Witch Hats - Wicked Wrap (Wear their music on your head or use it to direct the traffic through...)
» Witch Hats - Wicked Wrap (Wear their music on your head or use it to direct the traffic through...) - November 16, 2006
I'm listening to Led Zeppelin whilst trying to get myself in the mood to write up this interview. But nothing, not even the psychedelic sounds of Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin’s guitarist/producer) can help transcribe my interaction with 4-piece “noisy rock” act, Witch Hats.
The Witch Hats’ drummer, who seemed to be responsible for the interview, claims that "modern music is primarily pretty fucked" and that he hates "90% of music"! Where is can I go from here?
Well, it seemed that where I had the questions, he too had all the answers...and more!
Witch Hats (no, not "the") hail from Melbourne with the band consisting of lead singer/guitarist Kris Buscombe, lead guitarist Tomas P. Barry (or Tinned Fishes according to their My Space profile), Bassist/Vocalist Ash Buscombe and Drummer Duncan Blachford.
Recently, critics have given Witch Hats' music the golden tick of appreciation, saying their tunes feel like "filthiness and creepiness" (Beat Magazine) and sound like "discordance meets pop" (Riot Magazine). Drum Media also recently published a glowing review of their fresh EP ‘Wound of A Little Horse’ which is out as we speak. . As Blachford proclaims, the boys have even had some "recent 'national youth' airplay" as of late.
I stupidly speculated that the Witch Hats' choice of band name was a reference to those bright orange cones used to mark roadworks, but oh no, the name; "stems from an urban legend about a gang of hardcore boys called the Richmond Witch Gang...their heads were removed with hacksaws (eventually)...the heads became known as 'hats', like a hunter having a moose-head stuck on a wall."
Gosh, glad I got that settled!
Musically, Blachford doesn't listen to much for inspiration, but some of the "trivial" bands he lists are Birthday Party, Lubricated Goat and more current acts Mum Smokes, and ON, but proclaims he struggles to "think of good bands".
Being their first professional recording experience, the band found the process for making ‘Wound Of A Little Horse’ "good...amazing...scary...short". I think it would be difficult to fit the Witch's explosive sound onto a stage, let alone a CD, so am looking forward to hearing the epic translation.
For the recording of this EP, Witch Hats enlisted the help of ex-Birthday Party drummer Phill Cavert and Ben Ling. Blachford claims that they helped shape the record by doing the "microphone placement" hitting "record" and having "a few beers with us". If only all recording was that easy.
The Witch Hats’ EP, Wound of A Little Horse, has a quite gruesome cover. Loosely based on the banned "Butcher" cover artwork by the Beatles, Buscombe (lead singer/guitarist) had this great idea, which eventuated into the boys stripping down to their boxers and throwing Halal (meat that meets dietary standards, as prescribed in the Quran [the Muslim scripture]) produce over each other. I thought this would make for a stark image to give out to unsuspecting public but quite the opposite; "I think it's warm and inviting" says Blachford, "It's not meant to be offensive...it's not a macho blood and guts type image."
From the MySpace tracks I’ve experienced and the EP cover I’ve seen, I think I would be slightly apprehensive about being in the front row for a Witch Hats set. I asked Blachford to substantiate some of the rumours I have been hearing about their crazy and ‘bloody’ gigs. Blachford sometimes uses this image to get in the mood onstage; "...I imagine my snare drum is a concrete floor and imagine I’m smashing someone's face into it." Scared yet?!
All in all, I am still quite confused. From their scratchy first home recording which was self-titled, to recording with a veteran musician, to staging a Beatles album cover, this band seems to have exploded in the past year I guess because I am not a "substance addled music aficionado" I don't quite get the Witch Hats...But I have a feeling they don't really mind either way.
Blachford did however have some profound parting words when I asked him where the band sees themselves in 10 years; "Dead. Or Alive. But not playing in Witch Hats together. Not because I want things to end, but things in life always end and if they didn't it would be weird and amazing."
Quite an appropriate anecdote for their music as well I think…
