“The Place That Don’t Exist,” the debut single from The Whiskeymen establishes the band as a musical Ghidorah of sorts with one head in the blues, one head in roots and country, and the third in rock and roll. The song’s swampy, shape-shifting vibe recalls various musical ghosts without specifically name-checking anyone — the familiar feeling you’ve been here before, yet it all smells and tastes new.
Assembled by singer/guitarist Andy Wood and drummer/keyboardist (sometimes at once!) Mick Kennedy, the band is more than a veiled partial homage to 80-proof refreshment, it’s a fermented sonic brew years in the making. “I’ve been playing with Mick for 12 or 13 years in a number of bands,” Wood notes. “But this is the first time everything is aligning with where my head is musically. We practice in an old, decommissioned commercial chicken shed that’s part of a local agricultural estate in Camden, NSW.
“It’s in a country setting, but it was re-developed internally about 15 years ago to include multiple entertaining areas, and a rehearsal space with a fully equipped sound stage. We are truly blessed to have access to this space and meet weekly for rehearsals (often with fans, family and friends attending as audience). It’s a long story as to how it all came to be, but it’s unique; it’s a situation that’s allowed us to develop over the last three years in a way we might not have been able to otherwise.”
Wood’s songs reflect the kind of refinement one might expect to be developed while nipping at double-shot or two with a guitar for company. Things are well thought out with hardly a phrase or chord progression wasted. It’s the kind of template that sets the table (or, more accurately, stocks the bar) for years to come.
