Down Reunion Caused By Witchcraft
MTV.com reports: While they may not be terribly well-known in North America, former NORRSKEN guitarist Magnus Pelander and his bandmates in WITCHCRAFT are owed a debt of gratitude by DOWN fans the world over. After all, the Swedish sludge-rockers are largely responsible for getting DOWN back together.
Sound strange? Well, it isn’t. Long before DOWN began writing material for this year’s Down III: Over the Under, frontman Phil Anselmo got a hold of one of WITCHCRAFT’s LPs and instantly fell in love with the band — so much so, in fact, that it inspired him to show up, unannounced, on DOWN guitarist Pepper Keenan’s doorstep after a long silence. Anselmo wanted to introduce Keenan to his “new favorite band” and, through an impromptu listening session, the pair’s relationship was rekindled — and DOWN were resurrected.
Pelander’s not quite ready to take credit for DOWN’s revival, but he certainly appreciates Anselmo’s endorsement.
“I found out a couple of years ago, and it was mind-blowing to hear that,” the singer/guitarist said. “I remember hearing the rumor that we were one of Phil’s favorite bands, and I was like, ‘What?’ He’s a metal icon, and I have nothing but respect [for] all those guys. We actually met Phil and Pepper twice, once when we were touring the U.S., and Phil’s been talking about us in interviews — and that’s really nice.”
And in fall 2006, the members of DOWN were presented with a chance to return the favor to WITCHCRAFT, for unintentionally bringing them back together. “We first met the DOWN guys in Stockholm [Sweden], and at the time, we were still shocked that they liked us,” Pelander explained. “Then we met them again in New Orleans, and it was surreal, to say the least. We ran out of gear [on our tour] — one of our amps was broken — and we started thinking about it … and we figured maybe the guys in DOWN could help us out. Our manager phoned Phil, and he was like, ‘Sure.’ There were maybe 30 people in the crowd that night, and half of them ended up being from either DOWN or EYEHATEGOD. It was cool.”
Unfortunately, Anselmo’s love of WITCHCRAFT hasn’t led the band to an opening slot on a DOWN tour. But Pelander said he’d be up for the challenge. He’s just waiting for the invite — and while he’s at it, Pelander wouldn’t mind if the Osbournes came calling on WITCHCRAFT, either. “I guess we’re on the rise now, so maybe that will be an option,” he enthused. “We’ll see what happens.”
For now, WITCHCRAFT are on their own headlining run, which kicked off Thursday night in New York and runs through December 1 in — that’s right — New York. SAVIOURS have been tapped to open on the tour’s first leg, with RADIO MOSCOW doing the honors on the second half. The band is touring in support of The Alchemist, which hits stores Tuesday, but it also has a limited split 12-inch EP with like-minded metallers THE SWORD coming out November 13.
With any luck, this headlining trek WITCHCRAFT are on now will end up being more successful than some of the tours they staged in the past. Unfortunately, WITCHCRAFT have had their fair share of bad luck, with tours that inevitably ended up canceled.
Back in 2005, Keenan invited WITCHCRAFT to take part in CORROSION OF CONFORMITY’s U.K. tour — but then Hurricane Katrina hit. Keenan, a New Orleans resident, was displaced by the storm and forced to cancel the trek. Not long after, MONSTER MAGNET picked the band to open on their European jaunt, but unforeseen circumstances forced that tour’s abolition.
But Pelander takes it all in stride: “We’ve had so much good stuff happen for us as well,” he explained, “so you have to take the good with the bad.”
WITCHCRAFT, who’ve been dubbed everything from “doom metal” to “prog rock,” were primarily influenced by bands like BLACK SABBATH and PENTAGRAM, the singer said. They’ve got a classic hard-rock sound that incorporates elements from various kinds of metal and is further sprinkled with folk, blues and psychedelic influences. At times, the band has even been lumped into the “hipster” metal class, along with bands like MASTODON, THE SWORD and CLUTCH.
“I’ve always wondered what that means,” Pelander said. “But it’s cool — it’s always good to reach a wider audience, so I don’t mind.”
The Alchemist is WITCHCRAFT’s third studio offering and, to most fans, captures the band at its sludgy best. While he wouldn’t characterize the effort as the album “we’ve always been working towards,” Pelander does think the sound they captured on the record has been a long time coming.
“It’s definitely something that’s been growing inside of us for quite some time, and we’re just generally happy that we managed to get it down right,” he said. “We’re really happy with this record, and we wanted our sound to progress with it. There’s always some concentrated effort to do things differently, but for us, it comes rather naturally. After we finish one record, we want to progress with the next record. The aim is always to be a bit more progressive than before — at least that’s the idea.”
Being from Sweden, the guys in WITCHCRAFT grew up around a vibrant, thriving metal scene. And Pelander freely admits that, when it comes to that scene today, WITCHCRAFT stick out like a sore thumb.
“It’s not very usual for a band like us to come out of Sweden and not be a black-metal or death-metal band,” he said. “We’re a crossover band, and that’s a good thing, I think. Maybe it makes us more unique, in a way.”
(+74 rating, 18 votes)
