Psych/Doom/Stoner Metallers SPACE WITCH return with their first album in over eight years with MOUNTAINS OF NEPTUNE. The band opt for an Instrumental record compared to their previous albums. The record is also a singular track lasting for thirty eight minutes with the band focusing upon some of the heaviest and spaced out grooves of their career.
With the stunning artwork by COSMIC EVE, this record will be unleashed on HALLOWEEN and it's a mind blowing epic where my review will feature sometime next month.
I caught with Daz Rowlands (Guitars / FX) from the band to discuss the evolution of the band's music and the making of this gloriously heavy new album.
So strap in and read on for a very cool inteview.
Hi guys, Thanks for doing this interview. How are things with you today? It's been a long time since we last spoke. Over eight years in fact. What have you guys been up to since then as I originally thought you guys split up a long time ago.
Hi Steve, we are good thanks and just last night we played a show at the Wheatsheaf Banbury which we enjoyed immensely! Wow eight years?! Has it really been that long?! And in that time a lot has happened and changed in the Space Witch camp. Let’s start from the end of our last albums cycle Arcanum. we played some awesome shows together the last being HRH Doom Vs Stoner all dayer at the O2 Sheffield where we headlined the 2nd stage. Arcanum was well received and we were on a progressive path in terms of where the band was going and the shows we were doing as well as starting to write the next album.
Then COVID happened and that completely derailed us to be honest obviously there was a time we couldn’t even rehearse but we tried to meet online once week and progress demo recordings of new material. Around middle of 2021 we went on hiatus but there was always the view to picking things back up in the future. Unfortunately that didn’t happen for a number of reasons and ultimately we parted ways. A couple of years passed and Tom our bass player got in touch, we met, where we both expressed an interest in taking the band forward again. Having a couple of years off had re-ignited our passion for the band and Tom and I both had the same vision from a musical perspective. We’d had the time to recharge our batteries and had a clear direction for the band going forward.
Going back to basics was in order, Tom and I were clear we wanted to keep this iteration as a 3 piece, so I took on the electronics side of things as well as guitar, but we needed a new drummer, someone that shared our love for playing music and shared our vision for the band. It just so happened I’d recently met Matt Bowyer, as he’d tried out for another band of mine (Hand of Omega), so having discussed it with Tom we invited Matt down to work with us. That was February 2023 and we focused on resurrecting songs off our albums Space Witch and Arcanum as well as newer material that we worked on during COVID. We started gigging in the summer 2023 and we haven’t looked back since.
I was quite surprised and mega excited when you sent me your new album “Mountains Of Neptune” to review. Great album BTW. What can people expect from this album?
Mountains of Neptune is a continuation of where we left off from Arcanum, but going back to the basic formulae of an instrumental 3 piece playing over a pre recorded (analogue) electronic backdrop. In my opinion, people can expect a return to form with a single 37+ minute song of heavy stoner doom pysch, heavier than anything we have done previously and more down-tuned, various time signatures and tempos, pysch melodies and heavy riffs… I recorded, mixed and mastered the album so don’t expect a highly produced production, but we are happy with the result.
What are the underlying themes of the album?
The main theme of the album is a human female astronaut (the Space Witch!) travels to the distant planet of Neptune and starts to suffocate (due to the atmosphere), set to a backdrop of mountains and alien terrain. It is a direct correlation to what happened to the band during COVID and to the band ultimately surviving. As you can see the Space Witch is not dead, but suffocating struggling to breath.
What influenced you when writing and recording the album?
70s & 80s SCI-FI, gaming, heavy/spacey bands and soundscapes. One thing I was keen on this time round was to include some slower and heavier riffs, something we struggled with in previous lineups. But at the same time being progressive with groove infused riffs and scratchy melodic leads. I purchased 2 analogue synth pedals and pre recorded a 40 minute electronics soundscape. Utilising these pedals give us a backdrop to play to and one that was very HORROR SCI-FI influenced.
Why did you call the album “Mountains Of Neptune”?
Tom our bass player after we demoed the album came up with the name and we ran with it building the story and concept for the album and the artwork. It just so happened that the name and the concept perfectly fitted the music we had written. I must admit in recent years I’ve been listening a lot to Hawkwind and older stoner doom as well older demo tapes I had picked up along the way. But it was important to me and the guys that we went beyond this and I think result has achieved this both sonically and visually.
When did you decide to release a full instrumental album? As your previous albums had vocals. Was this an easy decision to make to not include vocals?
