New reviews

The first reviews of the new tracks have been received at Witches HQ:

Mischa from Backlash Magazine said:

With exquisite arrangements and clear production these five songs are an epic, breathtaking taster of what’s to come. They all sound quite different, but the variation just highlights exactly what this six-piece are capable of. Bring on the album!

Trigger from Alternative Vision said:

Witches were a complete new band to me until I gave this cd a listen and I have to say that I am very impressed with them, they are a really ambitious band who know how to write perfect sounding songs, the songs are full of passion and emotion and the band have such a strong creative edge as each song sounds different from the last. A lot of great bands have come out of Oxford and hit the mainstream and Witches have the potential to be the next if they continue in their creative ways.

Owain from God Is In The TV said:

Final track 'B.O.K.' sees the band inherit the insistent indie style of Clinic over growling synth, and they wear it well; in fact, as a whole this could be the album's strongest track. It's delightfully arch lyrics singing 'Momma I don't wanna go to school today, some people are waiting for me by the gates.' As the guitar starts being strummed more insistently, the drumming clatters, the synth rises towards the close accompanied by trumpet you start to feel a bit frustrated that this track is cutting itself so short when it could easily become a glorious The Who-style rock opera.

Thank you to Mischa, Trigger and Owain for their positive vibes. Go check out their sites!

Also, following on from Nightshift's review of our Halloween gig, we have a new review of our Holiday Special gig.

Joby from The Fly said:

The sheer strength in numbers of the audience at the packed Wheatsheaf is surely some sign of the respect that is held for this sextet not only by the citizens who live among the spires of this famed seat of learning but increasingly outside.. what's certain is that Witches have once again put us under their spell.

Thanks to Joby and to everyone who's supported us this year. Onward into 2009!

-Dave G

Witches in 2009

January's going to be a crazy month - we have three London shows and one in Oxford too - then we're back in the studio again, working on the new album.

On Saturday 3rd January we'll be returning to The Windmill in Brixton, one of our favourite venues, to warm up the new year alongside the best of London's up-and-coming new bands.

Then on Tuesday 20th January we'll be playing our third show for ace promoters Club Fandango, this time at the legendary Dublin Castle in Camden.

Finally, on Saturday 31st January we'll be heading over to the Fox and Firkin in Lewisham to play our first gig for 2Bob promotions - ace venue and promoter - we've been after this gig for ages. Hopefully we won't get lost on our way across London.

As well as playing as many festivals as humanly possible, we'll be playing lots of supports in Oxford and Bristol in the new year, starting out with a support for Monday Morning Sun (him of Xmas Lights in new project) at The Wheatsheaf in Oxford on Friday 16th January. Organised by ace promoters Swiss Concrete, this should be an top night.

There'll be a new album as well next year - the release date depends on how quickly we get it finished. Most of the songs are written, but there's plenty of work still to do. Plenty more news to follow in the new year, so watch this space!

PS don't forget to come to the Oxford Carling Academy for Your Song on NYE. It never fails to satisfy. We'll be playing alongside a whole bunch of other Oxford bands, including Smilex and Nine Stone Cowboy. A warm welcome awaits you.. armed with hard liquor.

-Dave G

New photos + Witches Holiday Special

Big thanks to Johnny Moto for another excellent set of Witches photos - this time from our Halloween gig. You can view them in our Myspace photos and Flickr photostream.

Don't forget it's the Witches Holiday Special this coming Saturday (13th December). I know it's cold out, but we'll have warm snacks and great music from the likes of Borderville, McDowell and, well, us lot too :)

All the Witches back catalogue is now available to listen for free via Last.fm so go check it out. See you on Saturday.

Dave G

The Witches Holiday Special

..not to be confused with The Star Wars Holiday Special. For those who haven't, don't, I'm never getting those two hours back.

It's our annual Christmas gig (or, at least, I'm hoping to make it an annual event), and this will be taking place on Saturday 13th December at The Wheatsheaf. Usual stuff, doors at 8pm, about £5 on the door etc etc.

We'll be playing, with excellent support from local heroes Borderville and ace Bristol export McDowell. Both bands are well worth coming down early for.

I know it's cold and dark and everything, so we're putting on free mince pies and Christmas snacks, and there'll be a lucky dip - who knows what you'll find in there (if you find my house keys please let me know).

