News The Wytches: ‘I’ve Always Liked The Idea Of Being A Really Dark Band’

Do a quick Google search for The Wytches and you’re almost guaranteed to come across an abundance of write-ups that describe them as ‘psychedelic’. It’s a word that’s being banded about with increasing regularity, what with the recent success stories of groups like Tame Impala and Temples, who most definitely hark back to those days of reckless drug experimentation and mass cult suicide.



Add in the fact that the band are currently based in Brighton – Britain’s presumed hub of free love and hippie culture – and you’d imagine quick passers-by would have a pretty solid argument. But take the time to actually listen to their music, and this presumption seems a bit misleading. ‘Psychedelia’ is all about peace and love, jangly, happy guitars and stoned dudes in tie-dye shirts faffing about with bongos and tambourines. The Wytches are not. They’re all about darkness, doom and gloom, anger and grief. As we greet them in a sweltering central London pub, we’re pleased to report there’s definitely no tie-dye in sight…

“When I think of psychedelic music, I think of like, flower people and happy stuff,” says The Wytches frontman Kristian Bell. “We’re much darker. I think people hear that Egyptian-y style scale I use for a lot of my guitar riffs, and maybe the reverb and delay effects on my guitar, and immediately think ‘psychedelic’. But I don’t think that’s very accurate of how we sound.”

To further avoid confusion, they’ve even devised a name that better suits their genre – ‘Surf Doom’. And honestly, it pretty much hits the nail on the head. Those ‘Egyptian-y’ guitar riffs? They bear far more resemblance to the surf stylings of Dick Dale or The Tornadoes than tripped out peace dudes like The Byrds or Grateful Dead. And the ‘Doom’ part? Well, that comes from somewhere entirely different.

“Me and Gianni (The Wytches drummer) used to be into a lot of doom metal,” continues Kristian. “We even played in this sort of doom band in Peterborough, before The Wytches. That was pretty terrible. I used to just constantly scream, and ruin my voice, so I knew I couldn’t keep doing that sort of thing. But there’s definitely still elements of that in our music now. I’ve just always liked the idea of being a really dark band.”



Listen to their latest release, the AA single ‘Beehive Queen’ and ‘Crying Clown’, and it makes perfect sense. Kristian’s constantly strained, emotive vocals reek of anguish and desperation. This, along with the heavy-hitting drum sound and scathing guitars (the band admittedly don’t like it when words like ‘fuzzy’ and ‘scuzzy’ are used to describe guitar sounds, so I honoured their wishes), hint at both the ‘surf’ and ‘doom’ influences in their music. Released on Hate Hate Hate Records (if you weren’t already convinced of their anti-psychedelia stance, that should put the nail in the coffin) and recorded at Toe Rag studios with Liam Watson (producer of the White Stripes’ now classic ‘Elephant’), it’s a sound that’s most certainly their own, and they took a suitably old-school approach in achieving it.

“We used to record everything at mine on this old Mac from 2001, with this free software I found in some recording magazine,” explains Kristian. “So we were pretty much as analog as we could be. And when we went into the studio with Liam to record the new stuff, it was our first time recording on tape. He pretty much just let us do it all live. I think the final recording was the second or third take we did. He kind of just knew the right way to get the best performance out of us. He was amazing though, we’d love to work with him again.”

Opportunities to work with a producer so perfectly suited to your style are hard to come by. And such happenstance occurrences may have never come about if it weren’t for the impulsive nature of its two founding members. After forming The Wytches in their native Peterborough in 2011, Kristian and Gianni soon realized that, if they wanted to fulfill their musical ambitions, a change of scenery was required. “There’s nothing really happening in Peterborough, as far as a music scene,” says Kristian. “So me and Gianni decided to get into uni at Brighton. Not for a degree or anything, but just so we could live over there. Then we met Dan (bassist Dan Rumsey) within like one or two weeks of being there, and everything has pretty much gone as well as we could have hoped since then.”

With a debut album in the works and shows a-plenty to look forward to, The Wytches have got momentum on their side. We just hope their sudden ascent isn’t accredited to this so-called ‘neo-psychedelic’ movement that may or may not be happening. Sure, they sound like they could have existed in the 60’s. Sure, they use vintage gear and effects. Sure, they’ve got those ‘Egyptian-y’ guitar riffs. But if there’s one thing they’re surely not, it’s psychedelic.

The Wytches support Japandroids on 16th (Brighton Haunt), 17th & 18th (London Dingwalls) July.

The ‘Beehive Queen / Crying Clown’ single is out now via Hate Hate Hate Records - currently sold out.

Read the full interview in the new edition of DIY Weekly, available from iTunes now.