SOURCE – First of all, how would you describe your band to someone who hasn’t heard of them before? It seems to my ears that they come across as a band that is hard to define in terms of musical genres.
Joel Green (Drums) – I guess we are really just a metal band? There is so many sub-genres associated with heavy music these days, it’s hard to pigeonhole us into any one? There are obviously strong elements of Doom, and NWOBHM that we grew up with, but I would personally describe us as old school metal. The bands that the 3 of us grew up listening to and are still influenced by would be Sabbath, Motorhead, Priest, Venom, and a slew of other stuff from old blues, to Zeppelin to the first wave of Thrash.
SOURCE – A Driftwood Cross is the third studio album – take us through the process of writing and recording, any particular surprises, highlights, obstacles, or special moments that occur that you’d like to share? Do you consider the record a logical continuation of the previous Coven’s Will?
Joel Green (Drums) – We began writing this album before Coven’s Will was released. We spend a lot of time jamming in our rehearsal space, so are constantly coming up with new stuff. We talked about trying to write a really strong cohesive record that we would all personally want to listen to.
There were no obstacles, we went to Melbourne for 2 weeks to record with Jason Fuller (Blood Duster) who has produced all of our stuff so it felt very natural. I guess the only surprise to me was the song “This Silent Place”. It was the last song written for the record and we only tracked it once in the studio so we weren’t even sure if it would make the album. It turned out really well and quite different from anything we’ve done before. I think all 3 of our records feel like a logical continuation for us. I’m interested to hear what others think.
SOURCE – Are you satisfied with the level of acceptance that Witchskull has currently, and what goals do you set for yourselves either short term of long term to keep things fresh and exciting?
Joel Green (Drums) – We couldn’t happier with where are at. For us, getting signed to Rise Above was mind blowing so anything that happens after that is a bonus. We don’t really set goals other than to make sure our records are as strong as possible, and we are all really happy with all 3 releases. We are hanging to get to the US and Europe so with any luck that will happen on this record. Hopefully one day we get to Brazil!
SOURCE – The new video is This Silent Place – a mixture of conceptual footage as well as intertwining band performance aspects. Who developed the treatment, and how much importance do you think videos have in this day and age?
Joel Green (Drums) – Jeremy Belinfante directed the clip and did an amazing job to complete it in time for the albums release. He faced huge hurdles because of the Covid 19 crisis, but still managed to deliver it on time. Because it’s harder for Australian bands to tour, I think videos are really important. Luckily we know some really amazing people who have helped us out with videos over the years.
SOURCE – Is the band able to survive – are you able to survive as full-time musicians? That’s what I was kind of getting at.
Joel Green (Drums) – We don’t make a living out of the band which is fine by us. We don’t answer to anyone and don’t feel like we have to tour unless we want to, so for us, we are more than happy to continue as is.
SOURCE – How does the band’s awareness and popularity in Europe and USA compare to Australia?
Joel Green (Drums) – I don’t really know as we are yet to tour the US and Europe? We have built a name for ourselves in the Australian underground scene which allows us to tour the East Coast of Oz and we have been to NZ twice. We are aware that there is some underground interest in us overseas, so we can’t wait to get over there when the chaos lifts. Tony is from New York and that’s why we made the last record there. We also played a one-off show at St Vitus Bar, but to head back and tour the US properly would be amazing.
SOURCE – In Brazil there’s much fans listening your kind of music. What do you know about the Brazil ?
Joel Green (Drums) – I don’t know much about the Brazilian scene, but I know South America has had an amazing scene for decades. If we were ever able to make it across to you guys it would be a dream come true. It’s brilliant to hear the scene is as strong as ever in Brazil.
SOURCE – Just a final one, if the roles were reversed and you could sit down and interview somebody maybe not even a musician, who would you like to sit down and have a one-on-one with?
Joel Green (Drums) – I have always been a massive Motorhead fan, so I would have loved to talk with Fast Eddie before he passed away. I know Marcus would love to interview Kate Bush or Tony Iommi.
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