The Whitlams Release First Album In 15 Years ‘Sancho’

The Whitlams ‘Sancho’ album has been released marking more than 15 years inbetween albums.

Tim Freedman dedicates the new album to his tour manager Greg ‘Sancho’ Weaver, who passed away in May 2019 after suffering a heart attack. It was then that Tim started to write songs for this album.

Sancho had worked with Tim Freedman since 1997. The album features two songs about him ‘Sancho’ and ‘Sancho in Love’.

At thewhitlams.com Tim says, “I’ve written some sad songs about blokes in my time, but I wanted to make the title track “Sancho” different, and write a joyous song about the good times on the road. The pain of returning to those memories when we realise how much we miss him makes it a very important song for the whole band. We’ll know it’s sounding good if there is a ghost of the big guy air-drumming behind the sound desk. He would have loved mixing this song with the stacked harmonies and the art rock ending because first and foremost he was a music lover who enjoyed a challenge.

“The other song about Greg is “Sancho In Love”. I wanted to capture his charming quirks, so with the help of his family I started by listing some of his favourite things like sleeping on tour buses, and his otherworldly contentment with the sound of laundromats. Then I moved onto some of his habits and catchphrases. As his reputation grew, Greg worked with a lot of big bands: Boy and Bear thought I should mention Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in the song, and Ballpark Music loved his portable tour iron with which he would press his Bisley shorts before setting out on the workday”.

Tim Freedman also performed the opening song ‘Catherine Wheel’ on Fran Kelly’s final Radio National Breakfast Show in December 2021.

Our first taste of ‘Sancho’ was the 2021 song ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) I’m 50 Again’.

The Whitlams will tour Australia from 17 February, 2022.

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