Witch Cross at CHAOS DESCENDS! Part Two

Here’s a fan-shot video from CHAOS DESCENDS of us performing “Rocking the Night Away”. Hope you all enjoy it!

It was a real pleasure to get back to Germany and rock the fans…now we wait for September, when it’s the turn of Denmark and Sweden!

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

CHAOS DESCENDS

Witch Cross at CHAOS DESCENDS!

A lot of travelling, and a nightmare to get to my hotel in Berlin after flying in from Madrid on the Friday evening…but hooked up with guitarist Mike Koch the next morning, and we drove down to meet up with the rest of the band in Crispendorf, in the heart of the Thuringen countryside. The setting for the inaugural CHAOS DESCENDS festival was an old East German holiday camp, weird, spooky, and complete with a miniature train, it was absolutely perfect!

Well attended and with an eclectic line-up that ranged from doom, death and black metal through Sabbath/Prog inspired U.S. metallers Danava, and the innovative and hypnotic Swans, there was even room for good old-fashioned early 80’s Danish Metal!

The crowd were amazing to us, singing along to the songs from ‘Fit for Fight’, and we are starting to notice that they are becoming familiar with the newer stuff from ‘Axe to Grind’ too, which is particularly satisfying.

I’ll be doing a follow-up piece on the festival with more pics soon.

Our next shows see us in Denmark and Sweden in September, and we now start to coalesce ideas for the third album.

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

Busy week ahead

Got a show coming up with my local band, THE COPS, playing with an old Castillo as a backdrop, down the coast from where I live, in San Juan de los Terreros, on Thursday night. Let’s hope we can deliver some “Spanish Castle Magic”!

Then, on Friday, it’s time to drive to Madrid to catch a plane to Berlin and meet up with my Metal collegaues in WITCH CROSS! Really excited to be playing the CHAOS DESCENDS Festival this year!  No rest when I return though, as I’ll be back with THE COPS again playing in the city of Lorca in Spain on Tuesday – the day after I fly back to Madrid.

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

Witch Cross return to rock Germany!

Totally stoked about our upcoming appearance at the CHAOS DESCENDS Festival, which takes place at Ferienland CRISPENDORF between 16-18 July.

We’ll be hitting the stage at 19.50 on Saturday 18th, just before SWANS, who I’m looking forward to checking out.

WITCH CROSS will be making a few more live appearances this year, so keep an eye out on these pages for more news!

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

Witch Cross on the Road – Very ‘Eavy Festival – Holland 2014

2014 Has been fairly quiet for Witch Cross so far, but there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes. As you may have read HERE, we are honoured to have our version of Angel Witch’s eponymous song on the newly released KEEP IT TRUE album, and we also have another tribute track in the works. our studio is currently undergoing a big refurbishment, and later this year we’ll resume work and the large number of demos guitarist Mike Koch and I already have written as a basis for the third album.

But more immediately, in just under three weeks, we’ll be hitting the road again and convening in Stadtskanaal, Holland  to play once again for our amazing Dutch fans at the Very ‘Eavy Festival, which features a host of great bands such as NWOBHM legends Tygers of Pan Tang and Dutch metal band Picture, who I met up with last year at Leyendas del Rock near Alicante.

Tygers of Pan Tang

Picture

Here’s a fun video promo for the festival:

Come along and bang your heads with us as we play songs from the classic ‘Fit for Fight’ and its follow-up ‘Axe to Grind’!

Kev Moore

Keep it True – The Album!

Witch Cross were recently invited to participate in a new Metal compilation album project, and in this instance, we had no hesitation in accepting, and were honoured to have been asked. Entitled Harder than Steel, the new album celebrates the bands that have appeared at the legendary KEEP IT TRUE festival at the Tauberfrankenhalle in Lauda-Königshofen,  Germany, and indeed, the festival itself. This is where Witch Cross performed the first comeback show in 2012 – and was the springboard for relaunching the band, our new album Axe to Grind, and a string of appearances across Europe, so the festival, and its organisers are very dear to our hearts.