I also made a poster. All I can say is sorry. Very very sorry.

Don't forget you can now listen to all Witches releases for free on Last.fm. We'll also be at the NYE Your Song on 31st December - more details on that nearer the time.

See you on 13th.

Cheers

Dave G

Obsessive-compulsive organization traits

I really ought to get out more, but I keep on finding things that need labelling correctly.

I'd downloaded A Quantum of Covers from iTunes, burnt it to CD, and was about to rip it to my preferred format (Ogg Vorbis).

It turns out that I'm the first person to try this particular manoeuvre, as neither MusicBrainz or FreeDB have the track listing for my CD ripping software to use - so I was compelled to go and fill it in at MusicBrainz.

Generally I don't mind doing this, as a little effort by me can potentially benefit a lot of people who subsequently don't have to type in all the info themselves, but this time the tedium/benefit ratio is not looking good. I'm probably the only person in the world who's likely to download that album, burn it, and then rip it with software that uses MusicBrainz - plus virtually none on the performers on the CD were in MusicBrainz, so I had to create records for them as well!

Doing this may be a "useful" outlet for obsessive behaviour, but I'd recommend all bands releasing music on CDs or other formats to add their entries in FreeDB & MusicBrainz (there's also Gracenote for iTunes, but I frown upon that for political reasons) - that way when your punters put the CD in their computer they'll rip it with the right names and titles, and stuff like Last.FM will work all the better.

And I won't have to do it ;-)

Anyway; in the end, we have A Quantum of Covers on MusicBrainz, and a few more Oxford bands with an entry there as well, so it's all good really :-)

Laters,
Dave B.

PS. Martin's studio is well labelled, but that's not my story to tell...

Many thanks to Nightshift for reviewing our Halloween promo launch. They've recently had a website revamp, so go check it out and download the latest issue: http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/. Here's what was said:

It's Halloween, so obviously Witches are playing. Except tonight the band are dressed variously as ghosts, vampires and slaughtered Victorian brides. And, hey, check out those song titles: 'Dead As A Ghost', 'There's A Darkness', 'At Night I Dream Of Black Dogs.

The wonderful thing about Witches is that despite all this, they're a world away from gothic pantomime or naval-gazing melancholy; if anythingthe costumes detract from the often genuinely haunting nature of the music. Given we haven't caught the band live for a year, during which they've undergone a line-up change, it's a timely reminder just what a fantastic band they are.

Set opener 'BOK' is oddly exuberant despite its apparently morose nature, while 'In The Chaos Of A Friday Night' is fevered, maraca-led splendour; even the more downbeat 'There's a Darkness', relatively stripped down from the band's typically opulent sound, manages to soar.

It also showcases Witches' real secret weapon: trumpeter Bernard Chylinski who, as much as Dave Griffiths' plaintive vocals or Martin Newton's nonchalantly abrasive guitar fuzz, takes each song to a higher level. The Bunnymen-like scurry of 'Dead As A Ghost' particularly benefits from his Mariachi squall.

Amongst a swathe of new songs aired tonight from a promised second album to come next year, stand-out songs are the sludgy, harpsichord-led grunge shimmer of 'Church Beds' and the horn-drenched 'Leave', Witches climaxing the set with the frenetic punk blast of 'Stammer', frontman Dave leaping about, maracas aloft as if performing a suitably pagan Halloween ritual.

What makes Witches such a great band is the carefully controlled balance between musical intimacy and overwhelming chaos. Songs build and erupt, often violently, but within each is a seductive, soulful melody, without which none of them would survive. On a magical night, this is magical music.

Dale Kattack, Nightshift, November 2008

Doing the last.fm thing

Yo!

Finally I've got around to setting our previous releases to full preview on last.fm - so now you can listen on-demand to Taking Myself Home Again - Dead As A Ghost and In the Chaos of a Friday Night.

Share and enjoy!
Dave B

A Quantum of Covers on BBC radio

Yo!

The latest edition of the always entertaining BBC Oxford Introducing is available online until Saturday, and is a Bond special, featuring all 11 tracks from A Quantum of Covers - the Bond theme covers fund-raiser for Children in Need. Go and have a listen...

You'll be able to buy A Quantum of Covers from iTunes next week - make sure you get a copy, it's for charideee!

