Los Angeles garage trio L.A. Witch follow up last year’s ‘Kill My Baby Tonight’ with this absolute banger of a track: ‘Drive Your Car’.
Released on February 12th via Ruined Vibes/Black Mass Recordings, the girls – Sade Sanchez (vocals/guitar), Irita Pai (bass/vocals), Ellie English (drums) – pull out all the stops, and go full throttle on a welter of chugging riffs and reverbed vocals in the style of a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club meet Joan Jett.
“Dirty distorted country, Haunted surf rock, road trip blues and 60’s-sounding psychedelia Imagine Kim Deal influenced by Nirvana rather than the other way around this Los Angeles based band with Images of the Gun Club ‘Fire Of Love’ era and early X Recalls the early ragged glory of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or the Black Angels”
“Scuzzy dark country minimalism… ghostly lo-fi vocals and Black Angels-sounding psychedelia.
Los Angeles-based bad girl trio L.A. Witch released a new single today, “Kill My Baby Tonight,” off their forthcoming album, to be released later this year. They’re also embarking on a semi National tour, aptly named the Kill My Baby Tour 2015. I am all for a “kill my baby” reference. It reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde gone bad, love overdoses in the Badlands, and rounds of Russian roulette over tears and bottles of bourbon.
Which is kind of what they sound like.
L.A. Witch, consisting of Sade Sanchez on vox/guitar, Irita Pai on bass, and Ellie English on drums, got off to a tricky start. Their original drummer up and left, but that didn’t dissuade them. Once English enrolled in their cool school, the band played any show that would have them (including a show at What Youth last summer that still haunts our halls in the best way), fine-tuning their now undeniable aesthetic, complete with leather jackets and reverb-drenched chords.
Their sound is a combination of culty surf in the vein of Link Wray, with Sanchez’s riffs slow and steady until that breakdown knocks you off your chair, mixed with drugged-out cowboy twangs and that speckle of rock and roll to keep it all fuzzy and lo-fi. And “Kill My Baby Tonight” is right on that track, which makes me real thirsty for that debut LP – the band released a mini three-track EP last March listen above here.
These chicks know how to play music, especially English, who is one of the best female drummers I’ve heard or seen. She plays loud and fast and hard, harder than you’d think by looking at her sweet face. And Pai, with her miniskirt stance slapping her bass, keeps the rhythm section cinched like a gold chain. Sanchez’ vocals, sultry and powerful and gently gnarled like an emphysema patient, deliver the lyrics without pretense. In “Kill My Baby Tonight,” she pleads, “What am I to do / if I can’t be with you.” And fuck do I feel her.
L.A. WITCH are from Los Angeles ( Of Course ) and sport a dark bluesy sound that recalls a pitch-black Widowspeak or, yes, BRMC know-what. But the band’s music is also heavy on smoky attitude which you 100% need with this kind of thing.”
Dirty distorted country, Imagine Kim Deal influenced by Nirvana (rather than the other way around)” with images of Gun Club ‘Fire Of Love’ era and early X” and echoes of the early ragged glory of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or the Black Angels” with a style of haunted surf rock, road trip blues and 60’s-sounding psychedelia , Scuzzy dark country minimalism… ghostly lo-fi vocals and Black Angels-sounding psychedelia..
L.A Witch live up to their name with a mysteriously moody sound that alternates between the psychedelic garage-rock clangor of “You Love Nothing” and the ethereal cooing of “Heart of Darkness.”
recent years and through the buzz echoes from various articles from various publications the world over, L.A. Witch have sustained themselves as an indelible specter to the Los Angeles indie circuits. The current line up of Ellie, Irita, and Sade are about to release their debut EP March 18 on Manimal, but first a listen to the dead soul shaking and amplifier earth-quaking bruiser, “Get Lost”.
The amazing thing about “Get Lost” is that it embodies practically everything that has made you love the rock and roll medium for however many decades you feel like counting. L.A. Witch drink from the gold goblet of rebellion, detaching themselves from many, to the close-fisted shouts of, “I don’t need nobody else.” The guitars create the sensation of anxiety felt around some of L.A.’s cuttiest corners, with lyrics ripped from the wildest apartment complex matches, and domestic disturbances. “Save me from my self, take me where you go, to get lost from myself, to get lost from my soul.” The “get lost from my soul” denouncement becomes the drifter’s creed, as guitars and percussion illustrate the air of every pool hall in town, and the jukebox machine glow of every dive and haunt in the entire L.A. area.
all-girl americana blues, folk, garage, lo-fi psych psychedelic, dirty distorted country,punk rock drone minimalist band from Los Angeles Imagine Kim Deal influenced by Nirvana (rather than the other way around) with images of Gun Club ‘Fire Of Love’ era and early X” haunted surf rock trip blues. The fuzzy psych rock band L.A. Witch highlights of 2014, being a positive influence for girls in the L.A. rock scene.
“REVERB-SOAKED PUNKED-OUT ROCK” is how Los Angeles based trio, L.A. Witch describes their sound but there’s so much more to them than that. I don’t think it can even be summed up in a phrase, honestly. They’ve been bringing their unique mixture of dark blues, psychedelic punk rock to the table since 2011 and have been only improving with every performance. Their sound is completely their own and every listen is a new experience. All elements involved are perfectly blended, and none too overwhelming for the listener. With vocalist’s Sade Sanchez’s powerfully haunting vocals, bassist Irita Pai’s cogently sonorous chords, and drummer Ellie English is almost like the calm guide in this wild adventure, demonstrating how less actually IS more with her consistently supportive drums, adding the perfect measurement to their chemistry. Not to mention their AMAZING lyrics. L.A. Witch is an act you definitely need to check out ASAP. Think leather jackets, a dimly lit bar with cheesy Jim Morrison artwork, motorcycles, just rocking out and having a good time.
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