Witch Ripper Interview

1. Can you give us an introduction to the band for people that will be hearing of you for the first time?
1. Well. We are Witch Ripper proudly from Seattle Washington.

2. In your own words how would you describe your musical sound?
2. I like the term progressive-stoner. We tune down to drop A which gives our sound a real sludginess that I like but we definitely are not afraid of playing outside the pentatonic norm.

3.Can you tell us a little bit about about the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
3. The lyric topics vary from song to song but the over-arching feel is one of loss and anger at how to shit our world/society/environment has gotten. I'm a huge sci-fi and fantasy guy so I'll always try and incorporate that into the lyrics without getting to nerdy. ha. Lyrics are usually the last thing I write so I try and let the music inspire the subject matter. A good example of that is the song "Ice Wizard". There's a section of the song where we're just playing single note doomy stuff and the producer Adam was like "This sounds like an angry wizard coming out of his mountain." and thats how that song lyrically came to be.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Witch Reaper'?
4. Its sounded cool and "Electric Wizard" was taken.....ha. Naming your band without feeling like a schmuck is always a pain in the ass but this one just fell into place.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance and have you had any oppurtunities to do any live shows outside of your home state?
5. We've gotten to play some great shows and are starting to break into that "opening for bigger bands" slot that we want. As far as our stage show. I'm pretty big into the idea of making a show feel like a show. We always have lights and fog going which helps us get the atmosphere that we want and I think can make it more fun for the average concert goer to see and be a part of. As far as playing outside the state. That is absolutely the plan for 2014!

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for 2014?
6. As far a Seattle shows go we usually do one a month sometimes two. Touring is always an important part of being a band and touring intelligently can make or break a lot of bands. Our plan is to start heading down the coast from Seattle and build a fan base in that local for a while. A HUGE goal of mine is to get this band overseas to Europe.

7.Currently you are unsigned, have you received any label interest and also are you looking for or do you have any interest in working for a record label?
7. We've had a lot of interest from smaller labels which is always an honor but in the age of DIY bands a lot of the things that a garage label can do we are able to do ourselves. We just got some physical copies of our ep pressed so my plan from here is to start making and mailing out press kits to some of the more well known labels to see what happens. If Relapse or Nuculear Blast needs new bands.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge, stoner and doom metal?
8. We've had a lot of great feed back from all over. A lot in Europe and even places like Korea and the Philippines!

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
9. Obviously I'm proud of our "sound" from the ep. The goal for the next album is to take that sound and really own it as a band. As I've been writing our next album I want to expand on ideas from the ep. I want the faster to be faster and the slow be even slower.

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
10. Bands that really influence me: Nuerosis, Pink Floyd, Mastodon ect. I love Gojira a lot. "From Mars to Sirius" is one of my favorite metal albums and it always inspires me to pick up a guitar. As far as new music I just got the new Kvelertak album and its killer. Also the new Alice in Chains surprised me because I haven't been a fan of everything that band has done (or the bands they inspire) but that album is great. It's not a new album but Ancestors "Neptune with Fire" has been on my ipod a lot lately.

11.How would you describe your views on Satanism?
11. Satanism is funny to me and I feel like as a whole it's pretty misrepresented. Honestly I don't know if I could call myself a satanist because I'm not as knowledgeable about it as I would like. I wasn't raised in religion so I've largely ignored it. What ever makes you happy without hurting others is cool with me.

12.Outside of music what are some of your interests?
12. Nerd shit. I love comic books, mainly X men and I know waaaay to much useless information about the marvel universe. I started reading comics when I was around 10 and I still haven't put them down.

13.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

13. Thanks for the interest! Its people like you guys who are into Metal, want to write and talk about it that keep this genre alive.

-Curt