Laters,
Dave B

Teh Intarwebs 2.0

To coincide with the Big Hair Halloween gig and giving out the new CD, we wanted to update the look of the website - so we got in touch with Emily - who created most of our artwork to date - and put a new piece together. I think it's rather good as well, so many thanks to Emily :-)

After getting the new artwork on the site, I finally found some time to get all Web 2.0 and finish implementing a Flickr photo loader on the gigs page. This will pick up the three most interesting pictures tagged with "witches" and the relevant Last.FM event id, and automagically show them next to the gig listing.

So - for a concrete example - jinty took a pic of Jo at the halloween gig, which I saw on the Oxford music pool. I added the Last.FM event id for that gig: lastfm:event=719073, and bingo - it appears on the gigs page.

Since then I've uploaded and tagged a bunch of photos taken by various friends and family at various gigs, and tagged some pics already on Flickr so there's photos appearing for a fair few gigs. I'm hoping that everyone will get in the habit of tagging their pics in Flickr so they appear automatically - hint, hint...

I've got more photo archives to tag and upload, and then I'll see what other bits of the site could benefit from some love. News of further captivating band logistics coming when it happens...

Audioscope warmup

Good gig last night at The Cellar - the Audioscope08 warm-up, featuring ACTION BEAT + 50ft Panda + FROM LIGHT TO SOUND + EGYPTIAN DEATH.

Great stuff from Egyptian Death (Oxford's answer to Shit and Shine, with added brown note) and From Light to Sound (good mix of restraint and onslaught , love the name), but 50ft Panda were standout awesome, I need to go see them more often :-)

I wasn't really getting into Action Beat, but I think they were all ill and only played a short set, so maybe worth another look some time...

Anyway, make sure you get to The Jericho Tavern on the 15th for the main event! (Witches are on around 6pm.)

Laters,
Dave B.

A Quantum of Children .. erm .. in Need

Hi – Martin (the Grumpy one) here ...

As you may well know – we try and do stuff to help Shelter and support Audioscope – as a result I find myself with an e-mail from Stuart saying I am on the door for this years Audioscope gig in the evening – so I have to spend an hour checking everyone's hand as they walk in and out and tell them they are too late – they missed the best band. Nothing is too much.

Actually I am the least charitable person I know when it comes to putting my hand in my pocket – fnar – and if there's one thing I hate it's being stopped in the street by someone dressed in fancy dress with a bucket telling me I have to help Children in Need – particularly when it's the third person in the space of 100 metres (nearly said yards there – showing my age) and I have refused all of them – so this year I am getting a special T-Shirt made – and a sign up on my front door (next to the no junk mail / salespeople / drunkards offering to tarmac my drive/ god botherers / people I have invited round if you haven't bought a bottle with you notice).

And what will that T-Shirt / Sign say? It will say –

Blimey – I actually did something for Children in Need this year – I must be going soft.

Some time back – the two beardy chaps at BBC Introducing asked us if we would like to contribute to an album they were making for Children in Need. The idea was that a number of local bands would contribute a version of a James Bond theme song. Straight away Dave said he wanted to do "Nobody Does it Better" – because he wants to be Carly Simon – so we went into the rehearsal studio (Jo was in America at the time so we roped in our good friend Pete Bastard to help - Cheers Pete) – and demoed up a few versions of the song – and then forgot all about it thinking we had until November to finish it. This was in – erm – July I think.

Next thing – we get an e-mail from Tim saying that we have 2 weeks to submit the track – this is happening right in the middle of our recording and people being on holiday and stuff – so we panic – imagine we can't do it – and then in a matter of hours manage to record the track – upside down (meaning we did the vocals first with a keyboard backing – and then added all the other instruments afterwards – ((Jo - I hasten to add - had returned by this point)) which anyone worth their salt will tell you – is not the way to record (see previous posting by me) unless you are a DJ doing a remix – and they don't count (see previous posting by me deleted by Dave to prevent me being beaten up by DJ's in every town we visit).

So – to cut to the chase …. And steal from the Loverly Maria Ilett's mail – which I just got which was much briefer than this blog – and would have sufficed really so in future i will get her to write my blogs for me:

"check out our james bond cover on this link....a preview of the album 'A Quantum Of Covers' to be released on nov 10th on itunes only........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/content/articles/2008/10/16/a_quantum_of_covers.shtml"

So – don't ever say I don't do stuff for charity!!!!

