Interview: Getting to Know Whisky Sugar
Launching out of Barcelona with a huge passion for rock n’ roll, Whisky Sugar have unleashed their stomping new single ‘Tannen’s World’! In this interview, we get to know them a little better.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
Hi GBHBL crew, thanks for having us! We’re a rock’n’roll trio from Belvitge (tiny town right next to Barcelona) writing and performing original tunes in English, along with a heavy rotation of covers from our favourite artists.
We sent our first album out into the world in 2024, along with a few music videos we’ve shot ourselves. Here’s one for Breakfast For Millionaires, which we shot in the dessert.
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
We would say it’s a clash between hard rock, glam and grunge, all of it underpinned with a heavy love for the original garage rock of the 60s.
We’d play them Breakfast For Millionaires and then Every Time I look At You so they can get a sense of the range in our work.
3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?
New second album in the works currently, Tannen’s World is actually the first single. We’re hoping to launch a few more before the summer. Also gearing up for some gigs in Barcelona and other towns, we’re also trying to set things up for a tour around Europe and the UK.
4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?
Santi: Getting ideas out on paper/guitar and anxiously hoping the other band members like and want to play it.
John Side: I enjoy all the process in music right now, we are on a good musical search at this moment.
Vic: For me, it was the opportunity to play with two good friends, record our Rock & Roll and propose new challenges.
5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.
Santi: Getting our band’s work out has been a labor of love, with every note and lyric, every piece of graphic art, every frame of our videos, being made by us. We’re a homemade band, and we hope our audience feels a kinship with that.
John Side: We want to tell our story in our on way and everybody its working on that with a lot of passion and with the time we got.
Vic: The truth is that being in a project like the one we have, with everyone work on it, more than makes up for the our of rehearsing, practicing and practicing rhythms.
6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?
Santi: It’s freedom. It feeds the soul.
John Side: I got a healing feedback with music all the times i play, the best cure for stress and a positive vibes recharger.
Vic: Making music is a breath of fresh air for the mind, a break from the hectic lives we all lead. For a while, creativity takes hold and the feeling is liberating.
7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?
Santi: We’ve said this a few times on other interviews, but launching our music out into a world that’s overwhelmed with generic “entertainment” music, and now about 100 times that with AI-generated music, makes it hard to stand out.
We’re hoping that sharing with some publications can help new fans discover us.
John Side: I love to make music with or without the music business industry, some musicians have the luck to play and make popular music at the right time and at the right place, other musicians plays for the love of a type of style, others for protest, others for fortune and fame, it’s a hard question because the music its and important aspect in our lives all the time and for a lot reasons.
Vic: I think the biggest challenge is reaching the listener with good music and having the opportunity to play live. Lately, live rock music has been disappearing from small pubs and bars.
8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?
It’s tough, but at the same time, we’ve got to remind ourselves that it’s a level playing field. That having the chance to put things out and have it seen by many people is also a possibility.
The output though, is nuts! We’ve always been cautious of overspamming our audience, which is why we try to limit it. But we’re getting around to the fact that many others are indeed oversharing. Maybe we’ll just become content creators? Yikes.
9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?
The fun part is banging out a song and forgetting the camera is there, so we can enjoy playing together and forget the over-promotion aspect of it. That keeps us going!
10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?
Listen to our songs and share them with your friends and family, and if you’re nearby come and rock with us at our gigs! Also give us a follow on Instagram, YT and Spotify to support us.
11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?
Santi: I think playing acoustic is pretty relaxing!
John Side: Stay at home, have a nice dinner and enjoy a good movie.
Vic: Working in my old VW camper van.
12. Where can people find you?
