Musician Profile: All Them Witches

As Nashville based All Them Witches pulled into town to support their fifth and newest album, ATW, there was a bit of trepidation amongst many longtime fans. Founding member and multi-instrumentalist Allan Van Cleave had departed the band in May and was replaced my newest member Jonathan Draper. However, Draper himself withdrew from the band weeks before the SLC show, and rather than replace him the group decided to continue as a three-piece more or less eliminating the organ/keys and accompanying percussion from their live show. As we stood outside Salt Lake's The State Room, we wondered what the night would hold.

Taking the stage, All Them Witches opened with "Funeral For A Great Drunken Bird" off of their second album Lightning at the Door, a track that even when recorded was noticeably bereft of the aforementioned accompanying keys. However, as Drunken Bird subsided the band launched into 3-5-7, which does feature the band's use of supplemental keys to fill up the sound. As the trio churned through the developing riffs the lack of keys was more or less unnoticeable. ATW made little to no effort to revise the music to compensate instead they directly charged on, and thus the theme of the show was set.

Change happens, sometimes it is by choice, sometimes it is thrust upon us, and occasionally it is a mixture of the two. The only thing controllable is how one reacts when it happens. ATW simply choose to soldier on, at least as a short-term solution. Throughout the night, as the band continued to play from across their growing catalog, the exclusion of their fourth member became less and less of a distraction. The meat of the set list featured a run of six songs off of the new album including personal favorites Charles William, 1st vs. 2nd, and the album's first single, Diamond. Lead singer and bassist Charles Michael Parks' signature Tennessee twang and thundering low end paired well, as they always have especially on the bands slower efforts like Diamond. Ben McLeod's guitar seemed especially out front, perhaps consciously or not, to compensate for the loss of their fourth member, and always drummer Robby Staebler was in constant danger of stealing the show from his band mates.

Concluding the main set with the new track "When God Comes Back" the band returned for an encore of the raucous "Don't Bring Me Coffee" and left a lasting impression with a rousing rendition of the eleven minute plus face melter "Blood and Sand/ Milk and Endless Waters" which runs the gambit from psyche sludge to blues-infused anthem. All in all it was a glorious evening that successfully appeased longtime fans and new converts alike. ATW continues to tour, and will presumably return to the studio to eventually record their sixth album. No official word has come from the band regarding how they will address the lineup, if at all.

Words by Daniel Cochrane

Photos by Paul Bundy