Bart Gabriel

Masterminded by our friends Bart Gabriel and Oliver Weinsheimer, the album aims to showcase bands who have appeared at the festival covering other well-known metal bands’ songs who have also appeared, and grew out of an original idea of Bart’s. We chose ‘Angel Witch’ by NWOBHM Stalwarts Angel Witch and are very happy with the result, and feel we are in good company with the other bands that have contributed to this fantastic project. Of course, the cover art is by Dimitar Nikolov, long associated with the festival, whose artwork we admired so much we commissioned him to create the cover painting for our own ‘Axe to Grind’. A festival in its eleventh year, KEEP IT TRUE maintains a special relationship with both the fans and the bands, and it is entirely appropriate that the ethos of the festival be commemorated in this way. This is a VERY LIMITED EDITION. There is a run of  only 500 copies, which can be purchased by attending this years KEEP IT TRUE festival, which runs from April 25th to the 26th….so what are you waiting for? Get yourself over to Germany, bang your head and buy the album!

Me with Robb Reiner from Anvil at KIT XV

TRACKLISTING:

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)

Kev Moore

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/keep-it-true-festivals-official-tribute-album-artwork-and-track-listing-revealed/#avvaUpEm10z1UpyF.99

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/keep-it-true-festivals-official-tribute-album-artwork-and-track-listing-revealed/#avvaUpEm10z1UpyF.99

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/keep-it-true-festivals-official-tribute-album-artwork-and-track-listing-revealed/#avvaUpEm10z1UpyF.99

A Tale of Two Festivals – Part Four: The Cazorla Blues Festival

Lock & Load: Cooling off: Spanish-Style!

By the Friday, the whole town was in on the Party, beneath the unforgiving sun, the blues fans boogied, shimmied, got drunk, and availed themselves of the spring water that flowed freely all over town, almost as freely as the beer!  The variety of acts was great, even though I has some misgivings about the inclusion on the Thursday night of Fito and Fitipaldis (or Emerson and the Fitipaldis as I couldn’t resist christening them) -who were plainly a Spanish ‘chart’ band, and an undeniably big draw. A commercial decision? Certainly. The right decision? I’m not so sure.

The Blues is Thirsty work….

The Friday night saw the likes of Little Mike and the Tornadoes – a fast talking New Yorker who delivered a powerful set…then we were assailed by Janiva Magness, a woman who, if the bio in the programme was to be believed, had suffered immeasurable hardships in her life. Her considered portrait alongside however, did not prepare us for the behemoth of bad taste that tottered onto the stage in impossibly high heels. The woman can sing, and sing well….but I can’t help feeling she needs direction, both in choice of material, and dress sense. But that’s just my opinion. I’d so wanted to see UK blues stalwarts Nine below Zero, but their inexplicable time slot of 3.30am meant that realistically wasn’t going to happen.

Suzzete Moncrief

Saturday afternoon saw Suzzete Moncrief accompanied by guitarist Lito Fernandez on the stage in the old square. She did a great job, and had the sweltering crowd with her, particularly on ‘Dock of the Bay’ where the whole crowd attempted to whistle the solo!

Chino & The Big Bet

Next up, Chino and the Big Bet, one of my favourites of the festival. A resonator guitar, half a drumset and an upright bass, this Spanish trio from Barcelona proved to be excellent exponents of Blues and Swing, having come 2nd in the European Blues Challenge. Although the seemed a little ill-at-ease out of the confines of their more normal club-sized gigs, they nevertheless delivered an endearing set with great style and feel.

Los Coronas

The Saturday night of course, we headed to the Plaza del Toros for George Thorogood, but we were blown away by the band that took to the stage before him. the band of the festival for me. Los Coronas were simply magnificent. Imagine being thrown into a dream where you were at a rock concert that kept morphing between surf city, a Quentin Tarantino movie, and a Spaghetti Western, and you might get an idea what Los Coronas are all about. Their set, devoid of all vocals save “Poison Ivy” sung by their drummer, who does the whole set standing up (some of the most magnificent snare work I’ve ever witnessed, by the way) – is a journey, cinematic in scope, on the wings of blistering, glorious twanging guitars, channeling Duane Eddie, The Surfaris, and Ennio Morricone.  Many years ago, in a covers band, we would play ‘Wipe Out’ as a filler, a throwaway number….when these guys exploded into it about three-quarters of the way through their set, it was pure joy. If anyone had told me I could not just sit through a 90-minute instrumental set, but wildly enjoy it, I would have said they were crazy. All wearing White cowboy hats and shades, and possessed of a trumpeter extraordinaire, surrealistically hailing from the Ukraine, they exuded style, cool, top-drawer musicianship and self-deprecating wit – they were one of the best live acts I have ever seen.

