Witch Tripper are a band that 'feel' like they have been around a hell of a lot longer than you might think. They pop up all over the country, and beyond, so frequently that you could be mistaken that it's been decades since they've formed! I was lucky enough to be invited by the guys to their album launch for I, Of The Storm and we got chatting about all sorts, from Bloodstock to crisps.
Richie and Stoff, so you guys have been around a while now, since 2014 wasn't it?
Richie – Yeah it was the back end of 2014 and we were gigging pretty much right away. Stoff – It was the Metal 2 The Masses that really kicked it for us though, it opened a whole new world of shit that we needed to fuck up! (laughs)
You did M2TM twice didn't you?
S – Yeah we came second in the final in 2015 and they let us play the Jagermister, I don't know why, but it was dead good. And then in 2016 we managed to win it and yeah, it was fucking mint and after that we've just been doing what we do!
So when Witch Tripper was formed, was the band now, the same band that it was then? The same concept, the same style?
R – Yeah I think so. To be honest with you, I think there's certain musicians that can say, right I'm gunna do this, and they have a target and its something they want to achieve. But me as a musician I play how I play, everyone's got their own style and love what they play, I'm the same. In the beginning when we all got together, Jimmy was a student at my music school in Mansfield and I poached him after he did a few concerts and music productions for me. I bumped in to Stoff at a local music venue in Mansfield and we just jammed. It was literally like just a jam band at the beginning. Everyone had a few ideas and it just worked straight away, I mean in the first rehearsal we wrote our first song, which is the song we are gunna open the set with tonight. S – The thing is from my point of view is, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and like Richie said we met at this local gig and after that is was like, this is it! These are the two idiots that wanna spend the time with me and we didn't just write that first song, we wrote about 4 in that first practice. And it just fell together dead easy. R – Its always been easy. That's the good thing! Like, Jimmys the youngest, he's 19 is it? S – 20 I think R – Whatever aye, he's a little un (laughs) ya know he's brilliant, got loads of energy which is great and he does as he's told! He's not got a massive ego or anything which ya don't wanna be dealing with. And it's never like that with us, all three of us, no-one is scared of saying 'no that's shit' or 'we wanna do that or do this' we're just three mates that enjoy what we do.
Gigging is a massive part of this band, you did over 100 gigs last year?
R – That's the part I love the most about it! S – Yeah 101 it was with just Witch Tripper! R – Yeah we are all in other bands as well!
Wow, so how do you prepare for gigging so extensively?
R – I don't think we realised how many we were gunna have until the end of the year to be honest. And even though were not long in to 2018 now, I think there's loads more gigs we'll do this year, that aren't even in yet.
Yeah I saw on your gig poster there are over 30 booked throughout the year already.
S – Yeah we've probably done 20 so far this year with 30 booked in and we are still getting bookings coming in. I was on the phone to a chap last night that wants us at the Rock in Corby. I mean, 2016 was a shit year for us all on a personal level and the only thing we had that was solid as a rock, was us three. And we thought, well if we're gunna do something then lets do it! We did Bloodstock 2016 and we came out of it pumped, we did it in 2015 on the Jager stage but we didn't do a lot with it. Rich was doing Vampires Rocks and things like that and the year after when we played the New Blood stage it gave us a platform, so lets ride that platform and just fucking do it! And everyone knows us know as 'that band', (laughs) people will say 'oh your that band' R – We got a lot of shit for it though to be fair from some other bands, but most bands we gig with now are fucking brilliant. I tell you what, that's one of the best things about gigging loads. I mean it's hard work, we are all trying to pay the mortgage ya know, and Witch Tripper ain't paying the mortgage but the amount of wicked bands we get to hang out with and play with and watch, the festivals we get to play at is great. It's like every weekend we get a free pass to everywhere, wherever we are going. I love it. It's hard work, of course it is, when your on the M62 at 5 in the morning its shit but you take the rough with the smooth.
If you could tour with any band, old, new, alive or dead, who would it be?
R – We know this already, don't even have to think about it! Either of us could say this coz we know what its guna be. (Points to Stoff) S – Errr Sabbath R – Really?! S – Chilli Peppers? R – I thought you'd fucking know! S – Zepplin? R- No its Clutch! S – Ah yeah Clutch, any day of the week! Ha, and what crisp flavour would be on your rider? S – Ready Salted in it. No, no wait, if your going full crisp action then McCoys Steak Cut, I don't really do crisps though to be honest. R – Do they still do those ones in the paper packet? Those Branigans Beef and Mustard? Those were good! S – Space Raiders! R – I do like them T-Bone Steak Roysters! S – We don't actually eat that much on the road, unless it's McDonalds. But like tonight we've got a Hobgoblin rider so that will do us (laughs) We got offered a gig the other night and they said 'what do you drink, there's a free crate of larger for you' fuck off, we drink craft ale, proper shit. (laughs)
The main reason for tonight's gig is the album launch, I, Of The Storm is available now, but with your gig regime, how do you find the time to write new material?
