When J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and long-time friend Dave Sweetapple decided to form a hard rock band, they found conspirators Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons, from the local avant-folk outfit Feathers. Witch’s self-titled debut harkens back to the classic heavy metal sound of the 70s with the “all in” assault of modern rock and roll production and neatly side-steps “Stoner Rock” pigeonholes by packing more righteous riffs into a single jam than their contemporaries combined.
s Deep Wound and his 80s hardcore roots. Kyle, a.k.a. King Tuff’s wails explore the juxtaposition inherent in a post-modern tribute to lost spirit. Sweetapple adds additional weight with massive, crunching bass lines and Graham Clise, guitar-slinger extraordinary from righteous punks Annihilation Time, Lecherous Gaze, Rot TV and now Stepmother, rounds out the line-up with his liquid fire leads and classic punk energy. Witch followed up their now classic debut with engineer John Agnello, already familiar with Mascis from producing Dinosaur Jr. and J Mascis The Fog (as well as Cindy Lauper and Screaming Trees, to name a few) and “Paralyzed” was released in 2008, delivering even speedier riffs and raging backbeats that allowed the band’s punk and thrash roots to shine through.