Right - where's the number of my local T-Shirt printer and why is it I can't think of Children in need without remembering Joanna Lumley sat in her underwear on Terry Wogan's Lap ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAgdvPs8y0U

More Last.FM goodies

Friday's Halloween gig at The Cellar was a good one, and it was good to see all the ghosts and ghouls out to play :-)

We were giving out a CD with some new songs on - 5 tracks which may or may not make it onto the album next year. We've still got a few left so you might be able to pick one up at one of our next gigs, but if you can't wait until then, head over and have a listen to all five on Last.FM.

Keep it unreal,
Dave B

The new tracks are here!

It's finished! Five new songs. First radio play last Saturday on BBC Oxford, free copies going out at our gig tonight.

And you can listen to them on our MySpace profile and download them for a limited time.

We're very pleased with it - different from the last lot of recordings, but still very much Witches.

Maybe some of them will be on the next album, maybe not - too early to tell. But at least we have some new stuff for you to listen to in the interim.

When we did the last album we circulated some work-in-progress stuff to get some early feedback, to help shape the final album. So we're doing it again.

Tell us what you think - don't hold back now.

-Martin

Halloween party and EP launch YEAH

It's the most wonderful time of the year. No really. Much better than snow and potted evergreen trees and bloated parental turkey-based meals. For the first time ever, Witches have managed to book a gig that actually falls on Halloween. Admittedly, this does mean we'll be up against every other sod that has the same idea, however we'll be in The Cellar which is, as everyone knows, the discerning rocker's venue of choice.

Joining us on 31st October will be The Hellset Orchestra - both of us will be performing headline sets - and there will be ample support from the likes of Thumpermonkey Lives! (sounds like some kind of early nineties Amiga 500 release) and the mighty Von Braun, favourites of ours and regular haunters of Martin's studio (it's not been the same since).

We've realised now that we do actually have to release something, being that we've been banging on about it being an EP launch for some time now. We've recorded five songs. Some or all of them will be with you on the night. We're still deciding. Maybe we'll chuck them all in the bin and then set fire to the bin shouting 'no no no no no' and then there'll be nothing. Who can say.

One thing is (reasonably) certain. This stuff is work in progress. Before the last album came out we circulated a free CD of nearly-finished songs just to see what people thought of them, and that worked well - it got us lots of feedback and helped push the album in the right direction. I feel we're at that stage now, which is kind of exciting and daunting all at the same time.

Anyway, enough of all that - there'll be prizes for the best dressed, and there'll be free CDs for those nearest the stage. Plus four ace bands and DJs till 3am. Tickets only available on the door (£5), doors at 8pm, first band 9pm. We've been putting in the hours in the rehearsal studio putting together a live set that will rock your brains. Where else are you going to be? At home with your kittens? We will find you.

- Dave G

Mixing the EP Mixing the EP

Hi Witches fans - Martin here

Dave is complaining that he always has to write the blog - so I'm having a go.


Recording an album is a funny old game.

You spend hours in the rehearsal studio writing songs and everyone has their own bit which they've written and you finally go into a recording studio to record it and finally everyone gets to hear what you do properly.

Why now? Well - when you rehearsse you have a drummer in the room with you - so everything is really loud and while you get the overall sound and feel - nothing is really clear.

In a recording studio it's - well - different.

You start by all standing in the room with headphones on - and you play the song - much as you would in rehearsal. Then everyone complains that they can't hear anything properly because you all have headphones on - and everyone wants to hear something different. This is acheived by having a headphone mixer - so each person has their own individual mix of how they want to hear the song - so for example the bass player will want to hear lots of drums and bass and a bit of vocal so they know where the changes come - but the guitarist (me) will want to hear just the drums and guitar and a bit of bass and a bit of vocal and definately the keyboards - so you all have to adjust everything.

And finally you press the record button and you're off.

Then you get this thing called Red Light Fever - which is when people suddenly realise that this is it - and you are putting something down for the whole world to hear (or your mates - depending on how good and popular you are) and panic sets in - and the first few takes of a song are always rubbish - because people need to relax a bit.

But finally you get there.

