One member of rock band Where's Jimmy is noticeably absent during their first ever press interview.
It's Jimmy.
"After choosing the [band] name, it's funny recognising how often we ask, 'Where's Jimmy?'," singer Hugh Westcott says of bandmate, bassist James Pansini. "He's missing pretty often. At the time [the name was chosen], all of us were living in Orange and Jimmy was living in the Mountains [Hartley]. So we'd often say, 'Where's Jimmy?' 'He's on his way'."
Today the answer to the titular question is that Jimmy is out looking for his dog, a known escape artist.
The four members of Where's Jimmy, including guitarist and chief songwriter Jed Pratten and drummer Nick Worrad, moved from Orange to the big smoke of Newcastle on Boxing Day 2021 to pursue their musical dream.
"It was appealing, a bigger city," Pratten says. "Coming from a small town, it's got that small town feel, but big enough to do what you want to do."
Where's Jimmy gigged in the Steel City for about six months before they felt they'd made themselves known to the locals.
Now the quintessentially Aussie rock band, with livewire Westcott leaping about the stage like a heavily caffeinated Peter Garrett, are in demand.
On Saturday they will play their second BandAid event, this time at the Cambridge Hotel.
Their inclusion on the stacked bill of Newcastle-based talent, alongside Bloody Hell, Baam Bam, Fungas and Atlas Franklin Alexander, follows memorable appearances at the West Best Bloc Fest and Cult Classic festivals.
"Everyone's very accepting," Westcott says of the Newcastle scene. "It's very easy to get comfy."
Pratten adds, "It's awesome. Like-minded people - everyone's on the same page, everyone gets behind everyone else."
Cut from the same cloth as AC/DC and Midnight Oil (Westcott's father is an Oils "fanatic"), Where's Jimmy have armed themselves with songs such as 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.
It will come as no surprise that Newcastle's music scene dwarfs that of Orange, but there is still a variety of music in the NSW Central Tablelands city.
"There's a couple of really good thrash metal bands," Pratten says. "Then there's folk and country singers. Blues bands. There's really only two pubs you can play at."
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 performance 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.
This early footage clearly shows Westcott's emergence as an animated frontman and he sports a recently shaven beard that would have made Ned Kelly simmer with envy.
Flash forward three years and the band have just received the first mixes of their debut five-track EP, recorded with Central Coast-based producer Jack Nigro.
"Jack has worked with a lot of bands we know, like Crocodylus - the list is endless," Pratten says. "He didn't want to take away from the songs, just wanted to add good bits, and the bits he's added make the songs stand out."
Now the goal is to release two singles from the EP and tour throughout the rest of the year.
The four-piece has already played far and wide, their music energetically embraced by audiences in Katoomba, Bellingen and 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.
