A Chat With Gravewitch About Blackened Death Thrash

0:04 Hi, you have done to the censure wow for you you. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio, and I'm here with our next guest, who has some killer music that we're going to talk about after my own heart some of the genres that their influences are. So let's welcome to the show, Brave Witch. How are you.

0:53 We're doing great man, Thanks for having us. We're stoked to be talking to you, us. Stoked to have you here. And I, guys, I never talked really about band names, but what I do want to say is, how the hell did you get that name? Because that is a cool ass name, and it's so hard to get names all these days for bands. You know, we started a band back when we were in high school. There were sophomores in high school. And what I did is I made two callings on a sheet of paper, just a bunch of different words, and decided to like take one word from this call and one from that calling and just match them up together and ended up with Grave in which and once we found that, we're like, hey, that's the name.

1:35 I'm just all right, I'm just surprised nobody took it before you like, seriously, I'm from the original thrash and death and black metal days and that name should have came up then I don't. I don't even know how it didn't. Sure like it's it's perfect, And so I want to know for both of you, what was that moment in time that really this type of music grabbed you and grabbed your soul and said this is what I need to do. Oh man, that. Would probably be around the time Chris showed me Metallica, Slayer, the Big Four, and then shortly after that it would be really have grabbed our souls and be like, this is what we need to do when we discovered bands like Testament, Creator, Sodom, et cetera, like it was a cute list, it just keeps going.

2:31 Yeah, it was more like we got into the more extreme, heavier metal after listening to the Big Fours. When we just say that we wanted to be in a band and play extreme metal. So nice, you know. I always love seeing how bands or people throughout time, since the beginning of the whole thrash, death and black metal scene, how they became into that music, like for us, like that Slayer Metallica's first show ever, so I was there before thrash was even a word, and I'm a total thrash metal head, but we needed something before that that led us to that. So you know, it started with me stealing my brother's albums that was eleven years older than me, that all the sixties and the hippie crap and which I like still to this day.

3:24 And then it went from that to like the British invasion, like the Maidens and the Priests and stuff like that, and then you got bands like you know, Metallic and Slayer and that just it just blows my mind that these genres are this big today because there were like a handful of us and we didn't want anybody else like in our music either. You know, the eighties was the master of gatekeeping. Like you couldn't even I liked punk music, but because I had long hair, I couldn't go to punk shows because you got your ass beat.

4:07 It was stupid, Like it was so stupid and like even the fact of okay, funny story for you that you might have seen. It's like, but when Slayer first left LA and went up to the Bay Area, they used to wear like the black eyeliner to look and that was the evil look in the eighties and bands like Exodus and Testament and them, they were like, yeah, that shit don't fly up here in the Bay Area. Take that shit off, you know. It's a it's so funny, like that's how it was. And then I go and I do cover jet festivals nowadays, and it's like we can all be one big family, which is what we should have been to beginning with, all metal heads, all rockers, all punkers. We're all of the same clouth. So I love like you that are uniting us all together too, because you're even blending genres that we might not have blended back then, you know, because they were so separate, so new, and you know it's like, no, it can only be black metal. No, it can only be death metal. No, it can only be fresh until the whole crossover thing.

5:20 Yeah, definitely. So how you guys feel about that, Like, like that you're in this age now where like you can just play whatever the fuck you want? Well, yeah, pretty much, and there's no filter. There's it's awesome. There's nobody telling us what to do, what not to do. We can we have total freedom writing whatever we want, and it's awesome. It's also really hard for us to write in one genre. You have so many different influences of metal that we like and why we like to play that. We don't like to be monotonous, you know. We like to change it up and add things here and there and try to make something a little different than maybe what people have heard before for the best of our ability.

6:03 Yeah, we're not trying to be that typical of black in the thrash metal band, you know what I mean, right, I love that. Every song kind of sounds the same, you know. We try to stay away from that, try to be a little more like put ourselves out there in a different way. You know. I love that you do that too, because Okay, so back in the day, everybody used to say, like when you like, oh, it all sounds the same, and it didn't like you take the Big Four, they don't sound the same at all. You know, there's a base foundation maybe, but you could separate them into different genres realistically. And nowadays it's really weird to me that metal bands. I find metal core is the biggest offender of it. That they follow this like formula, like they're doing the algebraic equation to make metal and that was never the case.

