One of Washington State's greatest bands ever would have to be Witchburn, the band is made of three metal chicks that generate more power and attitude than most if not all of their male counterparts. That power is helped along by two dudes on guitar and drums and what you are left with is a killer whiskey soaked bluesy hard rocking outfit in the Sabbath/Pentagram tradition. They recently won the best rock band award in the Hot Rocks competition and in the short time the band has been together have achieved more than most bands could dream of in a entire lifetime including playing in front of 10,000 people supporting Slipknot. The Russian chapter of Doommantia led by Aleks Evdokimov put together this interview with guitarist Mischa while she was enoying the Hawaiian sunshine. Enjoy.
-Salute battle-sister Mischa! What is a progress of your high witch-hunting mission?
-Hi, thanks! The progress is good and we are always grateful to have more people joining the ranks and supporting this revolution everyday. We appreciate you taking the time to interview us and helping to spread the flames of Witchburn.
-The world is full of ignoramus but you took a sacred duty to enlighten these ignorant ones, to bring them word of Doom and Fire of purification! How long do you bear this honour commitment? When did you feel yourself ready to act of Witchburn?
-Witchburn my vision that I set out to make a reality back in the year 2005. It brewed in my head as I wrote riffs and lyrics and compiled notebooks full of ideas about everything to do with what I wanted for this band. In 2006, I met Jamie Nova and she became my partner in the journey, then we brought Jessica into the fold shortly after that and began putting my song ideas together while we looked for a drummer and an additional guitar player. It wasn't until 2007 that we found them and Witchburn became a full band, playing our first show in June of 2007 with 3 Inches of Blood and Akimbo.
-Who were first witch-burners in your band? What kinds of requirements did other candidates have to correspond with to become a part of the command?
-I originally conceptualized the band and had a very specific idea of what I wanted Witchburn to be. I was looking for a voice that I wasn't sure existed, I could hear it in my head and knew exactly what it needed to sound like, but I just didn't know if it was out there, until I met Jamie. When I heard her sing for the first time, I knew that she was the one who could bring the songs I had been working on to life. She had the right sound and the right spirit behind that sound. So, she and I got together and started collaborating on the music I had been cataloging, then we began looking for a bass player... once we saw Jessica play, it's obvious why we knew this band needed her. Right around that time, the band I was in previous to Witchburn, had fallen apart and subsequently, the bass player from that band expressed interest in playing with Witchburn. Since we already had a bass player, Jacy told us that he would sell all of his bass gear to buy a full guitar set up the very next day if we would ask him to join the band. Jacy and I had such a long history of writing songs together and a chemistry that we already knew to be magic, so we knew it would be good and asked him to join. As far as drummers, we sort of had to break the "Spinal Tap Curse". Witchburn has had 3 drummers, but finally with Dana as our anchor, the curse is no longer upon us. Before Dana joined the band, we worked with Joe Frothingham (formerly of Himsa) for a short time, and before that, Matt Bos was our original drummer, who had also played with Jacy and I in the band we were in together prior to Witchburn... "prior to the fire" if you will... that's the title of the new record from Priestess... everyone should check it out, it's good.
-Your demo "Witchburn" is too good for simple demo, why didn't you release it as EP? Great songs, excellent quality of record in itself and just a lack of proper art-work.
-Thank you, we are proud of the way it came out. Tony Reed from Mos Generator and Stone Axe recorded it for us at Temple Sound very shortly after we started the band. We wanted to have something on disc as quickly as possible, wanting to make sure we had our music available for people to take away from our very first show with them. So we went into the studio with Tony and recorded the first 4 songs we ever wrote together, all within a few months of starting the band. The goal was to have a simple medium to share these songs that we were proud of, and fast. So, we weren't concerned with fancy artwork and packaging or a big release. We just wanted a way to get our music out there and circulating right away.
-What was your advancement in your job with such release? How many followers did you get with this demo? Or most of them were already recruit during your live sermons?
