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Album review: Witch Fever – FEVEREATEN
Join the coven! Witch Fever’s magnificent second album throws more styles into the cauldron, and the result is enrapturing.
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Witch Fever: “If our mere presence is pissing people off that much, we’re doing something right”
Having spent the best part of a decade tearing through any stage you put in front of them, Witch Fever are gearing up to unleash their most realised vision yet in FEVEREATEN. Meeting the band on the road in Sweden, the four Manc punks reflect on their journey here, facing down misogyny and sexism, navigating trauma and why the band means more than just music…
- Words:
- Rachel Roberts
- Photography:
- Pearl Cook
“We had a comment before we started this tour asking if we were related to someone in Volbeat and that’s how we got the slot,” sighs Witch Fever vocalist Amy Walpole, near laughing at the sheer absurdity. “The singer of Volbeat isn’t my dad – that’s not why we’re here!”
The Mancunian four-piece – completed by bassist Alex Thompson, guitarist Alisha Yarwood and drummer Annabelle Joyce – are all smiles today meeting K!, squished on a sofa backstage at the 3Arena in Stockholm, Sweden amid their lengthy continental trek with the aforementioned Danish metal monsters.
“Literally all that happened was our agent got in touch with Volbeat’s manager, who showed the band a music video of ours, and they said yes. We obviously have connections in order for our video to end up in front of Volbeat because we have an agent, we have a label, and we have all that because we worked hard,” Amy continues.
“The hate comments [we get] have the angle of someone who disagrees with our politics, or someone who doesn’t want to see women in music,” Alex picks up. “I’ve had comments about me dressing provocatively, [saying that] we are only successful because of how I look. I can be anything I want to fucking be, and I can go out in the skimpiest little thong ever and still be a good bassist. The two aren’t mutually exclusive! I just think people will use anything they can to try to belittle you, whether it’s being unattractive, too attractive or too outspoken.”
Huddled in the not-so-comforting confines of a bustling backstage environment, drenched in stark strip lighting and surrounded by a litany of coats and passes strewn around the room, our hosts are surprisingly relaxed. Even the prospect of unloading their sardonic brand of doom punk on an unsuspecting Scandinavian crowd leaves no cause for concern.
“We’ve done it so much, and because our sound is sometimes very difficult to match with other bands and line-ups, we’ve had to get used to it,” shrugs Alisha.
Having played “every shit pub ever” since their formation in 2017, and endured their fair share of disgustingly sexist gigs – including one where they were jeered on to striptease – Witch Fever haven’t once wavered in their beliefs or identity just for the comfort or pleasure of others.
“Someone hated us so much they emailed us!” Annabelle chimes in, sipping a drink casually and smiling at the ludicrousness.
“Every night I speak about Palestine and about the violence in Ukraine, the Congo and America. It winds people up the wrong way sometimes. We’ve had a few boos, but someone emailed us just after we’d played saying that we’re terrible and nobody likes us,” Amy says, unfazed. “Volbeat and the crew are very happy with our messaging and our politics. They are supportive of what we want to do, so it’s just funny. If you’re really mad about me saying that I want to see a Palestine that’s free, then I don’t want you as my fan anyway!”
Who needs ’em? Witch Fever have already found their coven with which to share ideas and dreams, and it all comes to a head on new album FEVEREATEN – released this Friday on Halloween. A darker, heavier and stranger proposition than 2022’s Congregation, it takes a wider view on the topics of religion, patriarchal control and the complex nuances of moving on from the past...
Although FEVEREATEN’s themes feel somewhat universal given the tense division that dominates the discourse, as a lyricist, Amy’s writing is wholly autobiographical.
While Congregation was pretty on the nose about the vocalist’s painful religious upbringing, the underlying themes of FEVEREATEN can be attributed to a multitude of challenges that we go through. It shows that life isn’t black and white, it’s shades of grey, but also full of every colour imaginable if you let it.
Throughout the creation of the record, which literally took years, Amy found herself relating to figures throughout history who were disruptors, those who rebelled. Track THE GARDEN specifically references the Bible’s first woman Eve, who gave in to temptation to eat the forbidden fruit.