But actually you're not there at all - because all you really wanted to record was the drums - everyone else is plugged straight in so there are no loud amplifiers in the room to interfere with the drum recordings. Once you get the drums down - you then start recording each instrument individually.

And at this point - you get to hear what everyone else is actually playing - because what the engineer hears is again different from what the band hears - and he has solo'd your part and is listening to it under a microscope so to speak (can you listen under a microsope?) - and so is everyone else who is not playing - and you find out that what is being played on one instrument doesn't neccesarily tie in with what someone else is playing - and you have to change it. Sometimes this can be a bit of a political exercise because people can be a bit presious about stuff - and sometimes it's easy.

It also means you finally get to hear properly what is being sung - which can sometimes cause great hilarity - I remember one occasion back in the days when I used to think I could actually sing and fronted a band when i got to the end of the vocal take and there was a long silence - and then a voice came out in my headphones saying - "er - could we maybe take a look at the lyrics Martin - there seems to be a few concerned faces here".

I always imagine that happening in the studio when "Gay Bar" was recorded ....

So there is potentially a lot of compromising - although I reckon that the less you have to compromise because you're all reading from the same hymn sheet - the better the song is - and the better the band is.

Finally - after all that - everyone has played - and everyone has sung - and you have brought in additional people to play stuff to make it sound even better (or worse) by adding flutes and cellos and saws and bagpipes and stuff - and you end up with loads and loads of music - and you then have to mix it - to get all the levels right - and make sure everyone is happy.

In the old days of tape - you had maybe 24 channels to play with - which meant that you played your instrument once because you couldn't do 16 guitar takes - there just wasn't the room - but now in the digital age you can do 16 guitar takes and keep them all and then pick the best bits - which is great unless you're the one who is deciding what the best bit is.

And finally when that is decided - and everyone is happy - well - you're done.

But it takes forever to get it just right. Back in the days when we'd load all the gear in the van and head out to the middle of nowhere to a studio and record everything live in a day and come away with a finished mix having handed over our bouncy cheque it was all so much easier - but it was also so much worse - I have real problems listening to some of that stuff now.

So anyway - at the moment - we are in the middle of deciding what stays and what goes and whether we really wanted to put that bagpipe on the song anyway (I can say this safely because there is no bagpipe on anything - more by luck than judgement though - the bagpipe player had a blowout in his bag and couldn't play).

But on the bright side - 3 of the songs are pretty close to being finished - and the other two have some minor decisions to be made - but - hopefully by the end of the weekend everything will be in the can as we still like to say (along with "We're rolling" which is a lie because that refers to the tape spools going round and round - and there isn't a tape machine in sight in the studio - it's all on computer - but saying "we're commiting to disk" just doesn't sound as Rock).

And while all this is going on we are fitting in Gigs (Clapham was great - thanks everyone for coming along - Witney on Saturday night if you can make it) - interviews (we did a radio interview last week and Jo couldn't make it - but Rich's better half stood in - which was great since she has a broad American accent and said stuff like "I'm just here to rawk"! which had us all in fits of laughter) - photos - rehearsals.

And then we have to decide what goes on the release for the end of the month ... oh blimey.

But it will all be done by the time we turn up at The Cellar on the 31st. And I'll be the one with the grey hair - because I have to try and co-ordinate all of this - keep everyone happy and produce something which will make us world famous.

That was a long blog wasn't it.

I don't think Dave will be asking me again.

Cheers
Martin

Audioscope and Shelter

It's confirmed - we'll be playing at Audioscope this year, which is excellent news. Last year was amazing; we played alongside some truly incredible bands. Most noteworthy would have to be Sh*t and Shine, who are frankly indescribable, but with their six drummers created one of the most dynamic live performances I've ever seen.

This year's lineup looks equally exciting. As always, Stuart and Simon (principle organisers) have put together a lineup of bands that, on the most part, I've never heard of (which is part of the fun I think), however a few familiar favourites have also made their way onto the bill. I'm particularly happy that The Workhouse are playing - I love this band and everything they do. They played at our launch last year, and it was breathtaking.

It's good to be involved in Audioscope, since it allows us to continue to help Audioscope raise funds for Shelter, a charity we've been involved with for some time now, since our performance for Audioscope last year. Since then we released the Shelter-fundraising Live and Undead video and we held a special fundraiser gig at The Wheatsheaf with the help of Ivy's Itch and Fee Fi Fo Fum.

