|
 |
 |
Witchfynde |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Info: Biography, Pictures, Discography of all CDs & DVDs |
|
| Witchfynde is a band that was one of the forerunners of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.Witchfynde was formed in Nottinghamshire, England in late 1979 by vocalist Steve Bridges, lead guitarist Montalo, bassist Andro Coulton, and drummer Gra Scoresby.Give 'Em Hell, on Rondolet Records in 1980.Friday Night Rock Show, hosted by Tommy Vance on BBC Radio 1.The band gained some exposure by touring the United Kingdom with Def Leppard in the summer of 1980.The band's sound incorporated a mix of influences, such as progressive and hard rock, with various aspects of the heavy metal sound as well as exaggerated use of satanic imagery.Since then, the band have played at many events and festivals throughout the UK, Europe and America.CD, and a new album is due to be released in 2007.You can help by expanding it.This page was last modified 21:12, 5 September 2007.All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.Witchfynde back in the early 80s.Saxon, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard the sound that came
from the Give 'em Hell album wasn't quite what I had expected.Now I also tracked down the Lords Of Sin
album and that one was again not what I had expected.NWOBHM sound that they
were allegedly a part of.Anders
Ekdahl
Is this new album The Witching
Hour a revival for a long lasting Witchfynde comeback?We
thought that it could act as sort of a launch pad for us again.We've had
so many people wanting to get hold of the back catalogue, which is complicated
by contractual problems.Because of that and because of the history of
the band we thought it'd be nice to bring some of our older sounds back
to date, especially since we have a new singer.The people that listen
to The Witching Hour for the first time they get a compact history
of what we're all about.First then we can go on to do other projects,
which we'll do."The thing was that we wanted to have the album out fairly quickly.We recorded the The Witching Hour thing over a year ago now, aiming
to get the thing released within a few months.Also,
of course we had the set back with the singers.It was for large shows really.We put a set together, a large set,
of the favourite songs we all enjoyed doing live.The things on "The Witching Hour" is what you can expect to hear
from us live.We tried to get it that there
is sort of material from all our previous albums.What kind of expectations
do you have on this album and what do you expect to get out of it?Mainly we had interest from people wanting us to appear at
festivals and that was amazing.There were festivals in Germany and America.We thought we could trust Jess
quite nicely.That's
all we hoped for and now we want to progress from there."Internet
has meant a lot to Witchfynde but do you still think had the Internet not
been available that you'd still would have been here today?"I'm
not sure about that.Internet has played a very big part in bringing the
band back alive again for us.It was with all the sort of mentions and
references to Witchfynde that brought the resurgence of interest back into
the band."Something that struck me
when I first heard Witchfynde back in the early 80s was that
your sound was different
from most other NWOBHM bands.What was it that influenced
you when you started Witchfynde?The music
side, it was two sorts of lives that that sort of happened at the same
time.We just
me up with people at school and we started to play and that did eventually
become Witchfynde."Where does that
come from?It's a very basic, raw type of sound.We just used to do our own thing.We
came from a very remote part of the UK, we never sort of mix with any of
those bands.We used to go down to London occasionally for playing gigs
and that seemed to be where all NWOBHM were starting from, the Samsons,
Angel Witchs and the Iron Maidens.We were just very simple and raw in our approach.The thing with the bluesy
type of influence I think is because of the quality of Harry's voice.That may be were the bluesy sound comes from."Before that everybody
would try for years to get a big record deal.I'm sure that
the NWOBHM owed a lot to the punk movement."Deep Purple
and Black Sabbath were hardly called heavy metal when they first started.But they were certainly
the first wave.Given how the Rondolet label
managed to pretty much fuck everything up I couldn't help wondering how
did you end up on Rondolet to begin with?We
had been playing for years without any record label or interest.So
what we decided to do was to play everywhere constantly, which we did.We ended up with an incredibly fanatical and loyal following.When we came
and played back round were we came from this fellow went completely berserk
and at the same time we decided to record the Give 'Em Hell single
and just put it ourselves.They put us on Def
Leppard tour and certainly it was the biggest success we had and definitely
still is.They didn't have
the money to keep pushing them towards what the band needed so it gone
to a halt.""The
thing that happened then was that Rondolet still got us under contract
but they said that they didn't have the money for us to do another album.So it got rid of Rondolet from our necks and it got rid of some
of the debts Rondolet owed this company.That is why we moved to them.It was the first time we were able to
take that time and get a sort of more quality type of sound.There are contractual
difficulties with that at the moment.Rondolet people because we got legal people looking into that.The
chaps who ran the Rondolet has done a runner anyway."With all this bad luck with
the labels did you ever feel that he band was cursed?We know a lot of people in
