AFTER spending seven years trading licks with blues journeymen Dilip n the Davs, Andrew Pring and Daniel Wiggins knew each other’s chops inside out.

So when their time playing with the Davs drew to an end, the pair found something was missing – like that person you’re so close to they can finish your sentence.

“I’d played with Daniel in that band for seven years, and I said to him one day ‘I miss playing the blues with you’,” Pring says.

Turns out the feeling was mutual and after running into singer Kirsty Finn at the Bridgetown Blues festival a year ago, the kernel of a new blues outfit had formed.

A couple of auditions later they’d added Jonathon Redmond on bass and Adrien Grd on drums and had a new name: Whiskey Nips.

Pring says they spent a lot of time working on material in the studio, but in January hit the stage for the first time at Clancy’s in Fremantle.

A couple of months down the track Finn is sitting on the sidelines waiting for Covid mandates to pass so she can return to performing, but they’ve got Peta Lee as a backup and they’re lined up for another gig at Lyric’s Underground at Lyric Lane in Maylands on April 24.

Despite being a harmonica player, Pring sites legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan as his biggest influence, though Kellerberrian blues/roots icons Blue Shaddy are right up there.

“With a harmonica, I can express myself so much more than any other genre,” Pring said of his love for the 12-bar format.

The Lyric gig will also feature Wiggins’ eponymous group, which last year released its first EP and capped off the year playing at the West Australian Guitar Festival in Margaret River. Also on the bill is soulful rocker and 2021 American Express Australian Music Backers winner Zack Linton.

Blues on the Rocks
April 24, from 5pm
Lyric’s Underground
Lyric Lane, Maylands
Tix: oztix.com.au