Forgiving others is a core part of the Christian faith, but for Amy, she’s come to realise that it didn’t serve her as she moved on.
“I’ve been asked in interviews before if any of the [new] album is about forgiveness because it does take a step back from how in-your-face Congregation is, but no,” she begins. “In terms of the church, it’s useful for me to hold on to [anger]. I have no interest in forgiving the church, because I think that holding on to my anger is a good thing. That anger doesn’t make me aggressive; I’m not laying awake in bed every night fucking raging, but having that anger fuels me to keep going, for myself, but also to keep talking about it and be angry on behalf of other people that are suffering. At the moment, I don’t find that forgiveness is useful.”
“It’s like, either something wears you, or you wear it,” continues Alex. “I feel like there’s a trope, especially around women, that things need to be peaceful or you need to make amends, to process things in a way that is calm.”
“I have no interest in forgiving the church, I think that holding on to my anger is a good thing”
Witch Fever are good at rage. Mirroring how we experience the on-and-off switch of anger in real life, they experimented with pace and purpose, using a cocktail of slow and sludgy dynamics with contrasting choruses where they could let really that ferocity go.
Alex explains that this was the first time they went into the studio knowing precisely what they wanted, not just in terms of sonics but also how to approach a record “as a whole rather than just a collection of individual songs”.
And while much of the album can be described as heavy – both in terms of its sound and its message – FEVEREATEN offers Witch Fever the space and freedom to explore softer tones, too. Take SAFE, a song that ruminates on a relationship-turned-friendship that didn’t quite work as hoped. It almost felt too challenging to complete and put out into the world.
“Interestingly, you were the most apprehensive about releasing SAFE. That one shows a softness,” says Alex, looking over at Amy. “There’s a certain vulnerability that you’ve expressed that you haven’t before.”
“It’s bittersweet,” Amy agrees. “It’s not even that sad. It’s not necessarily a song about being heartbroken, it’s about having a relationship that was nice for a bit but then it wasn’t right in the end.”
In some ways, this crops up a lot: the idea that things can be painful, but also, just fine. It’s a sense of acceptance. The title of the album itself alludes to a feeling of being consumed by something, and in many ways, we learn to live with our traumas.
Much of the hurt across FEVEREATEN is wrapped in empowerment, the sort that comes with taking ownership of how the things we experience shape us. There’s a feeling of liberation. The track FINAL GIRL, for example, gives us Amy screaming, ‘I’m alive, I’m alive’, while NORTHSTAR speaks about people not turning up for you when you need them most, and how you move past that.
In order to reject the idea that we need to offer forgiveness, one also needs to reckon with and tear down the archaic systems that surround us, and the ways in which women are put into ‘fixer’ roles.
“In an interview years ago we were described as the figurehead of feminism and I was like, ‘Oh my fucking god, no!’” recalls Amy. “I’m trying my best! The thing with feminism is that it’s always evolving and you’re always learning. You’ll never be the perfect feminist, and also we’re all fucking white. We can be intersectional feminists and we can try and learn about different people’s experiences, but we’re never gonna be the perfect feminists.”
“We’re put on a pedestal and I think some people do look for holes to poke in you,” agrees Alex, sharing the immense pressure they face to use the right words when talking about things they care about, and to live up to people’s expectations.
“Feminism is always evolving and you’re always learning”
Through making FEVEREATEN and playing its songs every night to thousands across Europe, it’s become even more apparent how an artist’s life never stops. And for Amy in particular, the joy and success they’ve achieved thus far has been counterbalanced by sadness and grief.
“I lost my mum six weeks ago. We had her funeral two days before we left for this tour. It’s such a trip, playing a fucking stadium, [which is] so monumental and crazy, and then I come offstage and my mum’s died, really [recently]. It is really jarring,” she explains. “For the most part, I’ve been having a really good time, but it’s the same for every artist; they’re all going through shit that nobody knows is happening. You assume that someone’s living their best life. People in the audience will probably look at us and assume we’ve got everything together, we’re rich as fuck, everything’s perfect, and it’s really not the case.
“Everyone usually gets really low when they come off a tour because you switch up your whole life again, but also I’m coming home and I don’t have my mum anymore. I had no time to process that before we left, like, being in my flat every day and not being able to call her. I’m gonna have that now at the end of this tour.”
