Gig Magazine  NOVEMBER 1998

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FOR ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

Whiskey Creek

It happens all the time, in the middle of your set, some wise guys yell those immortal words: “Play Freebird !” For Whiskey Creek that request is entirely appropriate, since they play the entire Lynyrd Skynyrd repertoire in their tribute to the Southern Rock Band.

Drummer Terry Allen and the other members of the Seattle-based Whiskey Creek started out with a simple desire to play the songs that they love. “I’ve always been a Skynyrd fan” Allen explains, “To me they played the only American Rock “n” Roll, it just had that power” As a part time musical gig they have been playing Skynyrd to audiences for 16 years.

It began in 1982 when Allen’s wife who worked at a record warehouse, noticed a guitar playing coworker constantly buying Skynyrd cassettes at the employee discount. After mentioning that her husband was also a Skynyrd fan, Allen soon got a call form the guitarist and his musician friend: “They played Gimme Three Steps over the phone note-for-note, so I thought, OK, lets get together. For the first year it was just us three until we found a bass player. We had a rehearsal room, we picked 20 Skynyrd songs and with just three of us we learned them note-for-note. When the bass player came in it was a lot easier because we already had everything together. We learned everything pretty much note-for-note of the 1976 live album [One More From the Road]. The tow guitarists had been playing these songs back when they were teenagers, and I played quite a few of them in previous bands. It came together quite well”.

Every tribute band draws a particular crowd. Whiskey Creek soon discovered theirs. “Our first gig was at a biker joint called the Ale House” Allen recalls, “A friend had suggested to the owner that they have live music at the tavern and they arranged a gig with even asking me! I remember pulling up there and there were probably two hundred Harleys’ parked out front and we walked in the through the door and it was an ocean of leather. The nerves really hit us then; we played three songs nonstop’ “Working for MCA”, I Ain’t the One” and “Searchin”. We didn’t even give them a chance to react until the third song. After that there was dead silence, and we went, Uh-oh, we’re gonna get killed!” They then exploded into applause and screams. The band became a favorite of the ABATE of Washington, a motorcycle club with a large entertainment budget, and has since played many of their social functions throughout the state.

Although musicianship is the most important part of any real band, image plays an important part as well, and Whiskey creek both dresses and acts the part. “We have a giant Confederate flag backdrop” Allen says, “and as far as looking the part, yes, we share the style of dress and the attitude. The lead singer is Ronnie Van Zant all over again, with the hat and the long blond hair, his stage mannerisms, how he carries the mic around with him, the black T-shirts and hair….”

After playing the Seattle club circuit from 1984 to 1992, the band began opening up for national touring acts, sharing the stage with Elvin Bishop, Commander Cody, Randy Hansen, Savoy Brown and Molly Hatchet. “The second time we opened for Molly Hatchet they had one of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s female backup singers with them, Leslie Hawkins and we asked if she would sing with us” Allen recalls, “She had sung on the original tracks, it was something”

All of the musicians in Whiskey Creek are self-described “working class” musicians. The band assembles for six-hour rehearsals once a week to hone arrangements and learn new tunes. Their equipment is what you’d expect from a guitar-driven southern rock band.

Despite the fickle nature of nature of the club booking policies throughout the years, Whiskey Creek has survived by tapping into a loyal and ever growing group of Lynyrd Skynyrd fans. As Allen explains it: The Disco scene had taken over a lot of clubs. We told one club owner that we pay for the $5.00 door charge to show him there was a market for a tribute band, and we drew $750.00 at the door” As for long range planes, Allen is philosophical: “I told myself that doing this for twenty years might be enough, but I’ll probably keep playing until I can’t play anymore. My son Zak, who is 10 played drums on a couple of songs with the band the other day, and someone made a comment that: When the old man kicks off he’ll come in fill that seat.” You Got That Right!