7:00 Like metal started by mistake basically, you know, and experimentation and all that. So I love bands like you that are doing it differently and doing it unique because it is true. Even me. Nowadays you say, no, they don't sound sane, But nowadays I'm like, I can't even tell the difference between some of these bands, you know, because they're all using this formula. Like metal isn't a formula, Like there was no formula. That's why, like Metallica originally was considered power metal because they didn't know what to call them. I did not know that, actually, but it. Doesn't make Yeah. You know how I knew that because I was at that first show and I met Dave Mustaine and he handed me his business card and it said on it Metallica, power Metal Dave Mustaine, whoa And you know, because there was no thrash, you know, but they were thrashcause nobody knew what it was yet.

8:08 Yeah, for sure. And you know how the record labels they all like to put you in this like box. You know, it's like you have to be this genre, you can't like play different things. And I think that's stupid as to me, as an artist, I would be bored to death if I was playing the same riffs, the same chords, the same drum beats, the same everything all the time, Like, you can't, like, why would I want to sing the same song over all time? Why would I want to play the same song, especially if you have longevity. Now you're playing the same song basically for twenty years, but they're different songs. Yeah, exactly.

8:48 Yeah, that's why we try to stay away from that keeps a little more interesting. Especially for ourselves. Writing the music and doing everything behind the scenes. You know, it's an all time and we it gets boring doing the same thing over and over again, for. Sure, no doubt. Like and even Ali from Bringing Me to Rise and said one time an interview when they were giving him so much grief about the newest Bring Me to Ride some music, He's like, hey, why do I want to write the same song over and over again? And I get it, Like I might have been somebody way back when that would have given hate to them for not sticking to their you know, your their base day death core. But I now that I'm an adult, I realized, like, holy shit, now I know what bands go through, Like even like James, Like he talks about how Seeking Destroyers played at the San Jose Shark Games, but he complains, not really complained, but he's like, I don't get why they play the original version. I didn't know how to fucking sing the that I redid it?

10:00 Now did I know how to sing? That's the better version? But it is. And that's how an artist would think, you know, whereas probably somebody like me be like, no, I kind of liked your voice before you knew how to sing, you know, But you have to throw as an artist, right, and that doesn't come from doing the same thing. You got experiment and go outside your own box much less the box everybody else gives you. Yep, exactly. Man. So how'd you guys meet and how do you know that you were like meant to play music together? Oh? Man, we met back in the second and third grade in elementary school.

10:42 Wow. Yeah, we've been best friends ever since. Brothers as we struggle as shit. Any great way from the sophomores in high school. I was in two other bands during like the beginning of high school, didn't end up working out, and then and Andrew got back together and decided to meet Great Witch because I wanted to start playing more thrash metal, black metal and whatnot, because my other bands were more like punk. One of them was kind of like stoner metal, kind of Black Sabbath, a little bit Electric Wizard style. Yeah, I really wanted to get into the extreme stuff. So we got together and just ended up creating Grave Witch and have been doing it ever since. I think we started in twenty thirteen in November.

11:25 Yeah, I've been going strong ever since, and we're never gonna give up, never gonna quit. This is our life. I ever. Well, that's like when people say to me, I used to like metal, and I'm like, then you never like the metal. Now here's the metal head that says they used to like metal, you know. And being best friends. I think that's so important, you know, because like it's got to be hell to be in a band with people that you're not best friends with, Like even that you're friends with. There's friends I have that I can only tolerate in certain doses, you know, Like so being a bus together and wanting to kill each other, I don't think would be good. You have to be best friends, you know. It's like bands that it's like there's a lot of bands that are like siblings, and I always say to them, I'm like, I don't know if I was, if I was on tour with my siblings, I'd probably kill them all.