The work of Shelter is nothing less than essential. When you walk around Oxford you are constantly faced with the issues of homelessness and bad housing, and as such it is hard to imagine a more deserving charity than one that tackles these crucial issues.

Witches continue to wholeheartedly support the work of this very important charity, and those Audioscope boys, and hope that as many of you as possible will come along to Audioscope this year to help make it the most successful one yet!

Some basic info: there are two events this year. We're playing at the second event, which will take place on Saturday 15th November in The Jericho Tavern. The lineup includes Kid606, Boxcutter, That F*cking Tank, The Oscillation, Soeza, Witches, Hey Colossus, The Workhouse, You Animals and
Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element. Tickets here.

The first event takes place at The Regal on Monday 10th November, and features Don Caballero, Hreda and Secondsmile. Tickets here.

For more information see our gigs page. See you there!

-Dave G

Sixxxxxx Records

Tomorrow we're heading out to London to get lost and cause chaos at major intersections, before arriving hopefully not too late for a gig at Project Orange in Clapham (details at witchesband.com/gigs).

Sixxx Records have put together a cracking lineup of bands, including Namaste, Sketchbeat and Towers Open Fire. We're second on - according to the promoter we'll be onstage at 9pm. This is our first time at Project Orange but we've heard good things so go on, get on a tube, sod the credit crunch, come see us Witches play.

(goes off to dig out London A-Z since he's too stingy to buy a TomTom).

- Dave G

In the mix

The new tracks are coming.. we heard the first mixes last night. We're really pleased because we've pretty much finished the first half of our second album - no mean feat given how hectic this year has been so far. BOK is a big evil rock monster from hell, whereas There's a Darkness is kind of sinister, with lots of cellos, flutes and backing vocals. Martin set up the pedal steel for this one and we had lots of fun figuring out how to tune it/play it/lift it without killing ourselves.

With the last album there were lots of violins, but there's been a real change of tone this time around, thanks to Jennie from The Rock of Travolta bringing in lots of warm cello sounds. Generally, it sounds darker and more broody. Oh, and I should also mention Katherine from My Friend Rachel who did an excellent job of recreating the flute sounds we used in Glowing Sky.

Stammer is going down really well live, and I think we've captured it well in the recording. Ben seems to be shaking and hitting more things than he used to. Read into that what you will. We've employed a few T.Rex production techniques (no Dave, surely not) like doubling up guitar solos with cellos. Yes indeed, Martin does get his rock god on at various points (then puts it away tidely in a cupboard with a name tag on it).

My favourite so far is Now You Have To Leave. I didn't think we'd nailed this one, but it suddenly really came together, again with help from Jennie and some fine tuning on the guitars to get some really beefy sounds. It's got this great kind of cut-up sound that sounds all edited-to-hell, but really it isn't. I'm really looking forward to playing it to people.

Finally, Church Beds, which is the one with the harpsichord, with lots of musical saw to give it that Sigur Ros meets Mercury Rev sound. Sara did a superb job - apparently her saw was designed specifically for musical purposes, so would be no good for cutting timber or threatening people in the street.

So now it's just a matter of waiting for Martin to figure out whether the saw should be slightly higher than the church organ, and whether the flutes should be lower than the harpsichord, and we're ready for mastering. I'm trying very hard not to be impatient.

-Dave G

Weekend + news

It's been the busiest weekend to date for all us Witches. On Saturday Jennie from The Rock of Travolta came into the studio to record cellos on our new album tracks, and they now sound amazing. Not that they weren't before, mind ;)

Then on Sunday Ms Edge brought in the double bass, and much low rumbling was heard from the depths of Kidlington, as we added the finishing touches to B.O.K. The tracks are now ready for mixing, and with any luck everything will be finished in time for our launch on 31st October.

On top of that we squeezed in two dates in London (supporting Stornoway) and Oxford (supporting The Spinto Band), and it was good to see so many familiar faces amongst the crowd. Thanks to everyone who came along! Busy venues = happy Witches.

We'll be returning to London on 11th October for Sixxx Records at Project Orange in Clapham (details on the website) where we'll be supporting Namaste (it took us far too long to finalise this gig but we got there in the end).