-We got more mileage out of that disc than we had planned on even attempting to get. It was available at our very first show when no one had ever seen us play before, and people are still buying that demo now after every set we play, as well as people from far away places all over the world who have never seen us live. So, a lot of people are still hearing Witchburn for the first time on that CD and becoming fans, sharing it with friends and converting others... the support people have shown is awesome. Dedicated fans of the band sometimes buy new copies of the old disc at our shows after theirs have gotten scratched up, sometimes recent recruits will show up for their second or third time to see us play and buy extra copies of the demo for their friends if they've already gotten one for themselves. It's like they're just compelled to spread the word and that means a lot to us. Seeing how much our fan base has grown just off of the seeds that one little demo helped to spread is pretty impressive, even to us.
Of course, the plan was to have our full length done and released much sooner than it will be, but due to circumstances mainly involving line up changes, etc. the process was delayed several times.
-I would like to make it more exact - your songs sound not like sermons of course but mostly like battle hymns. Who is an author of lyrics and how do you usually compose songs' texts?
-All of the songs are a total lyrical collaboration between Jamie and I. It generally starts with a guitar riff I've come up with that has a concept behind it or a feeling that goes along with it, as they all do, which Jamie will ask me to describe or explain before she starts writing any lyrics, and then I write a lot of the lyrics along with her. Some songs actually start with my ideas for lyrics and vocal melodies where I will sometimes have all the verses and choruses nearly completed before the music is even written, and then she'll sit down with me and fill in words here and there. Sometimes I'll have just a couple of lines to each of a few verses that go along with a riff I wrote and she'll finish them, some songs she will have verse ideas for and then I'll make little changes to them and then maybe write the full chorus or maybe just a bridge in another song... so, we tend to take a different path on every song. There is no set formula as far as who writes what and when, the sequence changes per song, but it's always Jamie and I. We call each other musical soul mates, she calls me the Page to her Plant, I call her the Ozzy to my Randy.
-How did you choose the way to express your vision of doom and stoner at all?
-It had everything to do with the way we were raised and the things we found comfort and joy in... this is what's in our hearts and in our souls. This is the music that creates the feeling which allows us to feel complete... and bands like Black Sabbath have provided that feeling for us since the first time we heard them.. now, doing this has become a necessary means of purging and cleansing for us.
-It's obvious that Black Sabbath and few other bands have a certain influence on you, it's normal and we couldn't get without it any good doom band maybe, but I'm wondering when I see Bible as one of your sources of impression. Which parts do you like the most? There are not so many action (of course I remember Old Testament with it's genocidal raids), though the acts of unbelievers' scourging and purging are…
-There are actually a lot of stories from the Bible that are relatable for some of us in different ways, and a lot of its stories are just intense whether they're relatable on a personal level or not and have made enough of an impression for us to want to write songs about them, as people have done in music since it began... and then I would also say that some of the more personal influence it had on us came more indirectly. For example, through people who allow church and organized religion to change their hearts in a way that places more importance on what other people think rather than on what the words in "the good book" are actually saying... the way that people can suddenly consider you a cause of contention and discord because you're simply asking questions... the kind of influence that would likely draw one to want to embrace rebellion in general, not necessarily toward any specific religion or the Bible itself but the overall spirit of rebellion... as it did with us.
-Next on? is about "witchcraft and medieval ages": don't you want to record a conceptual album? King Diamond had "The Eye" for example which was based partially on real story of heresy, seduction and witches' trials.
-King Diamond is awesome and concept albums are pretty awesome too... I could see Witchburn doing a concept album at some point.
-Your comrades at arms (ones who like to warm their hands at witch's stake) need reinforcement, so the main question for today is maybe one about your long-expected LP. There was news last year that you were heading in studio to record full length album but then there were only silence…
-We did enter the studio at that time and through a long and sometimes painstaking process, we have completed our full length record with Producer Jack Endino. It will be released this August and we are touring the states, west of the Mississippi, throughout August to support its release. It took a long time to make this record due to the fact that we had to work within such small windows of time that were spread out pretty far from each other, because it was so difficult to get our schedules to mesh with Jack's schedule, but we wanted to start chipping away at the project sooner than later rather than wait for a big space in time to open up for us to be able do it all at once, which did have some benefits too. It gave us the chance to step back and process each bit that we had worked on before continuing on through the next. Jack is also in a band that tours and he's always working on so many recording projects as well, so between everything he had going on and the amount of shows Witchburn plays, we would get a week to work on the record, then we would have to wait 3 weeks to get back to it, and then we would go in for another week and then have to wait for a month before we could continue... so it was hard to work that way in many regards and it took nearly a year to finish, but we put everything we had into it and we are so excited that it's now complete and we can't wait to share it with the world.
