Witch is an American

stoner metal Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Slee ...

band formed in 2005 whose members are from

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It is a side project of

J Mascis Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. (born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo artist a ...

of Dinosaur Jr., and Kyle Thomas of King Tuff, Feathers, and Ty Segall’s band The Muggers.

History

Witch was formed on 19 March 2005 by Dinosaur Jr. guitarist

and long time friend Dave Sweetapple. However, Mascis does not play guitar for the band; he plays his first instrument, the drums. To complete the band's line-up, Mascis and Sweetapple recruited the guitarist and vocalist Kyle Thomas (also known as

King Tuff Kyle Thomas, known professionally as King Tuff, is an American musician recording on Sub Pop Records. King Tuff and his band have released several music videos and have continually toured across the United States, Australia and Europe since 201 ...

) from

avant Avant can refer to: People * Avant, part of music production team Bloodshy & Avant * Avant (singer), Myron Avant, an American singer * Clarence Avant, a music executive * Jason Avant, is a US American football player Places * Avant, Oklahoma, ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

group Feathers. Their eponymous debut album was released on March 7, 2006 by

Tee Pee Records Tee Pee Records is an American independent rock music record label founded by Tony Presedo in 1993 in New York City. It is prominent for releasing music by Sleep, Witch, Graveyard, Earthless, High on Fire and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It ...

. They also contributed an alternate version of the song "Rip Van Winkle" to the ''

Invaders ''InVader'' is the fourth album by Finnish glam metal band Reckless Love, released on 4 March 2016 through Spinefarm Records. Track listing All songs written by Olli Herman, Pepe Reckless, and Ikka Wirtanen, unless otherwise noted. Reception Wr ...

'' compilation, which was released by

Kemado Records Kemado Records is an American record label based in New York City founded in 2002 by Andrés Santo Domingo and Tom Clapp. In 2006 the label released the ''Invaders (compilation album), Invaders'' compilation, which featured many of the label's b ...

later that year. Witch would play sporadic shows around the United States while working on their next album. Their second album, ''

Paralyzed Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, r ...

'' was released on March 18, 2008, also under

. The band would continue to tour throughout the US and Europe with the band

Graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

, making appearances at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

and

Roadburn Festival The Roadburn Festival is an annual music festival held each April in Tilburg, Netherlands. It was founded by Walter Hoeijmakers and Jurgen van den Brand in 1999, who ran a stoner rock blog of the same name. The festival has been held at Tilburg ...

. A new guitarist in Graham Clise would soon join the band, and Witch would go on to tour with

Earthless Earthless is a mostly instrumental psychedelic rock band from San Diego, California, consisting of guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba. The band formed in 2001 and released their first album, '' Sonic Pra ...

throughout 2009. For the next several years Witch would perform sporadic shows, while making notable appearances at

2012, Burgerama 2015, and Levitation Vancouver 2015. Witch would return to Europe in 2019, making appearances at DesertFest London, DesertFest Berlin, and a one-off show in Sweden, following with a fall tour of the US West Coast with bands Mondo Drag and Pushy. Witch has continued to tour throughout the world, playing shows in Australia and the US. In early August 2024, bassist Dave Sweetapple died at the age of 58.

Band members

Kyle Thomas Kyle Thomas (born 23 June 1983) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. His first feature film, ''The Valley Below'', premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. It garnered two Canadian Screen Award nomina ...

– vocals, guitar *Graham Clise – guitar *

– drums

Discography

Albums

*2006 – ''

Witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

'' –

*2008 – ''

'' –

Singles

*2006 – "Soul of Fire"/"Rip Van Winkle (Demo)" 7-inch –

*2008 – Witch/

split 7-inch –

Volcom Entertainment Volcom Entertainment, officially founded in 1995, in Big Bear, California, and currently based in Costa Mesa, CA is the brainchild of Volcom founder Richard Woolcott and theLINE's singer/guitarist Ryan Immegart. Ryan being Volcom's first spons ...

Vinyl Club

DVD

*2007 – ''Local Band Nitemare'' – Blueberry Honey/

(reissue)

Live albums

*2012 - ''Die Fehl-Ritzhausen Kassette'' - Who Can You Trust? (Sold on cassette only, limited to 200 copies)

References

External links

Witch at Tee Pee Records
* American stoner rock musical groups American doom metal musical groups Musical quartets from Massachusetts Heavy metal musical groups from Massachusetts Musical groups established in 2005 {{US-metal-band-stub