In Oxford we'll be launching our EP at the Cellar on Fri 31st October - we'll be handing out free promo copies of the first few tracks from our new album, so make sure you come down and pick up a copy. We'll also be playing at Fat Lil's in Witney on Saturday 18th October - if you're out that way come along, but make sure you order tickets in advance since it's selling out fast.

That's it for now, see you all soon.

Superspeed studio video

So far we've spent six days in the studio working on the second album. Madness levels are still at nominal. Five all-new Witches songs will be finding their way to your ears in the next month or so. We've got cellos, double basses, flutes and backing vocals still to record and with any luck we'll get it all finished this weekend. Oh, and there might be bagpipes. Is that wrong? Quite possibly, but we can't talk Rich out of it.

Anyway, Dave B recorded the first two days of studio on a webcam and sped it up to superspeed, condensing it all down into a bite-sized chunk of mayhem - all four minutes of it. Needless to say it took quite a bit longer in reality. And there were more fart jokes. You can see it all here. Ben goes particularly mental towards then end, bless him.

Listen to the full Heart of Stone LP on Last.fm

For your listening pleasure, we have made the full Heart of Stone LP available on Last.fm. Whilst you're there you can have fun figuring out just how many bands there are called Witches across the globe. Some time soon we should do a gig with Korean ska Witches. Is it me or do they look completely crazytown in that picture? Not that that's a bad thing. But I digress. Go listen to our stuff. On Last.fm. Now.

Gigs this weekend - Stornoway and The Spinto Band

It's a crazy busy time to be a witch. We've been spending all our weekends either recording our new album or trecking around Poland listening to Radio Gdansk. We thought it would be fun to play a few gigs as well.

This weekend we're supporting Stornoway for Club Fandango at the Willmington Arms in London, which as always will be a lot of fun - expect inventive orchestrations and feel-good songs about fish and other such things from a band who's name always appears whenever there's a weather forecast on the telly.

Then on Sunday we're playing as last minute support for The Spinto Band at the Bullingdon Arms for TCT Music here in Oxford. They're a US band, midway through their UK tour, and their Myspace page shows a band full of promise, with 'twisted melodies and drowsy, sun-dappled mini-dramas'. If you feel like a relaxing end to the weekend then come along!

Witches interviewed on BBC Oxford Introducing

We were recently interviewed by Joby Mullens from The Fly for the BBC Oxford Introducing Show. We talked about the new album, our new lineup and recent/upcoming gigs. If you missed the show you can listen back online. Make sure you tune into Tim and Dave's show every Saturday to hear the latest sounds from the Oxford music scene. Also check out Joby's blog - lots of great reviews and articles updated regularly.

More Club Fandango confirmed!

Thanks to everyone who came to our debut Club Fandango gig on 13th August. We'll be playing again on Fri 26th September, this time at The Wilmington Arms alongside Stornoway, Alto Alite and The Cavaliers. If you're coming along don't forget to print off fliers and save yourself a quid on the door. We'll be playing a healthy mix of old and new, with much of the new stuff soon to be released on our forthcoming EP (more on that later). See you there!

Witches support Sugababes

We have been confirmed as main support for the Sugababes at Trinity College Ball on 20th June 2008. Stornoway will be joining us on the bill at arguably the biggest and best college ball Oxford has to offer. Plans to form a Witches/Stornoway/Sugababes supergroup are progressing steadily.

Witches headline Charlbury Riverside Festival

Charlbury Riverside Festival makes a welcome return this year and we're excited to be headlining the main stage on the Sunday evening (22nd June). Live music starts at 2pm on Saturday 21st June - more info including a provisional lineup can be found at the festival website. Best of all it's free!

Witches, Ivy's Itch and Fee Fi Fo Fum raise £130 for Shelter

We're dead happy with the outcome of our Shelter fundraiser gig last Saturday (17th May), which was organised in association with Audioscope. Between us, Ivy's Itch and Fee Fi Fo Fum we raised an impressive £130 for Shelter. Thanks to all the bands, and to everyone who came along and parted with their hard-earned cash. Give yourselves a big pat on the back.

Cheers

Witches

Kinetic Wardrobe album released

Previous-Witch Dan Burt has recently released his debut Kinetic Wardrobe album Becoming Nothing. The album is free to download - all you have to do is email Dan and tell him what you think. Witches wish Dan the best of luck with his new project, which sounds fantastic. Lots of very cool samples and beats all mashed up the right way. Don't take our word on it though: go check it out here.