-Did you find and scourge that unworthy heretic who has stolen Jessica's bass?
-Not yet... still hunting, diligently.
-What is your favorite way of pulling of admission of guilt from wicked ones, from unbelievers? What is your favorite way of purifying?
-We are living proof that the hasty judgments of man upon one another are often brought about by sheer ignorance and that there is no greater sense of freedom than that which we are granted when we stand up for who we are and what we believe... knowledge is power, truth brings freedom, rock and roll saves lives... it has saved all of us, time and time again. Music will always be my favorite form of purification, and I can't think of a more gratifying means of seeing one come to a place of self discovery and revelation than through the almighty rock and it's ability to bring our hearts to terms with what's real.
-Why is the theme of sorcery and witch-hunting so popular in doom metal scene? How do you think?
-Perhaps because it is the nature of this sound that has always lent itself to
being associated with the mysterious, the unknown and the misunderstood in some way or another... which I believe is also a large part of why musicians who've felt misunderstood as people are drawn to that sound, it's instantly relate to.
-Who are your comrades at arms in USA underground scene? With which bands do you like play?
-Valient Thorr, Early Man, 3 Inches Of Blood and Steel Panther are some of our favorite bands to play with, as well as Brothers of the Sonic Cloth (featuring Tad Doyle formerly of the band Tad), Stone Axe (featuring Tony Reed formerly of Mos Generator), and Heiress (featuring John Pettibone and Josh Freer formerly of Himsa). They're all amazing in their own unique ways, they've all been gracious to us as well as an absolute blast to share the stage with. There's also a Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth/Mico De Noche split 10" vinyl record that came out last summer, which features the Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth song "Fires Burn Dim in the Shadows of the Mountain" that I played violin on in Tad's home studio. He recorded the whole thing in his basement and it sounds amazing. I went over there and checked out the song, wrote the violin parts and then we tracked it right then and there. It's definitely worth checking out for anyone who likes the doom, as is everything those guys are doing. They're just awesome and it was a great experience getting to collaborate with them on that song.
-You played even with Slipknot - how it was for you? It's a great chance to spread the Word amidst wide auditory so did you used this chance right?
-The experience of playing in front of close to 10 thousand people was definitely invigorating and to share the stage with a band as great as Slipknot was certainly an honor. We poured out our whole hearts and projected every ounce we had inside of them as far out into the crowd as we could... there's no chance we would step up to an opportunity like that and not give it our all. The feedback we've gotten from people who saw us for the first time at that show has been incredible, a lot of people have said they became life-long fans that day and have been coming to more of our shows ever since.
-As we know Witchburn will take a part in Doom Kvlt fest. What do you wait from this fest? And how does it feel to know that you'll play at one stage with such arch heretics as Crowned by Fire?
-We're definitely excited to be a part of it, should be an awesome day filled with killer music from awesome bands... we're honored to have been asked to play the very first one and it's amazing that someone has gone to such effort not only just to put something as cool as this together for fans of doom metal and sludge rock, but to make it free for people to attend as well, especially with the way the economy is right now.
-Will you spare their lives at least? They need some cleansing of their sins of course but we know - as honored Klovis Redeemer says - "it doesn't hurt - it doesn't count!"
-Well, strength is gained from every scar and we're always happy to provide a good bludgeoning... besides, we're all sinners anyway and we all need a good purging, so this is most certainly going to feel good.
-It was the last question for this time so I would like to thank you for this interview and your patience!
-We just want people to feel encouraged in remembering that they're not alone when they feel persecuted and cast out as the hunted... never let that be a reason to want to change who you are. Stand up and be counted... and enjoy some good rock and roll while you're doing it. That is freedom...
Interview By Aleks Evdokimov
This interview is coming soon to
metallibrary.ru
www.myspace.com/witchburn
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