the music business and it's nothing new for that sort of thing to happen.We didn't think it was anything like that going on.Em Hell album what were your expectations, what did you hope to get
out of it and did you feel you got it?When we did our own shows after the Leppard tour we had quite a good stage
show at the time.All the usual things that you nowadays expect.There was
nobody else around doing it in the UK."Back when you released albums,
did you tour much in support of the records?"We did
for the first two, Give 'em Hell and Stagefright.For the Lords Of Sin album we only
did one show straight after its releases in London.It seemed pretty much the same.What I think has happened
after that period in the early 80s, is I think it all changed in the UK.The UK has become totally diverged really of the venues and the level of
interest in heavy metal.It survived much better in Europe than it did here."If you look at the mainland
European scene and compare it to the UK it seems that the UK scene hasn't
progressed the same way as the European.That is the other way of looking at it.There wasn't really anybody
out there doing anything to get the people interested.Unless
you're the big names and they still attract incredible audiences because
they offer something and yet there's nothing really coming up to get the
people interested."It's strange how once a prosperous
scene that brought us all the great bands and is the reason we're talking
now crumbled and fell to pieces.We didn't think we would do any live appearances in the
UK at all but we are and it has surprised me.Again that was the thing with the record label.We played with Maiden
right from the early days when they had Di'Anno, before they were signed.We played with Saxon up
to sort of the Wheels Of Steel time.They got a very good business
deal behind them, which obviously helped."When I read old stuff in
the press about Witchfynde it sometime seems that the press looked at you
as more of a joke than a serious band.Is this something that you too noticed
back then?The press didn't really like
us, which is another thing that has totally amazed me when we've done this
reform thing.Malcolm Dome
who was quite a good friend and was good to us at the time, and everybody
are now kind and very complimentary to us and I find that very odd.They heard
about us and I think that has probably worked a little bit to our benefit."There's always been a cloud
of mystery surrounding Witchfynde."We
did take it fairly seriously.Different members of the band are involved
in different projects to varying degrees.We are pretty serious about it.We were never into that side of things.We are much more subtle in
our aims and projects than that type of thing.When the media trashed you
in the 80s much had to do with the fact that you had this mysteriously
surrounding."That
was something they could write about.It was something different, something
they could latch on to.We had a lot of people, record people and business
people who said that we should think about not using it.We do actually
write fairly decent songs as a band without that sort of trappings in the
imagery which a lot of the business people thought was holding us back
in a way."To some Witchfynde is one
of the three original black metal bands along with Venom and Mercyful Fate.Was this something you felt you were a part of, that this tag was a description
that suited you?Black Sabbath obviously took it more to the music side
than the stage show side.That is an incredible thing to have come
up with the term black metal.Just the fact of inventing the sort of a whole name for a genre
of music is quite an achievement, which I compliment them on."The last I heard of Witchfynde
was when you released the Lords Of Sin album.What happened to Witchfynde
after that?"After
that Mausoleum went bankrupt.The producer and manager of ours who owned
the studio were we where recorded the album also went bankrupt because
Mausoleum couldn't pay the bill.We took up the studio for a year so the
studio bill was quite immense.So were in a situation with absolutely nothing
to gain.We could go for getting another
deal.For getting another deal we had to write a whole new album of material.We had drained ourselves working on that album for a whole year so the
idea of coming up with another album worth of songs was just too much for
us.The thing of getting a new deal when the Lords Of Sin
album had been totally slated in the press we thought another label would
be hesitant taking us on straight away.We didn't split up or anything.We just never spoke to each other for a while, 18 years I think.There
was no bad feeling really, we didn't fall out or anything but we were just
so fed up with it all.I've
come up to a brick wall all the time."That
was done through Mausoleum.They had tapes around so they said they'd do
it as a limited edition."The first 10,000 copies.How do you go about doing
that?It seems like an awful lot of time for just one record?We actually
moved into the studio.We didn't really think it was costing us anything
so we just kept there.He doesn't
play a proper guitar, he plays an acoustic, jangly thing but he brings
them to me and I transform them to the Witchfynde sound and we work on
it.We work with full band, just jam around and put it together from the
ideas Gra and I had.It's pretty much the same."Do you feel that they still hold up?It's
quite sparse but big as well, big in reverb.We're still quite proud of
certain songs.It sounded OK when we left the studio and then it came out sounding awful."What do you feel about Luther
Beltz going under the name of Wytchfynde?It's
just a ridiculous situation.Is there so much money to