12:29 We get along pretty good, but we do get at each other sometimes it's a little bit inevitable. Well you know what, when you've known each other that long and been best friends that long, there it's different. Like my best bro life since thirteen. He passed away a couple of years ago, but me and him were like Pee's in the pod in high school and as we got older, we got different, but we still stayed like brothers. Like his parents were like parents to me. My dad was like a dad to him, and we considered each other brothers and there were things we agreed on, things we disagreed on, but like you like, embrace the differences because you have that connection that you've always had, you know, And I think that's what makes making great music too. If you were both exactly the same, I think that would make the music boring because each of you bringing something to the table that can appeal to more people. Yeah, and somebody that can tell you, hey, you're being a douche or no, that song doesn't work at all, and you don't get offended by it, like when it's your best friend that does it, Like that you've known that long, it's almost like, okay, maybe I better listen. Okay, but I know that's the case with me, Like anybody else tells me. I'm like, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. My brother used to say something. I'm like, oh, okay, maybe I better think about that.

13:57 Yeah, definitely. So you'd say that's how your writing process is, too, right, Like you feed off each other in that way, both in the agreement but disagreement too. Yeah, essentially, Like I'll start with making some guitar riffs and starting like the skeleton of a song. I'll come and show it to Andrew, and he'll tell me if he likes the parts, likes the way the song is flowing. If not, he'll show me how to change it. Maybe tell me how I could change this riff or add a part in here and there, and then we'll add the drums in and then just kind of go from there and tweak it as we need to, you know, but we'd work together, and if he doesn't like something, then I'll see if I can fix it to where we're both in agreement with it. You know, it's not just one way or the other. Would we prefer if we both agree on everything and now have it be one sided?

14:43 Yes, you know, if we both just don't like it, then we come to an agreement and we make we make it known to each other. We don't just keep it if we don't like it. Yeah. I think that's one of the problems with bands that and that blow up like after a period of time because they never talked to each other. They never say what they're really feeling. They're all up inside and then they just you know, it's. Like, yeah, kind of like Perry Ferrell, kind of like Perry ferl That's why I think happened. It was like whatever was bothering Perry and Dave blew up that night, you know. And that's what happens when you don't talk it out and hold shit in and just not say your piece sov bravo to you. Guys like to be able to communicate. I think it's so key to communicate properly to make great music, you know. And uh so I also want to know. I'm most fascinated about by bands that i've been around for a while, and then they come out with their self titled album. What was the thought process there, because that's your most recent album is the self titled one, but you've been around forever now, Yeah.

15:58 So what happened with that was we wrote all these songs back in twenty twenty during COVID when there's nothing going on, and it took us, I don't know, three to four years to be able to even get into a studio to get them recorded. All of those songs, they're like completely different from each other, all different topics and things. It doesn't have like a theme or anything to it. So when we were recording the album, putting everything together, trying to find a name for the album, nothing seemed to fit because every song is different. And we really struggled with that. There wasn't an overarching theme for anything of it. Also, it's just Brave Witch exactly. So that's why we call the Grave, which because it's pretty much just showcasing our style and a bunch of different songs.

16:41 So you know, I'm decited to go with that. You know, it's interesting too. Like I said during that whole COVID thing, if you're going to take one good thing out of COVID for music is that gave artists like you guys and everybody else the chance to jump off the hamster wheel and just create without all the noise, you know, And and I definitely felt like some of the best music that will ever come is coming out of that time and and your album is a perfect example of that because like, as an old school metal head from the beginning of all this stuff, you guys, with this album and the music on it could fit in the eighties no problem. And that's just that's a big compliment because you know, thank you, Yeah, you definitely you have it down. And I think what it is is like that's what was cool about COVID. You had the time to stop and just get creative again. It's almost like, I don't know, I think musicians and a lot of friends of mine are musicians. They agreed that like they found the passion again that they lost because you're on this hamster wheel that isn't fun at times.

18:00 Mm hmm. So tell everybody how to reach out to you guys on socials, on the web, how they get your albums, how they get your merch check out when you're going to be playing places all that great stuff. We are pretty active on posting to our Facebook pages and our Instagram accounts. Another good way to find our merch is to search Gravewich on band camp. We have our merch up there. Soon we will be updating it and putting more of our shirts on there, and we'll be updating shipping information and everything else to a music You can stream us on Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Pandora, you know anywhere, and you can find our music videos for Mistress of Hate and Damnable Evil, along with Circle of Power from our first album, The Summoning up on YouTube right now.

