Originally published on February 2011
_The band Poison Whiskey was 1st featured on a Rock Report back in January of 2009 as a mixed band, in other words, one that plays cover tunes in addition to original material. Although at the time I thought the band did well, for some reason I never heard much from them since and as it turns out, the band was on somewhat of a hiatus and eventually disbanded as the members went on to pursue separate interests.

Fast forward to late 2010, and the core of the band, guitarists Chris 'CC' Corvo and Chris Smith decide to bring the band back from the dead with a new lineup and a new outlook on things. Poison Whiskey 2011 consists of Smith again on guitars and lead vocals, Corvo on lead & rhythm guitar, Eddie Wicklatz on bass & background vocals and T.J. Matichak on drums. Both Wicklatz and Matichak are experienced musicians that had been involved in other area bands for many years and had recently worked with Corvo on a cover band project. After getting together and working out the band's material unto a new setlist and show, the band was booked to be the opening act for the national touring band Lynch Mob at Tailgaters in Bolingbrook this past January 29th.
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The event, which later included a 2nd touring band by the name of Willie Basse, and Chicago's own Paradoxx, was a sold-out show. This was Poison Whiskey's 1st post-hiatus show, and their first with the new lineup. A sink-or-swim show of sorts.

The band hit the stage around 10:15 PM and as the house lights went down & the patriotic sounds of the Star Spangled Banner which make up the intro to 'Sleeping Giant' cut thru the PA, the band went thru a setlist of Poison Whiskey cuts which included 'Walkin' Thru Fire', 'Drunken Monkey', 'Day After' and '3 to 7' among several others which were very well received by the huge crowd present -and especially by the large group of fans that as popular as Lynch Mob is, had actually gone there to see and support Poison Whiskey.

The stage was really crammed, so any chance of putting on some kind of show went right out the window, but in spite of that & with limited movement, the band rocked the best way they could with Poison Whiskey's brand of heavy, "riff-y" metal with clean vocals, dual guitars and a booming, driving rhtyhm section. They looked & sounded great on-stage, and along with the cheers & energy coming from the crowd, it made a great debut performance for a band that I believe has a lot of potential and a lot to offer.

I had a chance to speak with guitarist Chris Corvo after the show about the band's new outlook on things and their immediate plans and here's what he had to say:

CHICAGOSROCK: WHAT MADE YOU GUYS DECIDE TO FOCUS ENTIRELY ON ORIGINAL MATERIAL THIS TIME AROUND, AS OPPOSED TO DOING A MIX OF COVERS & ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS YOU HAD IN THE PAST?
_Corvo: I was personally burned out on the cover thing. Poison Whiskey was kinda done for a while as we were having issues getting together and practicing. Our bass player at the time had this new job where he had to work nights and just couldn't make it to practice. So we just stopped doing it altogether. I got into a classic rock cover band because I was bored. Did that for a whole year almost until I got tired of dealing with personal issues in that band and left it. I felt like I still have a lot of music left in me and the cover thing just sucked, so I got in touch with Chris (Smith) again. We've been music partners for over 10 years and thought we'd start Poison Whiskey over from scratch. That was a little over a month ago when we got a lot of the songs together & worked up a set list along with a new rhythm section which I had brought with me from that cover band I was involved with. Next thing you know, we got the opening slot on the Lynch Mob show which was really cool and want to thank Joey DeMarco for believing in me & for that opportunity.

The thing about original music is that you only get to do this once in your life, y'know, write your own music and all. The cover thing, no matter how good you are, there's nothing left at the end. Nothing is yours. We don't like that and rather take the risk of seeing what we can do. Maybe we'll get lucky and have some success (laughs).

CHICAGOSROCK: SO WHAT ARE THE PLANS IN TERMS OF RECORDING? IS THERE A DEMO, PERHAPS A FULL-LENGTH ALBUM IN THE WORKS?

Corvo: Our plans are to release an actual album. Full length deal. We have our own recording equipment and are doing everything ourselves, but we have a little bit of a setback because there's a problem with our Mackie board. Memory or something like that. So we are having it repaired and can't record anything until we get it back. We were pretty happy with the results we got from recording our previous demo, all on our own, not having to deal with time pressures and all, so we have decided to do this again in the same way. Chris is pretty good at the engineer role y'know. We work good together and that is cool too.

CHICAGOSROCK: WHAT'S PLANNED IN TERMS OF SUPPORT FOR THE ALBUM ONCE IT'S RELEASED?
Corvo: I love the idea of touring, but it has to be the right situation or opportunity. All the other guys have families and kids so covering expenses and making at least what we make on our regular jobs is kinda important if we are to go on the road for an extended period of time. [Other than that], we'll do whatever else we can do to support the CD when it's out. The plan right now is to just make the best album we can, put it together and worry about the other stuff later. We're not thinking we want to play every weekend, but we'd like to make every show we do a big deal. Kinda like we just did with Lynch Mob and hopefully get a fair amount of exposure for our music that way.
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CHICAGOSROCK: DO YOU HAVE A WEBSITE WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, SAMPLES AND SUCH?

Corvo: Yes, fans can visit and contact us at these websites:
www.facebook.com/poisonwhiskey
www.soundclick.com/poisonwhiskey
www.reverbnation.com/poisonwhiskey