George Thorogood

It is to George Thorogood’s credit that he was able to follow that, it would have killed most bands. his open statement “Somebody’s got to go to jail for rock’n’roll, it might as well be me!” set the tone for the evening, and he  and the tornadoes delivered a blistering set that had to of course, feature his take on John Lee Hooker’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer”, and the classic “Bad to the Bone”, where he wrings ever last drop of blues out of the slide that attacks his hollowbody guitar.

Cazorla Blues – you have some festival here. Love the town, love the people love the vibe, but keep your eyes on what’s real. Don’t let pop insinuate itself. Keep this festival BLUES.

Kev Moore

A Tale of Two Festivals – Part Three: Cazorla Blues Festival continued….

“..It fell down…so I built another!”

The festival not yet upon us, we continued to explore the town of Cazorla and surrounding areas, discovering the amazing story of the ‘open air’ church that would form the back drop for one of the blues stages. The history of the creation of this building reads like a Monty Python sketch, the architect designing and building it adjacent to the mountain, and on top of a river. The mountain promptly collapsed upon it, the church in turn collapsed into the river, then the rains came, the river had nowhere to go because of the rocks and church debris blocking its course, so it promptly rose up and washed everything about twenty kilometers away. This sort of thing happened often. Personally I think God was trying to tell them something, but well, the Catholics were clearly a stubborn bunch. It stands today as I believe, the only church with a river actually running underneath it!

The River even God couldn’t stop…

It was fascinating to walk beneath the town square and the church, and wonder at the sheer bloody-mindedness that religious zealotry can provoke. There was supposed to be a statue of the virgin Mary in the alcove on the outer wall, but she didn’t make it. Probably too busy manifesting herself at the chapel high up on the ridge in order to put another collection-gathering scheme in operation. Pity, as I would have loved to see her presiding over the blues gig wearing a set of ray-bans and cradling a resonator guitar….

Finally make it to the outskirts of La Iruela-but a long way to go yet!

We finally made it to the Chapel high on the ridge via a punishing and circuitous route that also took in La Iruela and the amazing Castle there. Yes, they’ve got castles and watchtowers coming out of their ears round here, it’s almost reminiscent of that beacon-lighting scene in Lord of the Rings.

The Magnificent Castle at La Iruela

After finding the Castle, we trekked ever higher, and began to double back along the high ridge towards the chapel that we had seen from Cazorla. It turned out, like so many places around here, to have a) a wonderful supply of natural springwater and b) an unlikely legend. call me a cynic, but I’m constantly amazed at the amount of places that magically seem to be the site of some kind of ‘vision’, which then gives rise to some celebration, money, etc, etc…SO lucky, don’t you think?  Judging by the amount of places I’ve visited where Mary’s supposed have rocked up, she was certainly a busy woman, probably on a European tour. Apparently, in this instance, a bolt of lighting struck a rock, cracked it in two, and a shepherd fell down and whacked his head on it. When he came to, the Virgin was looking down on him…mmm…that’s not a miracle mate, that’s concussion.

View from the Chapel on the ridge.

Anyway, we made our way downhill, unconverted, in readiness for the following day, when Walking Stick Man would be the first act to take the stage at one in the afternoon. Unless we had a visit from the Virgin Mary of course.

Watching Walking Stick Man

Chilling in the Old Square

there was a fabulous atmosphere in the square that first afternoon as the sun beat down, the beer and tinto flowed, and everybody immersed themselves in the acts performing. Later that evening, the action transferred to two other stages, including the old bullring where Brazilian blues harp player and singer Flavio Guimaeres and his band with an English Guitarist really impressed.

Plaza del Toros

The old bull rings of Spain make superb concert venues, turning ‘Death in the Afternoon’ into ‘Music in the Evening’, and cultural differences aside, it’s a fair exchange.

The People gather…..

The shows are relentless at these Spanish festivals, particularly this one, acts begin on the first of three stages at on in the afternoon, and wind up finishing in the Bull Ring around five in the morning! The first day was amazing, and there was so much more to see….but that’s in Part 4!

