WYTCH HAZEL

[this interview was originally printed in Cimmerian Shadows Issue 2; 2012]

Please provide a brief biography of WYTCH HAZEL – when did you form, what are your motives as a band, and has the line-up remained the same from the start?

Colin: It all started in Garstang where Josh lives, around July 2010. I think I’d been hinting about forming a band for a while and that night I went round specifically to think of band names and to sort of officially ‘form’ the band in a very laid back sort of way.

Josh: We came up with the name ‘Jerusalem’ that night and then went out for a few pints.

Colin: I later came up with the name Witch Hazel and Josh agreed it was better. The name then inspired me to write two songs and record them. At some point the ‘i’ in Witch Hazel turned into a ‘y’, just because it’s old English and looks better.

Josh: Neil our bassist was on our music course at uni in the first year so that’s how we know him and Aaron was a friend of a friend. Stuart put us in touch with Aaron and he also designed our band logo.

Colin: We finally had a complete line up by 30th January 2011 and that has stayed the same. I think our motives from the start were twofold: firstly we wanted to just play gigs and have fun but secondly, for me, it’s a creative outlet; I can write any sort of material - we don’t do it to try and appeal to a massive audience. The image is also part of that outlet; we’ve worked on it and had fun with it and we see it as an important part of Wytch Hazel.

Speaking of the band's image, how important do you think it is for a band to 'stand-out from the crowd' with their onstage appearance? Spandex and waistcoats seem to be a feature of WYTCH HAZEL's live get-up... is this mainly to get yourselves in the right 'nostalgic' mindset, or is it intended to have a visual impact on the crowd?

Colin: I think it’s really important... not sure about the rest of the band!

Josh: Yeah he’s always going on about us all getting some medieval boots.

Colin: I think it’s part of the whole package. Oscar Thunder from Helvetets Port hit the nail on the head when he was interviewed. He said something like: “Of course the music is more important but stage clothing is still very important – no one would argue with Dio’s Last in Line tour stage show and clothing”. I see the clothing as a continuation of the music.

Josh: We think a theme is important, it allows people to use their imagination whilst listening to your music rather than just saying: “Ooh that’s a rip off of Wasted Years” or just looking at it one dimensionally.

Colin: Although it will probably be more like “Ooh that’s a rip off of Dark Forest” for us!

WYTCH HAZEL have released one 2-track CD so far, featuring the songs 'Surrender' and 'Wytch Hazel'. This recording has a remarkably vintage sound - it could easily be mistaken for a product of 1979 – so how did you go about capturing this atmosphere? Would you attribute it largely to your guitar and amp settings?

Colin: Funny you should say that as the amp I used when recording was from 1979 [hah, apparently I'm a sonic sleuth! - Ed], it’s now Josh’s, I’m using an older one.

Josh: We used Colin’s 4 track Tascam Portastudio for the demo which recently got nicked but Aaron has more or less the same one so we’re able to use that now.

Colin: I think it was one mic on drums, one mic on the guitar amp and one mic on the vocals – we didn’t really put a lot of effort into it! In recording (which I have a very limited experience of) I like to capture the acoustics of the room. These days, most people try to remove and deaden those sounds. I like the sounds of the old Wishbone Ash and Led Zepp recordings which aren’t particularly great ‘quality’ recordings however I hold them in much higher esteem than super accurate digital recordings.

Josh: We just wanted to have something to show potential band members and pubs and stuff. It didn’t take us that long, maybe a few weeks but then we had a bit of a crisis when it came to the slightly more modern technology of putting it into Cubase to digitise it!

Colin: I did spend most of the time on guitars messing around with the amp settings; I sort of wanted it to sound like a nwobhm demo, like Dark Star or something! I’ve had a few people tell me how the demo is in desperate need of a re-record or a ‘better quality’ recording but I disagree. I think for a first recording I couldn’t be happier . The response to the demo has been great and would dispute those claims anyway. You’ll always get people who don’t like what you do, but I really don’t care, someone told me that Wytch Hazel wasn’t heavy enough, I just said: “sorry that’s just how I write, go listen to Dark Forest - they’re really good.”

The Surrender CD is now sold out – how many were originally pressed, and do you feel in hindsight that you underestimated demand? Do you have any plans to re-release it in some form, perhaps working with a label?

Colin: The recording was really only for MySpace so we could show people, but we decided to make a physical release once the band had formed. We made 50 CDs as we weren’t sure if they would all sell! I think in hindsight 100 would have been more appropriate, but 50 made it a bit special I think.

Josh: I think we’re still getting emails from random European fans desperate to get hold of a CD.

Colin: We’re currently working with someone to release the demo on vinyl which we think is more of an appropriate format for this release anyway, but we won’t be releasing it on CD again.

Could you elaborate on the influence you claim from “Henry VIII, Palestrina and other Medieval and Renaissance music”, as well as “sacred vocal music”? Would you even categorise WYTCH HAZEL as a “heavy metal” band?

Colin: I don’t even like calling it Medieval Rock! Categorising a band into a genre has its pros and cons, but we’re not ‘going for anything’ despite citing various influences. Most people would compare us to Ashbury, Jethro Tull or Pagan Altar because of the folk influence and similar band setup. However, compositionally, I would say at certain points we are closer to 16th century church music.

