photo by chester rocks.com

Originally published by L.S. Media. February 16th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

It must be one of the hardest things to do in the music business; it’s up there with deciding whether or not a young up-coming band is going to break through and be the success that you hope they can be. To open up for a long established band with incredible pedigree and a lot of love constantly being showered their way from fans up and down the country could decimate and partially destroy some fledgling groups.

The guys behind the Wicked Whispers though are made of sterner musical stuff, such determination to get their musical message across wasn’t going to stop this excellent group of musicians enjoying the moment in the limelight as support for the Lightning Seeds at the o2 Academy.

The Wicked Whispers took full advantage of their time on stage and wowed the capacity crowd from the very start. They opened the night with the tracks Odyssey Mile and the brilliant and chillingly wonderful Amanda Lavender. Looking round at some of the faces within the Academy, it may have struck some that on another night and with another band, those in attendance would have been bored, possibly drifting off in search of the bar where they could hold conversations in the comfort of a pint or two before rushing back towards the front of the stage for the main act.

Not on that night, the Wicked Whispers were nothing short of phenomenal, from any vantage point, the band’s take on Psychedelic Rock had the assembled crowd in some sort of mesmeric musical hold. This was thrilling to see and proves once more that Liverpool, quite possibly is the city that embraces most forms of music above all others.

The titles of the tracks played by the band on the night might make some stop, mouths in a half aghast motion, especially those that have been drip fed a diet of uninspiring and toothless music but if you as a band can play songs as splendid as House of Peppermint, Dandelion Eyes and Chronological Astronaut then from the start you deserve to be lauded.

The musicians that make up the Wicked Whispers are without doubt some of the finest in the city, they deserve the respect and good will they have been generating and it is refreshing to see a different slant on accessible music that is both unique and subtly interesting.

A triumph!

Ian D. Hall