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Merging Musical Past And Present With JOSH LARKIN From THE WHISKEYS · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Your name.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: My name's Josh Larkin. I'm the drummer for the Whiskeys
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: two piece. Right of a thrill of action from Tweed
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Heads Tweed Pride worldwide. We're about to drop our debut
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: EP where we get deep in the juju and bring
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: you in the deepest source of blues, rock, metal and
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: a bit of doom.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Ben that's it. May thanks for joining us.
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: Today, Runner, Thanks for having me.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Chris, my pleasure to dosh as you're saying.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: The Whiskeys release your debut EP, Old Soul Young Blood
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the next Friday, June the twentieth.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: So how do you feel about it?
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: Feeling good? Man? It's it's been in the works now.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: We recorded this maybe close to two years ago, which
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: means sitting on it. We released one track already, which
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: was Hoedown, which we're really happy with. We got good
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: feedback from that, and it's we're just ready to do
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: the EP now. We're just as life gets in the
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: way and things happen and time just goes pretty fast,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and then we were like, we better drop this thing.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: So we just made the decision and the time is
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: now next Friday.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Wait, so tell us a bit more about the EP
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: from a musical point of view and what you're going
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: for with it.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Well, we sort of we wanted to pay homage to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: some old school sort of vibe that we do, like
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: a bit of like that old soul young Blood sort
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: of which is the name of the EP, you know,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: just HARKing back to the seventies and the sixties, Hendricks,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Bob Dylan, just all the vibe that just gives modern
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: rocket soul.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: So we just tried to dig deep into that and.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Bring all our influences as well, which comes from the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: modern punk, rock and hardcore era. And we just we
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: threw it in a pot and served it up, mate,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: and this is what it is.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: No, we sort of touched on this before, but you
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: released your debut single, Hodown, which is also on the back,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: in February twenty twenty four, so it's been almost eighty
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: much between that and the EP, So were just waiting.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Was it a matter of timing? Was it a matter
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of modern get everything right before you did it?
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Like?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so matter just were We play a lot of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: shows as well. We do a lot of playing, Like
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: we played both both blues fests in between, like the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: broad Beach Blued first the Byron Bay Blued. First, we
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: just play a lot of shows all the time, so
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: it was just a matter of stopping. So, hey, we've
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: really got to just get this out and make it happen.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: So it wasn't we just play so much and Bennie's
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: in a lot of bands and I do a few
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: other things as well, and it was just like just
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: things were rolling and we were still playing so much
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: and still getting heaps of traction.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: We just had to go, hey, we better release this.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: That's all it was. That's all it was.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: We just needed to stop and make a decision. But
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: we just kept playing like we did over fifty something
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: shows last year, so that that's a lot for us
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: anyway for what we're doing. So yeah, it's just a
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: matter of stopping, really, Chris and making a decision.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Ah.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: So you mentioned before your music's got so many elements
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to it. There's rock, there's hard rock, there's metal, there's
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a bit of pump there, there's a lot of blues.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Like they're all sort of they're all a common thread
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: in the genre, wives, but getting them all to come
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  Speaker 1: together couldn't be an easy thing to do, Like, how
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: do you in the creative process.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: How do you know when the balance is right?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I guess we just sort of yeah, good question, mate,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Thanks for asking that.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: It's it's just a matter of the juju. We just
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: always say, are we in the juju?
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: You know, like that moment where you're not thinking about anything,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: you're not conscious of like oh what you know?
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  Speaker 4: You think like you lost in the music.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: And sometimes when we're there and as and I'll I'll
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: circle back and because we play so many shows a
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: lot of this material, we've actually played so much in
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  Speaker 2: two crowds, and we're like, Okay, this is getting a
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: good response, this isn't getting a good response, this song works,
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  Speaker 2: this doesn't work. So then by them, that's how it
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  Speaker 2: just sort of jelled. Well, this is what works for us.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: So mate, I've sort of hope don't answer that question.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So we've gone from crowd rest brands how we feel
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  Speaker 2: about it and what we think represents what we want
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  Speaker 2: it to sound like.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: No, So I'm going to do something a little bit
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: different here, mate, Like Eb's only got six songs on it,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: so I've got a review on it for Heavy, So
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I'm going to read you my review track by track,
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  Speaker 1: and then you just tell me if I'm on the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: right track with what I've thought about it, and then
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: tell us a bit more about the song so we know.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: It a bit more.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Is that all sure? Absolutely?
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: All right?
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I'll start off so Tweetheads Rock outfit The Whiskeys and
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: No Strangers to Heavy, having premiered their debut single Hoe
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Down through Us back in February last year.
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  Speaker 3: Back then, the band was just getting.
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  Speaker 1: Into the swing of life in the music industry machine
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and were full of hope and vigor and the fact
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: that they've waited almost sixteen months to release a full
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: body of work since unleashing their first track on the
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  Speaker 1: World Speaks volumes for their payations and determination to get
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: it right the first time around. So it is I
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: sit down and listen to The Whiskey's debut EP Old
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  Speaker 1: Soul Young Blood, a collection of four actual songs with
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  Speaker 1: a couple of bookends, the first of which is called
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Lonesome Duel. From the moment the haunting strainers of Guitar
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Field the air, there is a sense of omitous danger.
