Ahead of its second edition, two of Howlin’ Country’s most talked-about acts step out of the spotlight and into each other’s worlds in this artist-on-artist interview.
Wet Whistles and Sweet Talk swap stories from the road, compare pre-show rituals, and dig into the chaos, camaraderie and craft that come with life on tour.
From aux-cord diplomacy to the art of arriving beer-primed and battle-ready, the bands give readers an unfiltered look at the rhythms behind their rising careers, and the sheer joy of sharing a bill with favourites like Lainey Wilson.
SWEET TALK TO WET WHISTLES
With artists like the great Lainey Wilson on the bill, what stands out to you when you watch someone operating at that level?
Slick shows stand out to me. You can really tell when a band’s played together for years on the road, everything’s locked in, and it makes the whole performance flow better.
What’s one road habit that would make another band refuse to tour with you ever again?
Hey, we’re a pretty good time to be around on the road, if we do say so ourselves. We’ve had to learn how to tiptoe around each other’s nerves, but over the last 18 months we’ve gotten way better at working as travelling gypsies. I’m sure you know what it’s like rolling in a pack of six or more, there’s a lot of time spent together and a lot of moving parts.
We’ve done trips out to the middle of Australia where you’re together for 72 hours straight just to play 90 minutes on stage, so you’ve gotta make sure the other 70 hours is a vibe! But if I had to name something, it’d probably be someone wanting a break from the party for a few nights haha.
Who controls the aux cord in the van, and has that power ever been formally challenged?
AUX cord chairmanship isn’t too much of a thing, we all dig similar kinds of artists and genres so usually go with the flow. We actually play a lot of games. For example one game we play is everyone has to name a song starting with the name A, last man standing gets a point. Then we move on to B. In a car of 4 that chews up 2 hours easily.
We’ve got a long-standing ritual of blasting “Panama” by Van Halen when we’re pulling up to a show as a bit of a g-up. What’s the Wet Whistles’ equivalent? The song that goes on when you’re arriving at a venue and getting ready to nail a set?
Nice! About three to five beers under the belt helps us. We all come from the 3/4 hour cover set world, so one thing we had to adjust to was hitting that first song at full pace, you don’t get a set to warm up.
Sometimes, a few beers under the bonnet before we hit the stage gives us just enough looseness to relax and really lose ourselves in the music. One thing we’re trying to do more often is take five minutes before the show, just the band, no one else around, to lock in and get on the same page.
Rumour has it Sweet Talk is your favourite band on the bill 😉 When you’re watching us play, what are you hoping to steal, sabotage, or quietly judge?
That rumour is not wrong, we’re big fans! We’ll be fan-girling side stage for sure! Nick will probably be shaking in his boots thinking, ‘S**T! I can’t play the guitar like that! haha
Can’t wait boys! See you out there.
WET WHISTLES TO SWEET TALK
How much of the Sweet Talk live show is planned vs. instinct in the moment?
We work hard in the rehearsal studio to get the live show up to a standard where we don’t have to think about it. So it becomes like muscle memory, and at that stage, we can begin to have a bit of fun with it. Extend a solo here or there, lean into some crowd work, ya know.
Touring together can either make or break a band. What’s one rule, spoken or unspoken, that keeps Sweet Talk functional when you’re deep into the road grind?
After a few years on the road, there are a few things I think we’ve learned. When you’re on a long run, no matter how much you wanna rock ‘n’ roll every night, sometimes you’ve gotta pick your battles. Ultimately, putting on a quality show every night is the goal, so whatever you need to do to pull that off every night comes first. Fortunately, we’re pretty seasoned at it now.
Which of your tracks surprised you the most once you started playing it in front of crowds? Do you road test all songs before recording them?
Yeah, we do. Every song gets a trial by fire from a crowd or two so we can gauge what the punters think. We have a song called “Millers Bay” that I personally never thought would be a live crowd favourite. But that’s one where we can really hear the crowd singing along, so that’s been a nice surprise.
How did you guys all come together? Was the style of music already decided and you picked the players around that? Or did the players shape the music?
Soren and Dave – the two guitarists – had been writing tunes under the name Sweet Talk for a little while, plotting the vision. But it wasn’t until they moved to Melbourne with lead singer Tane that the larger project started taking shape.
Who are you most excited to watch at Howlin’ Country? Can’t say Wet Whistles cause we know that’s obvious! Duhhh!
Right you are lads! We’re definitely gonna come and delete a few beers watching your set, we’re fans for sure and this will be the first time we get to see ya live. Pumped. Other than your good selves, we are huge Lainey fans (no surprises there). A few of us are gonna lose it when the intro to “Country’s Cool Again” starts up.
Whether they’re trading compliments, confessing tour sins, or plotting side-stage fan-girling, Wet Whistles and Sweet Talk make one thing clear: Howlin’ Country isn’t just a lineup, it’s a family reunion in the making. With both bands primed to bring their A-game (and maybe a few road beers), Newcastle fans are in for a standout day of musicianship, mischief and memorable moments.