That was agreed early on when we started the process of rehearsing again. There were a few things that dictated this. Firstly, we wanted to keep it to the 3 of us. Secondly, I think we lost a few people along the way that enjoyed the instrumental nature of our music namely with the release of Arcanum, so it was a return to that, that formulae that seemed to work for people who wanted to drop out of life and got lost in the music. And finally, we’d lost Pete who performed vocal duties and it wasn’t something that any of us could have realistically picked up.
When we wrote Arcanum it was really an experiment to see what it would make us sound like and although it did work in my opinion it was something we didn’t want to continue with. I think vocals kind of makes things more accessible and that isn’t something we wanted with Mountains of Neptune. It was as I’ve already said an opportunity to go back to basics.
You’re releasing the album on Halloween. Any specific reason why you’re releasing the album on Halloween. As it’s a full on COSMIC DOOM/SPACE METAL album in my eyes and nothing to do with the OCCULT or HALLOWEEN in general. Or is this an homage to ALIEN that I completely missed.
Sometimes its easier to target dates that have other interlinked meanings and is an easy date to remember than October 10th for example. But we are named Space WITCH so I think there is an inherent link there. But everything you have mentioned e.g. cosmic doom/space metal and homage to alien also applies to its meaning. I’d say this album is more of a HORROR space metal album than anything else.
What formats is the album being released upon?
So this time round we are doing it a bit differently as we will be making it freely downloadable from our bandcamp and soundcloud websites, as well as it being available on all major streaming platforms. In addition, we are releasing the album DIY style on Digipak CD, Cassette and lathe cut clear vinyl limited to 50 copies each. We aren’t out to make money on this so the vinyls for example are what they actual cost us to produce. We’d sooner get this album into peoples hands (as many as possible).
Did any record labels offer to release the album?
No. After our experience with our last label we decided to do it ourselves as we never seemed to get what we signed up for. So we didn’t approach any labels, that’s not to say we won’t in future though, if we find the right label with the right ethics and practice then never say never...
Will you be touring this record heavily or will it just be individual, one-off shows such as festival appearances.
We hope to do a small tour definitely UK and possible some in the EU. We would be open to festival appearances assuming we could work round our day jobs.
We have to talk about the amazing artwork for Mountains Of Neptune which was designed by the hugely talented Cosmic Eve aka Stephaine V. Cantu. How did Stephaine get involved with designing the artwork?
I’ve known Steph for a while now and back in 2015 we collaborated on one of her solo songs “Electric Nightmare”. In the fall last year I’d seen she’d been advertising her design services and I thought why not give Steph a go… Needless to say it worked out absolutely amazing and we are really pleased with the way she interrupted our vision.
Did you give Stephanie a bunch of ideas or did you let her imagination run wild. I loved how she put herself into the design of the album cover. Who's idea was that. As it fully sells the creative tone and vision of the album.
Working with Steph was really easy, I sent her a brief i.e. the concept of a female astronaut (the Space Witch) suffocating on Neptune with mountains as a backdrop. She supplied a number of different concepts some of which we will be using as t shirt designs, but when I saw the artwork you see today I was like that’s it, that’s the one! I just knew it was perfect…
I think its a coincidence that the Space Witch looks like Steph it certainly wasn’t the brief I gave but I think the character brief did resemble her so I think its all worked out perfectly.
What have your high points and low points with Space Witch or your musical career in general.
High points were playing a number of shows in Manchester over years, HRH Doom vs Stoner at the O2 Sheffield and playing Oslo which was pretty awesome! Getting our albums on vinyl and them selling out. Reading the masses of positive reviews of our albums.
Low points the hiatus during COVID that led to the band parting ways but that’s pretty much it.
I believe you guys should be more well known within the scene as Space Witch are on the UK Doom/Stoner Metal scene’s best kept secrets and you’ve been going since 2007. Are you happy with your standing within the UK underground scene? Looking back on your musical career so far, is there anything that you would change.
We are happy with where the band currently is and its getting back to levels before the hiatus during COVID. In terms of would we change anything? The answer is yes, I think we will produce more music more often than we have done typically, especially now we have the means to self record. We’d also like to tour EU and think this line up could do that and push the band further a field.
Before you go, do you have anything to say to your fans?
Thanks to everyone that has either been to one of our gigs, or purchased our music and merch. We REALLY appreciate the continued support for what we do.
Words by Steve Howe and Daz Rowlands
Mountains Of Neptune will be available for free download from spacewitch.bandcamp.com and on all major streaming platforms.
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