Kev Moore

A Tale of Two Festivals – Part Two: The Cazorla Blues Festival

I’d only been home from Italy for a day when me and my partner Miki set off on our Motorhome, The Boomobile, inland towards the Spanish town of Cazorla. This beautiful place has hosted a Blues festival now for nigh on twenty years, and it’s somewhere we’ve been meaning to visit for a while, but my own gigs have often clashed, so this was the first opportunity we’d had.

Next to the Cafe by the Dam on the first day-Great Ice-Cream!

We broke the four hour journey by overnighting by an embalse, or dam, built in the 80’s, resulting in a beautiful vivid green lake in the middle of a hot dry wilderness. A cafe by the shore was a welcome sight, serving ice-cream and beer to die for, and we undertook a huge walk around the dam and surrounding landscapes to assuage our guilt at pigging out!

On top of the Dam.Our walk took us down and across the bridge you see in the background.

The following day we hit the road again, making a stop in a village called Tiscar, which means ‘Mountain Pass’ in the Berber language,  a reminder, like so many in Andalucia, of the Arabic influence of the past.  The winding road, before disappearing into a tunnel in the rock face, passes the Sanctuario de Tiscar, an old monastery, and opposite was a large parking area where we pulled over.

Las Cuevas de Aguas

A steep path and stairway cut through the rock led down to the Cueva de Aguas, an unbelievably beautiful place, where a thirty foot waterfall thundered through the natural caverns into an oasis below. It reminded me of my time on the island of Dominica in the rainforest there. To get to the falls, one had to bend almost double and pass through a fifty foot tunnel to reach it, making it all the more enchanting for that.

Tight Fit: Negotiating the tunnel to the waterfall.

Not content with the punishing journey to and from the caves, we noticed an imposing stone watchtower atop the rocky cliffs that loomed over the Sanctuario. It had been the last Arabian refuge in the area until the Christians took it form the Muslims in the 14th Century. As we climbed the cliffs a little, I noticed, seemingly clinging to the sheer rockface hundreds of feet above, a metal grille staircase disappearing up into the distance. Further exploration revealed an entrance, unmanned, over grown, but passable, that led us to the base of this amazing metal construction.

Stairway to Heaven – The Sanctuario in the distance.

Without a thought, we made our way upwards, on and on, higher and higher until we were within the foundations of the ruined tower itself, with no safety net, but, oh, what a VIEW! Stunning scenery stretching for miles, the rooftop of the monastery far below, the motorhome a speck in the distance. A tough climb, especially on the see-through grill of the staircase, but worth the effort.

The Watchtower at Tiscar

In Cazorla-La Yedra Castle in the background.

We eventually arrived in Cazorla a full three days before the festival was due to start quite deliberately, as we wanted to explore it as fully as possible before everybody descended on the town later in the week. It turned out to be a great idea, because Cazorla had so much to see and do, and the surrounding countryside was magnificent for exploring and long (and punishing!) walks.

A brief rest before exploring the Castle!

The castle of La Yedra watching over the town was a great visit, and a legend connected with it told to us by the guide has given me a new Witch Cross song, so you’ll have to wait until our third album to hear what it is!

We parked up on the big open space where the Market is usually held at the bottom of the town, and one could follow the river up to the old Plaza through a beautiful riverside walk, the myriad waterfalls and overhanging trees providing a welcome respite from the unrelenting Spanish sun. However, pretty much everywhere we walked was uphill!

Riverside walk through Cazorla town

We had a couple of days before the music started, so we planned a couple of hikes….more about them in Part Three!

Kev Moore

Italy bound with Witch Cross

Just a couple of weeks to catch our breath this month, and then its all systems go for WITCH CROSS again as we converge from Spain, England, Denmark and Sweden on Gallio in Northern Italy to appear at the Sun Valley Metal Fest! We’re really looking forward to this one. We’ll have exclusive copies of the new album ‘Axe to Grind’ on sale, a full ten days ahead of its worldwide official release date, and we’re going to be performing tracks from both that and the classic ‘Fit for Fight’ album for our Italian fans.

We’re really pumped with the reviews we’ve been getting for the new album. We put a lot of hard work into it, and it’s nice to see it being received so well, but the acid test is not what it means to the critics – it’s what it means to the fans…we hope you like it, and that it rocks your world!

Kev Moore