Thankfully, Amy has a strong support system in her dad, brother and sister-in-law, but her experience is a stark reminder of how we truly can never understand what someone is feeling, unless we know them personally.
“Sometimes, if I’ve been feeling a bit tired or crabby, I feel this intense guilt that this is the best thing that’s ever gonna happen to me, and I should be enjoying every single moment as much as I possibly can,” she continues. “It’s such an extreme situation to be put in, obviously positively, but you just have to have an element of humanity that you apply to yourself. I don’t have to have the best day here every single day, and that doesn’t mean I’m failing at enjoying being on tour.
“No person is perfect. Someone that’s obviously put someone in active harm and is a real piece-of-shit human, I think that people need to know about that. [But when it comes to] making a [small] mistake or something, we all fuck up sometimes, and you don’t really know anyone’s full situation.”
Whatever is happening in their personal lives or the world around them, Witch Fever remains a lifeline. Home isn’t always a place, it can be a feeling. With the four friends moving through their late 20s into their early 30s, this band has been there through every pivotal moment.
Alisha jokes that Gen Z and millennials are collectively damaged from watching The X Factor label over 25s as old-age pensioners on Saturday night TV, but regardless of the ways we’ve been conditioned to believe that women expire like old milk at 30, things are changing. Gaining another year is a privilege for us all. And in Witch Fever’s case, they trust that they are exactly where they need to be right now.
“We’ve been touring for years, [but if] I had gone into this tour as an 18-year-old, I would have lost my mind. I think it takes such a long time to develop yourself and your artistry and your understanding of treating this like a job,” shares Alex. “The older I get the better I feel about myself, and I’m looking forward to being in my 30s.”
“I only just feel like a real person!” Alisha admits, as the others chuckle. “I have just grown up, which is insane because I’m twenty-fucking-seven!”
“I don’t know who I’d be if I wasn’t in Witch Fever. It is such a pillar of my identity,” Alex smiles. “I’m a lot more confident and assertive in my opinions. I still struggle with being a people-pleaser, but being surrounded by [the band] has definitely made me much stronger in my beliefs. I don’t mind people disagreeing with me.”
“I don’t know who I’d be if I wasn’t in Witch Fever – it is such a pillar of my identity”
It’s the same for Amy, too. “It has put me out of my comfort zone. Especially in terms of my anxiety; 10 years ago I was a complete fucking anxious mess, I struggled to leave the house.”
You wouldn’t think it by watching them take over a stage: Witch Fever stand as one of the most exciting and empowering acts in British punk right now. And with album number two rapidly approaching, a string of intimate record store release shows in the calendar, as well as the small matter of supporting Volbeat across the UK – including a hometown date at Manchester’s AO Arena – what target do the band have their sights on next?
“I think our goal and our main interest is to not have to work a second job! That’s success to me,” says Alex.
“It’s really easy to fall into the trap of never being happy with what you’ve got because you’re always looking to the next big thing, so it’s about acknowledging that we’ve got this far. I’m not sitting here thinking we need to be headlining shows this big because I don’t think it’s useful,” explains Amy.
The future isn’t written and it shouldn’t really matter. Witch Fever have been getting along just fine living in the here and now, having blazed across Europe and onto the cover of Kerrang! (for the second time) entirely on their own terms. After all, if FEVEREATEN teaches us anything, it’s that having the courage of your convictions – and an acceptance of being disliked – can often reap the biggest rewards.
“I think we’re lucky that we go through things as the four of us together. We’re no strangers to hate comments, we’ve had videos end up in incel TikToks before… We can experience that together; we can all laugh about it,” says Alex.
“I believe if our mere presence is pissing people off that much, we’re doing something right.”
FEVEREATEN is released October 31 via Music For Nations.
Read this next:
- Witch Fever: “We’re not chasing a movement that’s already happening… You want to be the ones not fitting in”
- “It’s quite a dark album, but I feel lighter”: Inside the unflinching return of Witch Fever
- In conversation with Nova Twins and Witch Fever: “It doesn’t have to be tokenistic, there’s good acts out there if you just open your eyes!”