The Fly interview

Big thanks to Joby Mullens from The Fly for writing the first in-depth interview with Witches for a while. Dave G has since decided that Witches are, in fact, very rock and that obviously he wasn't feeling very rock at the time of the interview. And it was good to see all the beards getting the respect they clearly deserve :)

Shelter fundraiser - May 17th

As part of our ongoing relationship with housing charity Shelter,we're organising a fundraising gig at The Wheatsheaf, Oxford on Sat 17th May. We're particularly proud to have Ivy's Itch and Fee Fi Fo Fum join us on the bill, and want to encourage as many people to come along and support a cause that we continue to feel very passionately about.

We're running the gig with Audioscope, who last year raised an impressive £1,200 for Shelter at a one-day festival at the Carling Academy. All profits from the gig (we have very few overheads) will go direct to Shelter. Advance tickets: £5 incl. booking fee from WeGotTickets.

6 Music and The Fly

We got our first national radio play this week on BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson Introducing show, broadcast on Sunday 9th March. Tom spoke about the album and video release, as well as some of our previous gigs, before playing forthcoming single Josef's Lament. We'd encourage everyone to check out his show which features some of the best new up-and-coming bands and solo artists.

Just prior to this we received our first national press, courtesy of The Fly magazine. Our picture was used on the Oxford music page, and Joby Mullens wrote about Oxford music in general, focusing on Witches, Stornoway and Truck Festival. Thanks to Joby for helping spread the word!

Witches on OX4 Radio 87.9 FM tonight

We're being interviewed on OX4 Radio tonight (3rd March 2008) between 9pm and 11pm. We'll also be playing some acoustic versions of tracks from the Heart of Stone album alongside other stuff liked by Witches: Click here to download a digital stream to play back in iTunes or Windows Media Player.

Good game, good game

Thanks to all who came to our gigs in Brixton and Oxford last weekend, which I think were our best so far - in no small part thanks to having a people interested and creating a good vibe. Lots of fun all over :-)

Special thanks to Joe who did all the driving on Friday, only to be rewarded with a puncture when we got to Oxford :-(

Witches nominated for 2008 Indy Award

We're in the Best Alternative category. If we get enough votes we get through to the finals in London. Please vote for us! Here's how to do it:

1. Go to the voting page
2. Under 'Witches' click 'Vote'
3. Submit your email address.
4. Click 'Submit'
5. Check your email for the confirmation link
6. Click the link and you're done

Thanks for your help!

Gig calendar

I've been a bit quiet on the blog of late as, being band webmonkey, I've been busy revamping the gig listings on the website.

Ignoring the behind-the-scenes stuff, we now have links to Google maps for each venue, and an Upcoming gigs calendar - subscribe for notification of our next gigs directly into your calendar program (if it supports iCal).

There's more stuff possible, but that'll have to wait as we're starting to write some new songs to follow the album :-)

Witches in London and Oxford

We'll be returning to the wonderful Windmill in Brixton on Friday 15th February playing alongside Danny and the Champions of the World and many others. There's a cheese auction too. It's Valentine's weekend so we're going to be extra romantic :)

We'll be back on home turf the day after, headlining Big Hair @ The Cellar on Saturday 16th February, with excellent support from Brother Francisco, All Our Good Friends and Cat Matador. This will be our biggest headline to date, so keep some space in your diaries!

Equitruck and Beard Museum

Happy new year from Witches! We're looking forward to playing some cracking gigs this year, starting with Equitruck, an all-day event held at the Jericho Tavern on Saturday 12th January 2008 from 1pm. A whole load of excellent bands are playing - for full listings visit their Myspace.

Following on from this, we'll be playing our debut gig for the Beard Museum at the Purple Turtle on Sunday 27th January 2008. Well done to the Beard Museum boys for booking excellent support from the likes of Semaphore - those who like Witches will like these guys too. Also playing are Sam Beer and Liam Ing-Reeves.

This is going to be an exciting year for Witches - we're starting to play more regularly in London in advance of the release of our debut single later this year, and we'll be writing and recording a new album throughout the course of 2008, to be released next year. This will mean lots of new songs at Witches gigs in Oxford and beyond. See you all soon!