The Witches - News

 THE WYTCHES Announce Covers Cassette EP Replica
Released 5th July 2024 via Alcopop! Records

Brighton-based rock quartet The Wytches are delighted to reveal a new covers EP titled Replica, set for release 5th July 2024 via Alcopop! Records. Released digitally and on very limited cassette tape from www.ilovealcopop.co.uk, the eclectic collection features new versions of tracks by American doom metal band Pentagram, country star Porter Wagoner, jazz great Chet Baker, and the Velvet Underground’s John Cale. “Over the last couple years we’ve recorded more demos than we ever used to,” explains Bell. “I was carting around my whole recording rig to band practice or wherever we’d set up to play for most of 2022, just to try and better my recording skills. Covers have always been good for that. If I’m feeling rusty with songwriting I focus on the recording side of things and just put down covers as a way to try and break out of a creative slump. These covers are kind of a documentation of that. They were all recorded in different houses with my portable rig which is just a couple preamps and a Tascam 58 8-track tape machine.”

Lead single ‘Be Forewarned’ is out now, a writhing cover of the title track from the 1994 Peaceville Records release of the same name by American doom metallers Pentagram, which echoes the best of British rockers The Animals. “Me and Mark (Breed, guitar/keys) recorded the ‘Be Forewarned’ cover in my bedroom of a flat we were living in at the time,” says vocalist Kristian Bell. “We thought we’d soundproofed it well, but a couple friends happened to be outside at the time, and they filmed my window and sent it to me. The noise was stupidly loud, it was such a disruption on the street, but quite a nice payback in a way, as we lived above a nightclub. We recorded the whole thing in about an hour, it was the most stress free recording we’ve done.” The band will be appearing at TRUCK Festival and Down Stokes Festival later this year, and have just announced a special 10 Year Anniversary Show at The Underworld, Camden in London on 23rd August 2024, where the quartet will perform their 2014 debut album Annabel Dream Reader in full. Tickets on sale now, see below for listings.

Replica EP released 5th July 2024 via Alcopop! Records

Live Dates: 

26/07/24 - TRUCK Festival 

23/08/24 - London - The Underworld, Camden (10 Year Anniversary show)
19/10/24 - Bristol - Down Stokes Festival