Hopefully, Henry VIII and Palestrina is stuff that is both heard of and recognised by people and it is a definite influence for us. To me, sacred vocal music from the ‘Gregorian chant’ right up to where it got a bit complex (e.g. Palestrina) is some of my favourite music. For me, Wytch Hazel is somewhere between medieval organum and a renaissance motet - where it doesn’t get too complex (it sort of turns into church choral prog later on!).

From what I can gather, 'Witch Hazel' is a type of American shrub... why was this name adopted for the band? Presumably you think there's still scope for heavy metal band names using the 'witch' theme (even though some of them these days are just cringeworthy)? Is a witchcraft reference intentional in the name, or did you just like the sound of it?

Colin: I think mainly the reason is that it’s a remedy, a cure, healing maybe. For me, Jesus is what Wytch Hazel is. However, when people hear “Wytch Hazel”, it will mean different things to different people. Witch hazel was believed to have magical properties and to bring good fortune, the leaves were used to protect you from evil... some people still believe that’s the case.

Talk us through your live performances so far, good moments, bad moments... I imagine you often share the stage with bands of a very different style? How do your songs go down with local crowds, and do you have intentions to pick up the pace of gigging in a wider area?

Josh: We’ve played 3 gigs so far: a charity one, a church event and The Old Blue Last in London.

Colin: I think the church paid us the best out of the three!

Josh: We went down well at all of them, I suppose the first two were with people who weren’t interested in Heavy Metal but they still seemed to appreciate it from the response we got. The Old Blue Last was a great show though and definitely the best gig so far.

Colin: We’re currently in the process of looking for gigs, more local ones in the north as we can’t afford to travel too far. Of course we wouldn’t mind a Birmingham one or another London one or Germany even but we’re quite poor, that’s why people need to buy our demo at www.cdbaby.com/cd/wytchhazel! Shameless plug over...

You are currently working on a new EP, so what can you say about that? Are you aiming for exactly the same production style? What songs will it feature, and will they be any different stylistically?

Josh: I think we’re just experimenting at the moment with different ways of doing it; it’ll definitely be a better quality recording but hopefully in the same vein as the previous recordings.

Colin: I think the songs in a way are a lot more obviously medieval, it’s going to be 4 previously unrecorded original songs, one of which is an instrumental intro.

Will the EP be another self-released affair, or will it have the backing of a label?

Colin: We haven’t got that far but our aim is another self-release.

How do you envisage the next release being packaged? Will you opt for a similar style to the first CD, with its simple, vintage-looking yellow and black layout, or do you have some sort of artwork in mind?

Josh: I think we’d like some artwork this time but it’s just a case of budget – at the end of the day we’re out to have fun and we’re not going to take it too seriously and take out a loan or something!

Colin: It would be great to have some artwork and we’ll certainly be looking into it – we like the idea of renaissance art for the cover.

How important do you consider good cover-art to be in general? Should a band expect to be judged by their album covers? Like it or not, this is surely a reality, even in this age of reduced 'off the shelf' shopping. What are some of your favourite album covers from the past, from any genre?

Colin: For Wytch Hazel it’s not an issue we worry about - whether someone will buy our album from first impression - because really, it’s not putting food on the table and we’re under no illusion that it could ever be something that would.

Josh: In terms of favourite album artwork it would have to be Maiden's ‘Somewhere in Time’ just because it’s sort of like ‘Where’s Wally’ and you keep finding stuff and also the ‘Land of the Free’ by Gamma Ray is a particularly good cover too.

Colin: I really like the Wishbone Ash ‘Argus’ album artwork where the centurion is looking at a UFO [great choice, one of my favourites too -Ed]. I also really like stuff like the Dark Star ‘Lady of Mars’ cover and the first Tokyo Blade album, just because it’s cool.

Have you had any feedback on your music from overseas? How far afield did you manage to distribute the first CD? Mainland Europe seems far healthier in its respect for the classic British metal sound, so perhaps you have garnered some good comments from there?

Josh: Yeah we’ve been quite taken aback by the international response really, more than 60 of our fans on Facebook are non UK and quite a big chunk of our demos were sold in Europe. I think early on we were asked to send one to USA and to Australia and we were like: “What?! How did they find out about us?!”

Colin: We’ve had some really nice comments mainly from Europeans so yeah I think you’re right, there’s more respect and certainly more enthusiasm!

Where do you derive lyrical inspiration from? Were there any particular books or other cultural sources that informed the 'Surrender' and 'Wytch Hazel' lyrics? What topics will be dealt with on the new EP?

Colin: Well as a Christian I read the Bible and I believe it to be the word of God, so the lyrics more often than not originate from something I’ve learnt from personal study, a hymn/worship song or something powerful I’ve heard in a sermon. However, all this inspiration originates from the Bible - from letters, songs, poems, the Gospels; there are different types of literature within the Bible itself.

One topic that will be prevalent on the EP will be the theme of ‘Glorifying God’ which is fitting because as I said before, some of my inspiration comes from church music anyway. I think this is really evident in my latest composition “Proclaim”; I think it’s some of the best Wytch Hazel material so far.

Over and out. Thanks lads.

Cheers.