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  Speaker 1: Picture a couple of gun slingers facing each other off
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  Speaker 1: in a windswept as a chune full of unsavory characters,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the world we have just ended. But before
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the guns starts shooting loads of duel trails off into
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: the distance, leaving a lingering sense of nervous serenity. That
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: is a different but also effective way to start an EP.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: I think that you've hit that nail hard on the
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  Speaker 4: head there, Chris. That's perfectly what we're going for.
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  Speaker 2: We will go on for that gruesome sort of western,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: just greedy vibe, just an introduction, just to get people
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  Speaker 2: set for the onslaught that is about to occur.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Perfect nice.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Now, the song at started this journey, Hodown is up
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  Speaker 1: neck and launches your head first. You do a world
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: of sleeves and debauchery with a high hat run on
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  Speaker 1: drums from Josh Lark and ushering in a Chunky's fuck
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Gatar riff and send using from zero to one eighty
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: real quick while having a fast paced underbelly. It's the
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: chorus and meat and potatoes of this track that keeps
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you Champo moving. It's a subtle mixture of hard rock,
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  Speaker 1: radio friendly rock and punks ruthlessness. The shift kiars whenever
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: it likes and leaves a trail of smoke and dust
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: in its wake. Suddenly, a piercing scream from vocalist guitar
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  Speaker 1: is spenning whiskey upsets the status quo and the harder
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: wredge comes to the forward, a rapid fire display of
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  Speaker 1: everything that is right with music. It's a tough, uncompromising
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: and rebellious from starting to finish. And what's not to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: love about that?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: I think that's perfect, mate, That's exactly what we're looking
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  Speaker 2: for on that song.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: That one's got a little bit of that.
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  Speaker 2: We're wanting to just be about the soul, a little
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: bit of the party soul of the band, like we
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: just want to have a real good time and make
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: sure everyone else is having a good time. And that's
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: the tempo changes that one goes off live.
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  Speaker 4: People really love it.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: The halftime chorus and then the beat down sort of section.
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  Speaker 2: It's heavy without being overtly heavy. So I think you've
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: spot on there, mate, You've done You've done good again, mate?
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: Oh right? Two from two let's see if we can
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: fuck it.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: All right Places is listed next and has to be
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: on point to top a down, which, judging by the
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  Speaker 1: drum roll and subsequent slides sown and guitar, it appears
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  Speaker 1: to be.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Another scream of anguish from.
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  Speaker 1: Whiskey gets the ball rolling, and he could almost taste
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the rush of Jack Daniels as he suites into his
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: vocal duties to create a bluestyle number, complete with fat
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  Speaker 1: guitars and purposeful intent.
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  Speaker 3: Places rises and falls.
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  Speaker 1: With ease a time, threatening to erupt into full blown chaos,
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  Speaker 1: but shows enough restraints to merely flat with the idea
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  Speaker 1: rather than explore it fully.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: This song is kept on track.
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  Speaker 1: Courtesy You're a tempered, flowing guitar riff. The journeys into
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: psychedelic territory and doses before regressing back to the blues
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: rock swagger that simmers beneath.
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  Speaker 3: Great track.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Thanks mate, Yeah, that's probably one of my favorites, especially
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: the play. That one's good like where the other hodown
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  Speaker 2: was had a party y. This one's like the soul.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: This is the soul of the of this ho ep.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: This is it definitely deep.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: In the jujuk.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: The lyrical content from Benny, what he's talking about, it's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: And I just think over all that that song and
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: started it was a little had a little bit more
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: of a blue swing to it when we first started,
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  Speaker 2: and over it's sort of over time of playing it
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  Speaker 2: live and it just got heavier and heavier to where
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: it sits now. Sort of that and I even wanted
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to go in the very sort of last I think
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: it's sixteen bars in the outro, a little bit of
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: a homage to Vinnie Pore with a bit.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: Of rite action.
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  Speaker 2: Just that's what I was that's too, I was thinking
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  Speaker 2: about when I just played that last beat, even though
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: it's doesn't come close to it, but that's that's the energy.
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  Speaker 4: That's what we're thinking about.
