It seems there’s always a lot of hoopla coming from the West about this band or that... or that something’s in the water that the musicians have been drinking. But now here comes a band with neither hype, nor hip-factor, but simply future. They are Perth’s best-kept secret... The Chemist.

Singer/guitarist Ben Witt spent his teens as something of a blues wunderkind, busking on weekends when his buddies were surfing; playing suburban venues when his classmates were studying (yet then, as most certainly now, he always did his homework).

Hundreds of gigs led to full-time tuition as Witt started adding new sounds to the malleable memory bank of music in his head. From that experience has emerged the musical melange that is The Chemist.

With Colleagues and fellow creative minds Elliot Smith (drums), Hamish Rahn (bass) and James Ireland (keyboards), The Chemist may be youthful but are far beyond young. Some early blues influences, combined with the swagger and personality of Witt’s beloved troubadour idols, Waits and Dylan, the band strives for the perfect song architecture of The Beatles in full bloom. One must.

“As a musician you're always picking up new things along the way to put in your musical wardrobe,” Witt says. “You'll be working on a song and it will ask for something... you go to your musical wardrobe and say, ‘what would be the appropriate attire for this occasion?’ we did a lot of ‘clothes’ shopping playing blues and studying at Uni, I guess you could say!”

“I want the music to be fun, interesting, moving and bad ass,” says Witt, characterising the band’s music with familiar shapes, yet through a different lens. And so it is on The Chemist’s debut EP, The Wolves’ Howls Shatter The Old Glass Moon. Produced by Joel Quartermain (Eskimo Joe) the EP is but the beginning for The Chemist, yet it brims with five tracks shining with class and personality.

Touring with Old Man River and Boy & Bear will introduce a national audience to The Chemist’s enigmatic blend of grace and gravel. Bring your prescription.

“Keep it unpredictable and wild,” says Witt when asked of what track the band will pursue. “Hopefully when people put the songs on in the car they pull their shades down, light their cigarette and rock some spirit fingers out the window.”