It’s that time of year again, when in the run-up to Bloodstock we endeavour to interview every band gracing the SOPHIE, New Blood and Jägermeister stages from 8th – 11th August 2019. This means you’ve got a chance to read up on all your favourite bands set to play over the weekend and decide which new ones you’ll want to check out.
As ever, we’re predicting some horrible clashes because, true to form, there are some great bands across all three stages so you should start planning who you want to see.
Our thanks to all the bands for taking the time out to answer our questions!
Witch Tripper – SOPHIE Stage, Sunday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Rich: Our HQ is Mansfield… We’re from Mansfield Woodhouse, Warsop and Ilkeston.
Stoff: Richie runs his own music school and we’re lucky to have a rehearsal space there we call Witch Tripper HQ. We live quite close so it’s a great asset and Gaz isn’t far away.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Rich: The band was put together 2014, but Gary has joined us on drums since this New Year (2019).
Where does the name of the band come from?
Rich: It’s a Down song. A fucking cool one too. Stoff had an epiphany about using it as a band name. He was so enthusiastic and obsessive about using the name, how could we not go with it? We all trust each other to do our jobs and I guess that started there.
Stoff: When we formed you had to have a good name. I always like stuff like Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, I liked Down at the time and it worked, although I think we’ve grown up a lot since then and we don’t technically sound much like Down, but it’s who we are and the name is associated with us.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Rich: None of the singular ingredients that make up WT define us or make us unique. But all of the different things that we are, helps us associate and appeal to a huge range of audiences. We didn’t set out to do this. We just wanted to groove. Anyway, the things… Power trio, groove, organic, high energy, fun loving’ rock, shred and roll.
Stoff: I always remember when we recorded out first album, our engineer (Phil Wilbraham) joked about us being lead guitar, lead bass, lead drums, as we all we just put everything we had into it. I think that comes across, it’s real.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Rich: We consciously try and give everything on the stage, every time. We live for live! If you’ve seen us before, you can’t deny we love every second and put on the best show we possibly can.
Have you played Bloodstock before? If so, when?
Stoff: Yeah we played the Jägermeister stage in 2015 and the New Blood in 2016 so it’s a natural progression for us.
How/when did you find out that you’d be playing the SOPHIE stage?
Stoff: 26th Feb. I woke up for work around 6am to a message from Simon Hall asking me if we’d received an email – that was a good day! Good job he did as it did go to our spam folder! I instantly replied with a big fat “Yes, please” and messaged the lads.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Stoff: A good mix of both our albums. We’re currently working on number three so maybe a new song, but we’ll see!
Which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Stoff: I don’t think the times have been announced yet, but we do have a lot of friends playing. I’d hate to clash with our local brethren Pemphigoid!
What are you working on at the moment?
Stoff: Album number three. Gary joined on drums in January and he’s brought with him a great drive and we’re dying to get some new ideas down.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Get us drunk, we might tell you. A lot will be NSFW but it’s maybe stuff for a more intimate conversation!
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Stoff: Me and Richie are both into craft beer and real ales. As Gaz has joined I think we’ve converted him too, so a good couple of strong IPAs! Anything less than 6% ain’t worth getting out of bed for!
Witch Tripper: facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube | bandcamp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feZ47KdYX9M