R – The good thing is, because we gig so much, you'd think it works against us but we never have to rehearse the set, so the only thing we have to do when we jam, which is every week on a Thursday, is write because we don't need to run the set due to the amount of gigs we do. So to be honest it helps us write. Because we are gigging so much we can concentrate on new stuff all the time. S – Quite a bit of the new stuff we incorporated in to the set quite early, soon it was like it's been a year and we need to book in to get recording. Then we booked recording for the middle of Jan and we wanted ten songs. Ya know, ten songs, that will be us and we managed nine with one that we wrote the night before recording it!
How does the writing process go? Is it structured or jammed out?
R – It's different for every song. Sometimes we'll write one, like Stoff will write a bunch of riffs that he wants together and sometimes I'll do the same. Sometimes we will have an idea of something and just jam it. S – I think, in all honesty, it took a few albums to get a feel for it. When we started kicking off, the first chunk of songs I had a good idea of and I brought them to the table and we annihilated them and formed them together as a band. And this next album was a bit of this and a bit of that, a bit of what we had done on the road and it was a good mesh of everything. As a second album it was a good mix, a good blend. The thing for us was to find who we were and incorporate that. The biggest thing we found on the first album was that you don't get your live show feel on it. That sweaty, hairy bastard feel, and that's something we wanted to incorporate on this album, to show how angry and aggressive we are on stage. R – For me personally, in terms of recording, I agree with that. I nearly did it last time but I didn't and I think the first album doesn't feel right and it doesn't capture how we are live. We rushed it anyway because we had Bloodstock coming up and we needed something tangible to sell or give away or whatever. But I purposefully got wasted before I recorded my parts this time to put me in that zone.
That gig mentality?
R – Yeah exactly and it really worked for me, it made it sound a lot more real and human. The first albums a bit too clean. I think the only thing I'd do different next time, ya know looking forward, would be I would want to record my parts late at night.
To add that gig type of feel, as you play late at night after a day of work or whatever?
R – Yeah because I'm a different person in the morning as I am late at night. So yeah we are finding ourselves in that recording environment because we are a live band, that's what we're known for. We know what we like and we know what we don't like and we're dead natural live, recording ya know, it's not the same. Your not doing it all the time. We record when we've got an albums worth of material and not before but I think we're becoming more comfortable with that and finding ourselves a bit more in the studio which is good, so hopefully we'll keep growing in that way.
With I, Of The Storm being the highlight of tonight, if you could pick one track from the album to describe your self, which would it be?
S – Off the top of my head, as a song, Hell Bound, it just shows exactly what we are about. It's fast, its driven, it's got everything going on, its got bass, drums, guitars and just gives you that kick up the arse that says this is who we are, this is what we are gunna do! The whole album is just, ya know, I've recorded a fair few albums and Richie has as well, but I can put it on in the car and just fucking listen to it over and over. It is just fucking gorgeous! And that's a bit weird ya know, for your own shit, but we've bled for that! But yeah Hell Bound, it's got that tempo and feel that people expect from us. It's got the riffs that people expect, it's got the solos, the vocals and all that shit, but that's just my opinion. What do you think Richie? R – I reckon, I'm torn between a few tracks I like, but I'm guna go with State Of Mind I think. For the ethos of it, I love playing it live as well and I think it's one of them track we are comfortable playing it, we've gigged it a few times now but I think it's one that will get better as we play it more. Like I said with the first album, we recorded it in a rush and got all the tracks all down, but half of them songs are different now to when they were recorded because we've grown and I think that's what will happen with that song as well.
And for you as well Jimmy, who's just joined us, what would be your favourite track from the new album?
J – Errrmmm S- What sums you up bro? R – It is hard coz there all different, this albums different it's not all the same thing on each track. S – It's all killer and no filler, we put everything in to it. J – Yeah. State Of Mind for me. R – That's what I said yeah. (Fist bump) J – What did you say? S – Hell Bound. R – I knew he'd pick that. J – I like them all. They are all relatable ya know. S – I mean, everything says something about everyone, but you know you have that brand and people expect something from you, to bring the thunder, yeah that's that track. (Hell Bound)
So what's next for Witch Tripper? Take over the world?
R – Yeah more gigging. And we've finished that album and know the set, so when we get to rehearse it will be more 'what ya wanna play' and 'well I've got this riff' and we'll probably start writing some more. Keep the momentum going. We've got Ibiza next month for Hard Rock Hell so that's a week away. We've got one night gigging on the Thursday night, an hour slot, and the rest of the week is ya know, sunbathing with the balls out! J – Raving in Ibiza! Ha, I've got my glow sticks ready!
Thanks gents. Was a pleasure to get to chew the fat with you and it was a belting gig that you put on. They played a few older songs and then the new album in it's entirety which was outstanding to catch live. Thanks for having me. Donk