I had been asked up to The Planet by my good friend Zoe Strobe to see a young Swedish band called ‘Conspirtcy’ and they were supporting a band that I had not heard of before called “The Whiskey Syndicate”. When I arrived at the Planet “The Whiskey Syndicate” were up on stage ready to sound check. I remember thinking that I liked the look/image of the band and “The Whiskey Syndicate” flag behind them. Then they sound checked with ‘So What’ (Metallica – I think?) and I realised that I had been listening to these guys rehearse for about 2 months before Xmas when I was at the ‘Beat Foundry’ rehearsing a punk comedy act. Anyway, another face in the crowd that night who had also come at Zoe’s request was none other than Blaze Bayley (ex Iron Maiden singer). Whilst both of us agreed that Conspirtcy were good, in the ‘teeny rock’ type of way- we were both looking forward to “The Whiskey Syndicate”. Actually, as I had heard them rehearse in the early days, (as it were), I wasn’t expecting that much, so I was more than pleasantly surprised when they hit the stage and proceeded to blow both me and Blaze Bayley away! This band are rockin’ in the old fashioned 70’s / 80’s way but with a very 2005 edge to the tunes, and yes – they are tunes – even though it’s heavy, it sticks in your brain! Songs like ‘Vampire’ with it’s pounding drums and heavy riffing guitar, quite reminiscent of Judas Priests ‘Breakin The Law’; or the hard rockin’ bluesy feel of ‘Jazz Bar’, almost ZZ Top – but not quite. And ‘Darker Side of your Mind’ sounding at first like a slightly funky Bad Company number then getting heavy in the riff department like a latter day Black Sabbath. Yeah “it’s Rock n Roll” to quote Ozzy. I honestly don’t know the titles of the other numbers that they did on the night, but they all had that hard edged rock sound to them that bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath etc all had in the 70’s and 80’s. Blaze Bayley was impressed, I know that much! And so was I! KEEP ON ROCKIN!

Clive Live. (Hz fanzine/Radio WM)



Live in Camden 06'

Hard rocking, fist to the air thrusting, solid rock n’ roll. The Whiskey Syndicate seemed to up the tempo from the previous band and the small audience started to push forward. They were obviously liking what they heard. As much as I like the London sleaze scene, its nice to see a rock n roll band like TWS striking the right chords (in more than one sense of the word). Throughly enjoyed their set and very keen to check them out again. Obviously with a glass of whiskey in hand ...

Pure Rawk Magazine