They've been away for a while but one of Nottingham's best live acts, Whisky Stain, are back on the scene with an arsenal of foot stomping blues driven tunes. We caught up to say hello before they take to the stage at Rock City this Friday 8 March.
I believe this year marks your ten year anniversary as a band - happy birthday! Can you tell us a little about the early days of the band and how you developed your sound?
Not sure where you got this info, but it's actually closer to fourteen years! It's nice to know we look young for our age though! We just do what comes natural in all honesty, and over time this has crafted our sound. We aim to keep things simple in terms of equipment and set up, maybe this is what keeps us true to raw unfiltered dirt and filth!
Can you describe your music for anyone who hasn't heard it and tell us who and what influences your lyrics and sound?
We're a two-piece rock band with blues flavoured influences. We play a range of music from guitar focussed blues songs about heart ache and despair, through to bass driven floor pounding rock stompers. As a quick point of reference, you could describe our sound as a cross over between The Black Keys and Royal Blood.
It's good to have you back on the Nottingham music scene since your hiatus, and you've been releasing music recently, including new single My New Religion. Can you tell us about the new record?
Why thank you, it's good to be focussed and properly active again. We had great success with our last single 'Do What You Came You', released in December 2023, and we're hoping for much of the same with our latest release. 'My New Religion' features our first rap style vocal. The lyrical content is focussed on an individual's struggle with addiction and self loathe, with a slow blues driven groove keeping time throughout. This song was originally written on the banjo, before being adapted to suit the WHISKY STAIN sound. It's available now from all online retailers. We've two new albums in the pipeline, so get ready for an onslaught of new music!
We'd love to work with a choir one day, and lean in to the gospel vibes some of our music proclaims. This would be a dream come true in fact!
For a two-man band you make a lot of noise! Have you ever been tempted to expand the band or does it help keep life simple?
We've had plenty of offers over the years, but never been tempted to expand no. We'd love to work with a choir one day, and lean in to the gospel vibes some of our music proclaims. This would be a dream come true in fact!
Between the two of you, you have resided in both London and Nottingham. What are the differences between making and playing music in a smaller city like Nottingham and the big smoke?
Much of our time as a band has required us to maintain a long-distance relationship. This certainly made things difficult and hindered our development at times, but we're stronger for it no doubt. We're both in Nottingham now and more active than ever before. It's simply wonderful, couldn't be happier. There's similar barriers and pitfalls in both cities, one could argue there's more opportunities in London compared to Nottingham, but access is not easy! We Love Nottingham, this is our home.
We are looking forward to your upcoming show at Rock City [Beta]. Do you have more gigs or festivals lined up for 2024?
Yeah, we're really excited for Rock City, it's going to be a great show. We have an acoustic performance on April 5 at the Malt Cross, and a few gigs down south we'll be advertising through our socials. We've plans to book another headline show in Nottingham around July time to showcase some of our new material, and we intend to get on the road as much as possible our coming years.
Have you indeed got a favourite brand of whisky, and what would the best method be to get those stains out of your favourite shirt after a night on the sauce?
We never spill our whisky!
Whisky Stain play Rock City [BETA] on Friday 8 March. Get your tickets here and follow Whisky Stain @whisky_stain
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