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Live Review: All Them Witches in Boston, MA, 03.20.19

All Them Witches (Photo by JJ Koczan)

The sun was setting quickly as I parked in the lot across from The Sinclair in Cambridge, surrounded by swank Harvard tourist traps and the restaurants that rightfully gouge the parents of the privileged and talented. It was the vernal equinox; the first day of Spring, and at night, a supermoon would loom large over a navy blue sky that might otherwise be black. Amid all this natural phenomena, Nashville’s All Them Witches were headlining a two-band bill, and though I walked in only minutes after doors opened, I still couldn’t get a spot in front of the middle of the stage to take pictures. A band about whom their fans feel strongly. So be it.

I was early, well in time to catch openers Plague Vendor, whose frontman gangly-jellylegged and James Brown‘ed and DavidBowie-via-NickCave‘d as the band behind him held down solid harder-hitting post-punk vibes, some groovy rockers, songs about getting drunk on highways, sex, the like. Stuff the kids do. They were aerobic, and not entirely my speed, but they put on a good show, said frontman at one point grabbing the Red Sox hat off a dude in the front row — and, much to his credit, confirming quickly that it was okay he did so — and wearing it down over his eyes as he wound up as though to pitch the start of the next verse. It was a nice move, and he gave the hat back after.

Crowd ate it up. I got silently cynical about the music industry, but whatever. If I was into fun, I’d probably have been all over it. You know how it goes.

They finished — may they never go bald; may they never get fat — and the room had a moment to breathe before All Them Witches went on with “War Pigs” as their intro. I don’t want to say it like I’m Jonny Investigativereporter or something, but I was curious to seem them. I’ll admit that. I’ve been fortunate enough to encounter All Them Witches live a couple times since they started touring, and since late last year when the band announced they’d parted ways with keyboardist Jonathan Draper, who was brought in ahead of their 2018 album, ATW (review here), and would remain a trio for the foreseeable future, I wanted to know how it would affect their sound. With five records, they certainly have enough material to draw from that they don’t have to focus on stuff that featured the work of Draper or the Fender Rhodes of Allan Van Cleave, whom Draper replaced, but it was a chance to see the band on a decent-size stage as they took on this task of renewing their approach. I wanted to see how they did it.

Well, bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks, Jr., guitarist Ben McLeod and drummer Robby Staebler hit the stage, went into “Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird” from 2013’s Lightning at the Door (review here), “3-5-7” from 2017’s  Sleeping Through the War (review here) and the brooding single “Diamond” from ATW, and I swear to you — this is completely honest; not exaggeration, not hyperbole, not a convenience of a narrative I’m trying to build — I forgot all about it. It wasn’t until after they were through “1st vs. 2nd” from the new album and “Dirt Preachers” from 2015’s Dying Surfer Meets His Maker (review here), “Fishbelly 86 Onions” and its subdued fellow ATW track “Harvest Feast” — which Parks introduced by saying, “This is a blues song. Time to get blue,” that I even remembered to think about it. In the meantime, ParksMcLeod and Staebler jammed their way into wide open psych-blues spaces and gave the answer to the question: they’re moving forward. That’s all there was to it.

They had no trouble at all stating their case to the room. One imagines that owning the larger stage as they did was something they mastered while on tour last summer with Mastodon and Primus playing amphitheaters and the like, but either way, whether it was Parks‘ grungey charisma leaning into the mic or the dry wit of his stage banter, the manner in which Staebler seemed to throw his whole body into the groove as he always has, but this time all the more looming for being on a riser, or McLeod seeming to step somewhat reluctantly — he’s usually pretty quiet on stage — forward in carrying forth the atmospherics of a song like “Warhorse” from the newest LP, or for that matter in the jam of “Harvest Feast” just before. His presence was quiet but not lacking energy, as, with his hair largely in front of his face, he helped guide the way through the subtly progressive aspects of the material.

I don’t think All Them Witches would’ve chosen to be a three-piece if you’d asked a few years ago, but they can make it work, and more importantly, keep progressing in this form should they so desire. They made highlights of “Charles William” and “When God Comes Back” from Lightning at the Door, playing them back to back before turning on the disco ball for Sleeping Through the War‘s “Alabaster” because, as Parks noted, “It’s a dance song.” And so it was. Perhaps not in the same sense of the heavier parts of “When God Comes Back” — which was one of several moments that actually had people moshing; any excuse to throw a punch in this town — but a dance song nonetheless and one that not only showcased the range of the band’s work, but the dynamic nature in which they’ve learned to pull it all off live.

The regular set capped with “Swallowed by the Sea,” again from Lightning at the Door, and they left the stage, only to come back out for “Blood and Sand/Milk and Endless Waters” from Dying Surfer Meets His Maker, which was as fitting an end as anything as they took the song and ran with it in a jam as they had with “Harvest Feast” earlier. There’s no question that the lineup shift has changed them, and maybe this tour is how they’re getting their feet under them in this form, or maybe that’s a multi-tour process as they continue to grow, but the terrifying truth of All Them Witches is just that: Growth. In the time since their 2012 debut, Our Mother Electricity (review here), their progression has never stopped, and though certain aspects of their approach are defined in terms of how they play or perform, they’ve never really settled in terms of sound. Their next record will be different, but honestly, it was going to be different anyway. Which two All Them Witches records sound the same?

Maybe they’ll add a fourth member, maybe not. The question was no longer on my mind as I made my way out of The Sinclair and back to the parking lot across the street to pay the robot and make my way home under that night-blue sky that seemed all the more appropriate given what I’d just witnessed.

Thanks for reading. More pics after the jump.

All Them Witches

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4 Responses to “Live Review: All Them Witches in Boston, MA, 03.20.19”

  1. Ben says:

    It was a great show, I think somehow they’ve become more intense without the keys. Anyway, I’m very happy I got to shake your hand and thank you in person for all that you do, just wish I would’ve offered to buy you a drink!

  2. Gino Vaselino says:

    Nice write-up JJ. Had the pleasure of sharing this experience as well. First time seeing these guys live but have been hearing about them for a while thanks to some prior touring with King Buffalo. Super enjoyable show, and what a great live set…these dudes vamp in a superb way and have a great way of rewiring their studio tracks into some really creative jams. Beers raised! See you at the Middle East King Buffalo show in April if you make it.

  3. PAUL MARINO says:

    tihis show took me back to seeing Radiohead in 1996 at The Paradise Theater,and watching Johnny Greenwood set the mood…

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