L.A. WITCH - INTERVIEW
Interview & foreword by Beau Croxton
L.A. WITCH by Marco Hernandez
L.A. WITCH first caught my attention with their exciting self-titled debut album back in 2017. As someone with a real punk & garage-rocker heart, I consider their sophomore album Play With Fire to be an instant classic. The band always thrived in the coolest corners of garage rock, psych-rock, proto-punk and so much more. With their new mighty record DOGGOD, they also add post-punk and goth influence to their list. It’s one of my favorite records of the year so far- be sure to check out our review. L.A. WITCH is now back on the road enchanting audiences with their new material. I caught up with Sade and Irita ahead of their two shows here in Brooklyn at TV EYE, which we are very excited to cover.
BEAU: So DOGGOD is now out in the world! What a great record. How are we feeling?
IRITA: Happy to finally release this record, it’s been 5 years since ‘Play With Fire’ came out during Covid. We’ve traveled and grown a lot personally and musically since then, which hopefully comes through in the new record.
SADE: It's definitely a good feeling. It’s nice to have new music to share and play. It’s more fitting to who we are today. I’m very proud of it.
BEAU: What are some of your personal favorite songs or moments on DOGGOD? Which songs are you particularly excited to perform live?
IRITA: My favorite is probably ‘I Hunt You Prey’ and ‘Lost at Sea.’ My favorite one to play live is ‘The Lines’ and ‘777’ because I see people getting really excited when we start playing them.
SADE: I’m attached to all of them cos they are all written from personal experiences so it’s hard to pick. I really love the space in “I Hunt You Prey.” I’m happy with my guitar part in “The Lines” and “Kiss Me Deep”, “SOS”, and “Icicle. “
BEAU: There are lots of fresh new sounds on this album. How much of the new sound was discovered in-studio and how much was preconceived?
SADE: I definitely had a vision for what I wanted for a while before going into the studio in terms of guitar tone and production. I knew I wanted to use certain effects like chorus that I didn’t use as much in the past. The synth is a sound that we tried out during the studio. It just made sense to use the Solina and the Roland VP330. It fit with the songs and didn’t feel intrusive. A lot of the music I was listening to at the time used them like the Adolescents, Christian Death or Joy Division.
BEAU: Did recording in Europe inspire the sound or themes of the new album?
SADE: I’d say yea. I guess a lot of it is on a subconscious level too. I definitely wrote a lot of the lyrics while living in Paris. The visual aesthetic is obviously very European. We used colors like red, whites and blues making the connection between the U.S. and France. The colors of revolution. There’s a lot of gothic influence in the architecture of Europe.
BEAU: How does it feel going back on tour again?
IRITA: The first week is always a little rough to get back into the swing of things. But then you get into the rhythm of road life and it’s great to be able to connect with friends and fans all across the country.
BEAU: What is your favorite part about touring and playing live shows?
IRITA: Definitely meeting fans, seeing how excited they are for your show. Road life is pretty tough, you’re away from your support system at home and a lot can go wrong. But playing shows live, and feeling that energy exchange with the audience, is a really special experience.
BEAU: How excited are we for two nights at TV EYE in NYC?
IRITA: We love NYC, it’s like a 2nd home. We’re playing with our friend Ammo’s band. She came with us to the first big festival we played, Austin Psych Fest, we drove through a crazy lightning storm in the desert together. It’ll be nice to bring it back full circle 10 years later.
BEAU: How has it been interacting with the L.A. WITCH fanbase over the years?
IRITA: We seriously have the best fans. A few of them have even become lifelong friends, like Brandon Folmar who we thanked on this album.
BEAU: What is everyone in the band listening to these days? Any new discoveries or up-and coming-artists you wanna shout out?
IRITA: I’ve been listening to a lot of dungeon synth. Lamentation is classic, I also really like Old Tower and Nahtrunar.
BEAU: If you could assign a character or film to each of your 3 studio albums - what would each album be?
IRITA: Self-titled would be ‘To Live and Die in LA’, Play With Fire would be ‘Barton Fink’ and DOGGOD would be ‘Martyrs’
BEAU: What do you hope listeners take away from DOGGOD?
IRITA: That they can relate to it in a way, and make them feel emotions whether it be happiness, sadness, anger, joy - it’s all part of our shared human experience and music is the best way to connect, to feel seen and heard.
L.A. WITCH plays at TV EYE in Brooklyn on
May 8th
with & Daiistar & Tea Eater
& May 9th (SOLD OUT)
w/ Daiistar & Silent Mass
You can get tickets to the first night here (8th)
Their new album DOGGOD is out now via Suicide Squeeze Records
You can watch the music video for “The Lines” here.
You can watch the music video for “Icicle” here.
You can buy the record on bandcamp here.
You can also catch L.A. WITCH on tour in a city near you via the tour dates here.