musical and family obligations to stay in the States until later in life.

“When me and my wife decided to apply for permanent residency it was a grim time in political history when [George W] Bush was the president, and I thought if this guy was the president who knows what might happen next,” he said.

“Everybody who thought we were crazy for moving to Tasmania from New York City now thinks we’re prophets.”

Violent Femmes + supports, Waves Wollongong, March 24. Tickets on sale via: www.towradgibeachhotel.com.au