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  Speaker 2: Like I was thinking about Pantera in one section, and
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: we think that that that's but it comes out as
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: it comes out now. I don't doubt anyone who ever
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: listened to it would think of Vinye Paul.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: In there.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, no time to feed the poor sounds a bit harsh,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: but obviously the whiskeys have been dizzy focusing on the CP.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: So it gets this excusable.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: A swirling guitar riff builds nicely before pausing momentarially if
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: you're a dose of unin silence, before returning with even
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: more menaces. Larkin joins in and the last train to
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: hard Rock City leaves the station. He says a winery
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: dogs type field to it accept far more on the
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: harder rock side of the fence. Vicious guitars sweep appassively
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: through as the drums maintained a steady beat that occasionally
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: speeds up to keep pace with Whiskey's urgency. If there's
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: one standout feature so far on Old Soul, young blood
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: E said, the Whiskeys certainly know how to craft a
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: song before bringing a crashing down in a blaze of glory.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: That suggests a somewhat schizophrenic nature of their music, which
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: in the modern age of an increasingly conservative approach to music,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: it is a fresh and welcome commodity.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Oh mate, spot on, spot on mate, perfect nice.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: That's exactly that song.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: While we're I will thinking about like I was thinking
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: about Refused when I was playing that song. That's you know,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: they're all the influences that we're bringing. So that song,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Benny was thinking, just yeah, so when it says no
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: time to feed the poor, he is talking about people
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: who in this world have no time.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: To feed the poor because they're being greedy and rich.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: And that's that's what that song's basically about. And as
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: far as beats wise, I was seeking, yeah, refused and like.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: That sort of early.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Swedish punk hardcore, So all that's in there, that's all
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: those different influences are just running through there.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Very cool Breakaway finds up with a quick drum smash
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: before easing the gear and revealing a more restrained musical approach.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't call it a ballad per se, but so
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: far it's definitely the most mellow track on the album.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: The pace increases as you would expect, but each time
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a borders on the harder side of things, it falls
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: back into a more groove orientated, potentially radio friendly number.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: It's catching as fucking while still having the meatiness and
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: concept that makes music great, still manages to tread water
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: enough to have a more crossover bill. A chunky breakdown
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: towards the end gives the impression that the Whiskeys were
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: maybe even testing themselves with this on My Breakaway, but
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: they bring things to a close decisively before giving too
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: much more away.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Spot on Mane, that was definitely the catchiest one. Like
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: you said, it's almost verging on radio friendly. That hearkens
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: back to I think Bendy's He's punk rock background.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: We both got a heavily, you.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Know Southern California Epitar Fat Records, nineties heritage punk rock,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Vibe to Us burning that really hit Bernie home and
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: yeah that little like you said, mate, nailed it on
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: the outro, like, hang on a second, where's Pantera?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Nice Toaes of Vultures opens with an almost echo
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of sounds. It could be anything, but my money is
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: on some sort of party of a drinking session. From there,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: it delivers an almost stagnating piece of music, filled with
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: reverb and fuzziness that almost feels like an LSD trip
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: gone wrong. It certainly doesn't seem to be following the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: set path, which is a fitting way to finish an
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: EP that bounces from pillar to post in amazing sonic
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: confusion that somehow.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Works and works extremely well.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: It's a strange way to finish the EP, but also
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: not totally unexpected from these guys. And if nothing else leaves,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: you're wondering just what the Whiskeys will come up with next,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: which I suppose is exactly what the boys were trying
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to do.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: Spot On made that last part was just like that.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Wanted to get that feeling like you're walking leaving something
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: and coming into like a big empty warehouse and we're
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: just because and that what that last song is like.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: We do a lot of that stuff live just off
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: the calf, just big doomy beat downs, and we just
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: let it run and we wanted that to make its
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: way onto the EP, and we wanted it to feel
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: like it I was like, you know, in a warehouse,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: which it does like like you said, you're leaving something
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: and you're entering another realm. And that's what we try
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: and take all the time when we play. We just
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: like to go anywhere we can have no limits with it.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: And satsy all.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I got to say, mate, overall, that is a fantastic
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: slap of music.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Maybe you guys have done really well with the congratulations.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: Thank you brother, We appreciate it.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: We appreciate your kind words mate and getting behind it
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: for us my pleasure.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: So what's next to the Whiskys?
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: Bro?
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: You say you've played a lot of shows. I'm guessing
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: you've got a few to promote this.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, mate, Well, our release date is the twenty first
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: at Iron Resin in Crumbon.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: And that'll be with I think it's with I Forget.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: It's a really good young guy. I think it's Miles.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I just wanted to get him right. Miles and the
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: manager really good up and coming young bands. And then
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: we're playing. I think, well, we got the rails this weekend,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: we've got Yamber Hotel.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: The weekend after we've got a lot Mate.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: There's so many, and then all the way through July
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: it's just every weekend we're pretty much playing somewhere. It's
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: all over our socials.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: They want the best socials to go to.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: It would be the.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Whisks, Instagram, dot Com, forward slash. The whiskey is official
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: as our Instagram and Facebook, just the Whiskeys. So the
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: whiskeys is spelled t R and whiskeys is w.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: H I s k e y S. So a lot
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: of people get that wrong. So it's yeah, no.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Excuses now then good right, Josh, Well, thanks you the time.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: It's been a pleasure speaker with you. The EP is
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: out on June the twentieth. The name of the EP
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: is of So Young Blood and I strongly suggest you
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: get your get years around at kids, because she's a
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: fucking cracker.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: You. Thanks Crisp.