Single launch and BBC session this Saturday!

This Saturday we're launching our brand new single Expansion at The Cellar in Oxford at our Halloween party presented by Big Hair.

Joining us will be Desert Storm and Les Clochards, and we'll be onstage around 10pm. Doors are at 8.30pm and it'll cost about a fiver to get in (no advance tickets).

There'll be prizes of HMV vouchers and Witches goody bags for the two best Halloween outfits and there'll be limited edition CD singles given away to the first fifty people to make it to the merch desk so get your skates on!

All this plus cheap drinks deals and DJing 'till the early hours. What more could you want?

ALSO, you can hear us before you head out on Saturday evening from 6-7pm when we'll be performing a live session featuring brand new songs for BBC Oxford Introducing. If you miss the show don't worry - you can listen back using iPlayer during the week.

We'll be playing more new songs at the launch - we're really proud of them so be sure to let us know what you think!

See you Saturday.

Witches x

More radio play for Expansion

Tune into BBC Oxford Introducing this Saturday (17th October) where they'll be playing our brand new single 'Expansion', out at the end of the month (thanks Tim and Dave!)

Don't forget to come and join us at the Cellar on Saturday 31st for our Halloween party. There'll be limited edition CD singles for the first 50 people through the door, and prizes for the best dressed. See you there!

Expansion launch and Halloween party

We're proud to announce that we'll be launching our brand new single 'Expansion' at our Halloween party hosted by Big Hair at The Cellar on Saturday 31st October.

The single will be released on Big Red Sky, and label mates Les Clochards will be joining us on the bill, along with very special guests.

A limited number of CD singles will be given away at the launch, and the track will subsequently be available for streaming from Last.fm and download from iTunes.

Produced by Jamie Masters and mixed by Jimmy Evil, 'Expansion' is taken from our forthcoming second album, due out next year, and is our first official release since Heart of Stone in 2007.

The recording was partly tracked at the SAE Institute as part of our Jack.fm 'Next Big Thing' prize from earlier this year.

We're really excited about the launch, and hope to see as many of you as possible in fancy dress on Halloween. There'll be prizes for the best dressed, so don't hold back!

Our launch will be followed by a mini-tour in November, including a performance at the Carter USM aftershow party at Jamm in Brixton. See the Witches website for more info - more dates will be announced nearer the time.

Eleven songs have been recorded so far for the second album, but we're currently working on a second batch, many of which will be aired at the Halloween gig for the very first time. We're very proud of our new tracks, so come down and see what you think.

See you soon

-Dave G

Cornbury

Thanks to everyone who came to see us play at Cornbury. We had an amazing time - hope you did too.

Don't forget - if you liked our stuff you can buy a copy of our debut album Heart of Stone from iTunes or Amazon. Check it out first for free on Last.fm.

Also, we're playing a headline set at The Cellar in Oxford on Thursday 16th July, and if you're in London you can see us at 229 on Wednesday 15th July (onstage 8pm) - come check out more of our songs - we'll have t-shirts and badges too.

For more info drop us an email: info@witchesband.com. Hope to see you soon!

Dave G (singer Witch)

Witches have Big Hair (and other news)

YO

We will be playing in the Oxford Cellar on Thursday 16th July for Big Hair. We're particularly proud to have Baby Gravy as main support - they are a superb band, and we look forward to sharing the stage with them for the first time in nearly three years (by my reckoning).

Also joining us will be Hearts in Pencil, an exciting up-and-coming Oxford band who Oxfordbands, raving about their debut release Hannibal Ad Portas, describe as 'definitely be a band to look out for', a band with 'real promise'. Be sure to come down early and check them out.

Tickets are normally about £4 on the door (no advance tickets), and doors open at 8.30pm.

We're currently continuing work on the next album with producer Jamie Masters, with much of the recording taking place in August and September. We're hoping to complete some of the tracking at the amazing SAE studios in Oxford, courtesy of Jack.fm's Next Big Thing competition which we won back in May.

