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Brief Witch review from SXSW
Burlington Fee PressOriginal Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps … 60304/1004
Quote:1:15 a.m. — Ah, yes, those earplugs come in handy again. Witch is not your typical Vermont band.Two members, guitarists Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons, are in the sort of quirky outfit you might expect in Vermont, an "avant-folk" group from Brattleboro called Feathers. A third Vermonter, bass player Dave Sweetapple, is friends with J Mascis, the legendary guitarist from recently reunited rockers Dinosaur Jr. Mascis tossed aside his guitar-hero status to play drums for Witch.
All four members have long, stringy hair and crank out a Black Sabbath-like ’70s-style heavy-metal racket. The gig was haphazard, one of those rare shows that didn’t live up to the energy of the CD, a self-titled disc that came out March 7.
Sweetapple stood near the stage after the set and started talking about how the Vermonters got together with Mascis, who lives just down Interstate 91 in Amherst, Mass. Then a SXSW staffer came up to him and said that the band only played for 23 minutes, shorter even than the 30-40 minutes most SXSW bands have. She asked if Witch could play one more song. Sweetapple, Mascis, Thomas and Irons commiserated, but the stage crew had already started tearing down their instruments. Saturday, March 18:
Original Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps … 60304/1004
"jeremiah " wrote:Brief Witch review from SXSW
Burlington Fee PressOriginal Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/LIVING/603260304/1004″>http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps … 60304/1004
Quote:Then a SXSW staffer came up to him and said that the band only played for 23 minutes, shorter even than the 30-40 minutes most SXSW bands have. She asked if Witch could play one more song. Sweetapple, Mascis, Thomas and Irons commiserated, but the stage crew had already started tearing down their instruments.
I think I have to go to Bread & Puppet this year… That would be a great place to see them play 
another brief review of Witch @ SXSW, March 18th
Quote:As if to contrast with all of this Left Coast power, Witch held down the “special guestâ€This ones about the March 17th show…
Quote:Like a Hurricane
SXSW live shot
BY DAVID LYNCHWitch
Dirty Dog Bar, Friday, March 17You might not know Witch, but you’d have to be a Bush appointee in a hurricane to not have heard of J Mascis’ Dinosaur Jr. In Witch, Mascis pulls a reverse Dave Grohl, shifting from guitar to drums, his first instrument. Said kit was rudimentary, although Mascis beat the shit out of it, thwacking a kitchen sink-sized snare. Mascis made it look easy in his Holstein cow shirt, props to his native Vermont’s biggest industry. The guitar-guitar-bass-drum quartet clearly has individual chops, although as a band they still need some work in the cohesiveness department. Singer-guitarist Kyle Thomas admitted as much in saying, "We hope you don’t mind if we play it a little loose tonight, ’cause that’s what we’re doing," before rendering another cut from their eponymous John Agnello-produced debut on Tee Pee. Witch may be inspired by L.A. Eighties metal band Saint Vitus, but here they discharged sludgy-riffy Dino Jr. sutured with Alabama Thunderpussy, Black Sabbath specters wafting about the stage. In spite of the expected freak-show quotient in attendance, a lady bopping along right next to the PA stack looked like she just came from a Junior League meeting. Such is the all-encompassing power of Witch. [/quote
another very brief review of The March 17th show
from timeoutchicago.comQuote:The most excitement of the day, though, was the official Time Out party at the Dirty Dog Bar: The best booking of the night was J Mascis’s new band, Witch (http://www.jmascis.com), a deafening stoner metal band that’s a lot heavier than Dinosaur Jr ever wasreported J sightings at SXSW…
Quote:Friday, March 17J Mascis is totally following me.
Well, either that or we have remarkably similar tastes in music. I spotted his moppy gray head at the Alternative Tentacles showcase—and Jello Biafra did too, giving him a shout-out from the stage before he introduced the band we were both there to see, Zolar X
My second J sighting was on slightly sadder terms. I went to see Bottomless Pit (http://www.bottomlesspit.us), which is the new band made up of the remaining members of Chicago’s Silkworm. You may remember that Silkworm’s drummer, Michael Dahlquist, and two other musicians died in a car accident last summer (for more on that, visit http://www.3friends.org). It was strange not seeing Dahlquist behind the kit, but the band was in good form, and it was an emotional tribute—I hope they play at home soon.
But my favorite moment was spotting Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis at the Hilton Starbucks
great pic of the March 17th show from dustedmagazine.com
[img]http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/sxsw/witch.jpg[/img]
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