19:01 Oh yeah. We also have vinyls that are record label Rocks. Sun Records helped us acquire. And physical copies will be available at our merch table and soon we will also be getting them up on band camp as well. We just need to go in and figure out shipping info. I love it. It's so wild to me how vinyl is so big now, Like my grandson, okay, he collects vinyl. Just found out my granddaughter collects vinyl. Like that's amazing.

19:42 You know, they're they're both like, you know, you would think they wouldn't want vinyl at all because they're both growing up in this age. And I was actually in shock because I took my granddaughter to get a vie album at the store recently. It was thirty six bucks. I was like, holy crap, thirty six dollars for vinyl. I'm like, I told her, I'm like, you could come to my house and I got stacks of vinyl, some that's not even open that you can see the price stag on it where it was like two ninety nine. Wow. Man, Like I could imagine when I was a teenager buying vinyl for thirty six bucks. It was enough to scrape together whatever I needed to scrape together to get even a demo tape. Yeah, you know, but man, it is kind of cool. I have. I have this one vinyl of a band I interviewed that festival recently. Like what they do with the vinyl is so amazing. It has like their blood actually in the vinyl. Wow.

20:53 Whoa, that's like that was sweet. So like, it's kind of wild what's going on nowadays. But like the fact that my grandkids are collecting vinyl, that just says a lot to me, And it says to me that maybe, just maybe music is making a comeback, opposed to let me listen to ten seconds and move on to the next track. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, like. We like to listen to the full album usually, especially if it's a good one front the back. Oh, no doubt, no doubt. And like I even get into times now where like something's going on where I'll just go through the whole catalog of one band from the first album to the last and just listen straight through, you know, like it's like there's some anniversary. All oh, well, then I better listen to all the albums, you.

21:50 Know, especially like musicians that passed away. You know, it's like you gotta do that. Right, right, and like listen party experience it. I think kids are missing today that maybe now they're getting back because this resurgence is I sat on my I remember sitting on my balcony. I'd buy and buy an album. I would put on, put the headphones on, I would look at all the artwork, I'd read all the lyrics, like I would just totally immerse in it, and the thought of even changing a track didn't even occur to me because I was in there for the whole thing. Like imagine listening to Dark Side of the Moon only a track or you know, a couple seconds and then skipping to another song.

22:40 Yeah, that doesn't do you any. Just right, right, and so you know, I mean, I think it's just I think the all of the art is a super immersive experience, and especially nowadays when we have so much bullshit going on, we need the escape of music and that's what happens with an album. You escape in the album and who cares about anything else? Yep, that's more important alban Ever, seriously. No doubt, so thankful for bands like you. They are putting out albums where we could do that, and especially like your your Namesake album. I mean, the fact that it's got so many different types of songs on it makes me want to listen to a whole album because you don't know what's coming next.

23:30 Yeah for sure, I'll tell you. So anything ain't final words. Things you want to say to anybody that we haven't covered a ray that they need to know that's going on with you guys. In twenty twenty six. We're just kind of working behind the scenes getting new music written. We are working on releasing three singles between no no time date yet, but between this second album and third album. We want to release three more singles before we put out another full album. Nice cool. Reading on music, it says the three singles, I think we have six or seven songs for a third album so far probably right, four or five more maybe and try to hit the studio and get it out within another year or so possible.

24:24 So very cool. Well, you guys rock and thanks for making us such great music. And thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man. It is a pleasure, man. Thank you for having us. It has been a pleasure to talk to you. Man is great here. I love hearing that because I think as if I were the musician, you know, gain interviewed and sometimes, like when I do the festivals, I'll listen to some of the other people, I'm like, oh my god, I would be like shooting myself right now if I was the artists like you gotta make it fun and interesting. Yeah, you guys are artists. It's not this is the business side of it. Don't make it the business way, you know.

25:06 It's like, have fun with it. You created exactly, Let it take a life of its own. That's my viewpoint, you know. And then that's when you find out the goal. That's when you find and that that's when the band is into it, like nothing would kill me worse. And if I saw in the eyes of the band while they're reviewing that they're just not into it, Like this is supposed to be fun for all of us. That's what music's about, and that's what you guys are about. So I love it. Oh yeah, oh yeah man, Thank you so much. My pleasure. You guys rock. Take it easy, YouTube man, take care of Happy.

25:49 New Year YouTube. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man on w for s you on Light Radio.