We're also hoping to release a brand new single, taken from the forthcoming album, in October. Confirmation on this and additional info will follow.

The new album will hopefully be released in the first half of 2010 - we're taking a bit longer than originally planned in order to write some additional tracks in Martin's Studio 101. One thing is for sure. 'Heart of Stone' was a country album. This second album will be a rrrock album :)

-Dave G

PS we're also on the cover of the latest issue of Oxfordshire Music Scene. If you don't live in Oxford you can download a copy for free. Go check it out!

Witches on Kooba Radio at FoxFest 2009

We're interviewed on the latest Kooba Radio show following our performance at FoxFest 2009. Kooba documented the entire festival with a radio and tv show.

FoxFest is a yearly event based at the Fox and Firkin in Lewisham, and we played alongside a host of great bands including Bleech, 23frames (both of whom we supported in January 2009) and the amazing UpCDownC.

Witches are big fans of Kooba Radio, and would like to encourage as many people as possible to go and check them out.

-Dave G

I hope my tent is dry

Hmm, long time no blog. Maybe I should get something Twitterish...

I'm just getting my camping supplies together for Wychwood festival, and hoping that the sunny forecast will be true.

We're playing the main stage on Saturday morning, thanks to winning the Next Big Thing competition - if you're attending, come and see us!

Whilst here I might as well give an update on another part of winning the NBT; the recording time in a big studio at SAE - we've got some dates pencilled in, so that should be happening later in the year, which will hopefully bring the new album a little closer :-)

Laters!
Dave B.

Next Witches gig - 100 free tickets available on the door

Yo!

As previously mentioned, Witches are one of five finalists at the Jack.FM Next Big Thing competition.

If you want to go, you can - they'll have 100 free, gratis tickets on the door Wednesday 29th April: O2 Academy Oxford.

Should be an interesting experience, as all the finalists have their strengths and weaknesses. I'm curious to see how this sort of thing works...

Anyway, it's on 6:30-10pm - early enough for a school night - so get down there tomorrow!

Laters,
Dave.


PS. With a bit of luck we might have some nice new merch as well :-)

Witches through to Jack.fm top 5!

Following on from Tom Robinson playing B O K on 6 Music Introducing on Monday, Jack.fm have announced that our song Expansion (another track penned for our second album) has pushed Witches into the top 5 of their Next Big Thing competition. Apparently 130 bands entered, of which 20 bands recorded a song at SAE Oxford. We'll be playing alongside the other four finalists at the O2 Academy in the near future - watch this space. Thanks Jack!

Witches confirmed for Cornbury Festival

We're very excited to be playing on the Riverside Stage at this year's Cornbury Festival (11th-12th July). The festival takes place in Charlbury and many of the main acts have already been confirmed, including Scouting For Girls, The Sugababes (our second gig with this lot!), Joe Jackson and The Pretenders.

Weekend tickets are available via the Cornbury Festival website. We'll be onstage on the Saturday afternoon, exact time tbc. If you only go to one festival this year make sure it's this one! Let's hope the sun comes out.

Mind fundraiser with Little Fish

The plans are finally coming together. We'll be main support for the (frankly stunning) Little Fish on Wednesday 8th April at the Bullingdon Arms, Oxford. With additional support from The Follys and Alphabet Backwards (playing an acoustic set) we'll be raising money for mental health charity Mind. This is set to be an amazing evening so make sure you get down there nice and early. Who knows what kind of crazy stuff will happen?

-Dave G

Thank you.

I would like to say a big thank you to the two bands who played with us last night at the Dublin Castle. Bleech and Airship were both excellent - one of the strongest bills I've ever played on.

I would also like to thank Club Fandango for consistently putting us on with good bands at good venues, and making us feel welcome in the Big Smoke, and to the friendly and helpful staff at the Dublin Castle.

Finally, thank you to our friends and fans who came from London and Oxford to see us play, particularly Johnny and Penny for braving the January cold.

It's a long old road but sometimes it's really really worth it.

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

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.

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