Where's Jimmy?

The four members of Where’s Jimmy moved from Orange to the big smoke of
Newcastle on Boxing Day 2021 to pursue their musical dream.
“It was appealing, a bigger city,” guitarist and songwriter Jed Pratten says.
“Coming from a small town, it’s got that small town feel but big enough to do
what you want to do.”
Now the quintessentially Aussie rock band, with livewire singer Hugh Westcott
leaping about the stage like a heavily caffeinated Peter Garrett, is one of the big
drawcards of the Newcastle music scene. And, armed with their fourth single, Kick
in the Head, the four-piece intend to make the rest of Australia take notice.
In 2024, Where’s Jimmy – which consists of Westcott, Pratten, bassist
James Pansini (the ever-elusive “Jimmy”) and drummer
Nick Worrad – will release more new music and play watering holes across the
breadth of this sunburnt country.
“Keen to play many shows to many people in many places, have many good times
with many good friends and make many fond memories,” Worrad says.
Where’s Jimmy’s genesis can be traced back to about 2010,
when Pratten and Worrad were classmates at Orange’s independent
Kinross Wolaroi School. Pratten had considered playing drums in high school, but
admits his focus turned to the guitar when he realised Worrad’s prowess behind
the kit. The pair took cues from classic rock and punk, and the tunes they
composed all those years ago remain in their setlists.
“The songs we play now are songs we played in high school, just with lyrics and a
singer,” Pratten says.
Worrad adds, “Me and Jed have been playing together since year eight or nine.
But we were looking for a singer for a couple of years.”
The solution was under their noses. Westcott and Pratten were long-time friends,
growing up on neighbouring properties 15 minutes outside of Orange.
With Pratten’s father himself a keen musician, live jams and performances were
woven into the social fabric of their childhood.
“I knew Hughy could sing, he sang at parties,” Pratten recalls. “He sang at my
sister’s engagement party. Had women twice his age swooning. There was

another party, a 21st, where Hugh pretended to be a gorilla. Everyone was
watching this dude act like a gorilla. I thought, ‘F*** me, he’s the man for the job
– he could front a band.’”
Where’s Jimmy’s first-ever live show can be seen on Youtube, recorded in April
2020 at the “4 on the 4loor” showcase at the Victoria Hotel in Orange – just
before the first Covid-19 lockdown was enforced. This early footage clearly shows
Westcott’s emergence as an animated frontman.
Cut from the same cloth as AC/DC and Midnight Oil (Westcott’s father is an Oils
“fanatic”), Where’s Jimmy havesince armed themselves with songs
like Powerstance, an undeniably catchy and playful call-and-response anthem.
Then there’s the six-minute Summer Street, named after Orange’s main drag, a
bold rock statement on outgrowing your hometown.
Flash forward three years and the band have recorded their debut five-track EP,
recorded with Central Coast-based producer Jack Nigro. Now the goal is to
release another singlefrom the EP and tour throughout the rest of 2024.
The four-piece has already played far and wide, their music energetically
embraced by audiences in Katoomba, Bellingenand Sydney. Where’s Jimmy know
what works.
“The more we’ve played, the more we’ve been encouraged to play faster and
harder,” Worrad says. “We realised early on that people just love to get down to
some classic rock.”

Kick in the Head is out now on all streaming services.