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

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!

Witches get Christmassy

Come and join us at the Jericho Tavern on Saturday 8th December for our final gig of the year. Hosted by The Coo Coo Club, we'll be supported by the excellent 50FT Panda and, from London, Eddie Halliday.

Main support 50FT Panda should need no introduction here in Oxford - as Nightshift recently stated, it's all about the riffs. These guys are fantastic. We met opener Eddie Halliday at our recent Windmill gig where we were greatly impressed by his Elliot Smith-inspired songwriting. Expect great things.

Tickets are £5 in advance, or £6 on the door. Advanced tickets are available from We Got Tickets. Come and celebrate the end of a fantastic year for Witches. Hope to see you there!