be made from the name Witchfynde?"We never made any and we've been at it for ages.If he had done it properly and legally we'd have supported
him.We had no problems with Luther at all.We even offered him an opportunity
to stay a part of Witchfynde.We still don't know what's happening half the time."Within the next year there will be an album of new songs.There will be a few covers on there too.We are working on one or two very
strange covers."Influenced by occult 70's bands like Black Sabbath and Black Widow, they took their concept one stage further and even today new generation doomsters like Paradise Lost still praise the name of Witchfynde.Not only are they a testament to the band's tenacity and invincibility, but also a snapshot of a golden age of metal.Cloak And Dagger
CDLEM88
As 1983 rolled around, Witchfynde fans were scratching their heads in bewilderment.With their label Rondelet going to the wall, Witchfynde had been left in limbo, trying to stay alive with absolutely no financial support.New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, but Expulsion's finances were as shaky as Rondelet's, and by early 1984 Witchfynde were walking away from their second bankrupt label.Stagefright
CDLEM61
The follow up to our successful "Give 'Em Hell" CD (CDLEM53) from classic black metal rockers Witchfynde!Recorded in 1979 and originally released in 1980, Give 'Em Hell showed that Witchfynde were at the cutting edge of the British metal scene."Are you sure you want to block this user?Montalo (guitar), Gra Scoresby (drums) and Pete Thud Surgey (bass), complete with vocalist Harry Harrison, began writing songs and working on material for the bands fifth album titled The Witching Hour.Witchfynde songs combined with new material to aurally project you from the bands early days right up to the present day.Small:visited a, a:link, a:visited, a."Are you sure you want to delete this comment?"Dear friend of Yellowhouse!Christmas is just around the corner...This means: Buy two, one for your best friend and one for you!If you're into FILM, VIDEO, MUSIC, or if you just like to stay informed, you'd better check this one out!Yes you can upload your own stuff, add friends, channels, watch for other users' uploads, the list goes on.And of course you can blog and participate in Forums!So MUSICIANS and LISTENERS, please sign up and contribute to the BLACK and DOOM METAL Forums, it would be a great way to kickstart the scenes, and Forums for the DEATH METAL CHANNEL will also be coming.I'm burstin with anticipation to hear the new album and DEFO want ta see ya LIVE AND LOUD!!!!!!!So glad that the new CD is complete!Please post some trax ASAP.Haven't heard from you for awhile and things have been really quiet..Please respond to our email (if possible), because Stefan has to make some decisions about the final bill soon.Also been listening to some of the old vinyls..Stagefright and give em hell!!Witchfynde are the best, period.Thanks for all the good times and great memories your music has given me.Live by all means in JAPAN!Looking forward to the new album.Witchfynde rocks on and on!How's the new album comin on?Just read ya blog, was wonderin my ya pissed off?Album (Time is Master) is out now .Great to see Mansfields finest still "gettin heavy".......Hey guys, how's it goin?Hows the new album commin on?Plus, some tracks not on the 96 comp are now included (ie "divine victim", "big deal", "crystal gazing").The new promo sounds bad ass!HAVE A WICKED WEEKEND!!!!Keep It Fast and Furious !!!The guitar solo in "Heartbeat" is even better!!Ok thank you i'll check sometimes, but download is not interesting for me.....Em Hell is cult for me
you are a true legend!!!Hope to see you soon in Italy (perhaps at the Play It Loud Fest!!HI Guys,
Thanks for the great comment!When looking at influences for the style we play Witchfynde could not be missed out!We're glad you're back and we look forward to the new album with relish!If you find yourselves in need of some local boys as a support any time (ah, we can but dream, lol) give us a shout.This is not a MySpace login page, please do not enter your MySpace login information (email address or password).Do you wish to continue your form submission?"KISSology: The Ultimate Kiss Collection, Vol.Witchfynde, originally released in 1981, features nine tracks, including "Would Not Be Seen Dead In Heaven" and "Wake Up Screaming."Have you heard this album?Witchfynde was part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (N.Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Judas Priest.Witchfynde still have a great significance on the later generations of Heavy Metal artists, Metallica and Paradise Lost regularly state the band as an influence.This release includes 16 prime cuts, featuring the singles, "Give Em Hell", "In The Stars" and I'd Rather Go Wild" as well as the best tracks from their rare LP's "Give Em Hell", "Stagefright" and "Cloak And Dagger".Help with Music Downloads.To preview a track, click the title.ButtonPostBackScript + '", ' + form.As 1983 rolled around, Witchfynde fans were scratching their heads in bewilderment.With their label Rondelet going to the wall, Witchfynde had been left in limbo, trying to stay alive with absolutely no financial support.However, as the year progressed, rumours began to circulate about the possibility of a new album, finally confirmed with the release of 'Cloak And Dagger' and its accompanying single 'I'd Rather Go Wild'.New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, but Expulsion's finances were as shaky as Rondelet's, and by early 1984 Witchfynde were walking away from their second bankrupt label.Help with Music Downloads.If you don't have any mp3 software
for your computer, try iTunes. |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
