I won’t lie and say it was easy to get off my couch Friday night and head into snowy-sidewalked Cambridge, but it was worth it. The city was running thick with unfreezable undergraduate blood and upstairs at the Middle East, All Them Witches were headlining a merciful three-band bill with The Well and These Wild Plains for support. It was the second time the Nashville four-piece made a stop at the venue, having come through last fall on tour with Windhand and sold the place out. Not to be understated is their months-only jump to the top of the bill, and not to be ignored were their compatriots in The Well, the Austin-based trio whose RidingEasy Records full-length, Samsara (review here), was my pick for the best debut of 2014. The three-piece’s sometimes-garage-rock-sometimes-tonal-overload made a suitable companion for the open spaces All Them Witches‘ neo-Southern jam-ready heavy rock, which met with fervent approval over the course of about an hour-long set.

The show was 18+, and kids came out on solid force, standing among older rockers. From what I saw, nobody looked like they were there by accident, and when All Them Witches‘ set started, the four players sort of lurching to life with a quick, noodling jam led by guitarist Ben McLeod that shifted smoothly into “Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird” from 2013/2014’s self-released sophomore long-player, Lightning at the Door (review here), drummer Robby Staebler, bassist/vocalist Michael Parks, Jr. and Fender Rhodes wizard Allan Van Cleave soon joining in, easing their way and the crowd’s way into a wash of immersive tones that only ran deeper from there, the raucous “When God Comes Back” and that album’s closer, “Mountain” following. Truth be told, momentum and the room were on their side before they started playing, but even if All Them Witches had had to win the Middle East over, they’d have done so quickly.

All Them Witches arrived in Massachusetts fresh from a seclusion that resulted in the recording of their yet-untitled third album, set to release later this year. Presumably this tour with The Well was a way of shaking off the dust in anticipation of more road time to come. Accordingly, I thought there might be a chance of getting to hear some new material done live, which even if it might not represent the entirety of their next offering would at least give a glimpse at some of the scope and direction of the thing. No such luck. What their plan is for the release — i.e., if they’ve signed with a label and if so, which one — I don’t know, but they kept the setlist primarily to Lightning at the Door material, the satisfying deep-toned chug of “Swallowed by the Sea” a little lighter on its feet as it was when I saw them in Pennsylvania last fall and “The Death of Coyote Woman” hypnotic in its repeated vocal lines from Parks and bluesy guitar, McLeod not at all shy with the slide when called upon to break it out.

No setlist written down, songs were called out on the fly. They dipped back once to their debut, 2012’s Our Mother Electricity (review here), for a rendering of “Elk.Blood.Heart” that elicited an off-mic “You gotta be kidding me” from Parks when it started, but wound up as a singularly powerful moment in the set. It was pretty clear that material wasn’t as familiar to the crowd as the stuff from Lightning at the Door, but at least those standing near me showed no signs of trouble getting on board. They closed out with “Charles William,” which is as close to a single as they’ve come, its blend of bounce, tonal richness, Van Cleave‘s Rhodes — an element not to be understated in any appreciation of what they do — and Staebler‘s hard-hitting swing in the finishing lines necessitating no further statement from the band. All were sent into the cold night having received due communion.

They were reason enough to show up — All Them Witches are a special group of players and watching them solidify on stage even as their sound becomes more fluid offers a rare breed of satisfaction — but I was anxious to see The Well before them. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan were robbed on their last tour, which was also their first, so warranted immediate respect for getting back out, all the more so filling in for original supporting act Mount Carmel at (or close to) the last minute. My big question was whether or not The Well would be able to conjure the same kind of garage-doom atmosphere and air-push live that they do on record. As the feedback hum of Graham‘s guitar grew in volume until it felt like my head was surrounded by it on all sides, my curiosity had its answer. The thrust punctuated by Sullivan‘s kick in songs like “Trespass” and “Mortal Bones” from Samsara every bit delivered what one might’ve hoped from hearing their studio work and then some, the rawness of the stage giving Graham more of a showcase for soloing.

It was an opportunity he seemed to relish. The memorable psych-spooky “Refuge” made its primary impression in its early bounce, but the languid wah in the song’s second half pushed it to highlight territory, and likewise the midsection jam of the extended set-closer “Eternal Well.” Alley and Sullivan both had their share of fills and no question make for a dynamic rhythm section, but I hadn’t fully realized how much Graham‘s guitar brings to the band on a level deeper than “hey bro, cool riffs.” Tonally and in their presentation, they represented high grade stoner-heavy modernity, and as much as one could hear shades of Sleep and Sabbath in their sound, touches here and there of Uncle Acid and so on, the most exciting thing about The Well was how much they seemed to be moving forward from that starting point. I hope they keep touring and keep growing.

If their heaviness was the aspect they shared with All Them Witches, then for the pedal-steel-infused openers, These Wild Plains, it was no doubt the rural sprawl. The local five-piece — whose debut album is due out Feb. 27 — had been crowded on the stage, but their blend of countrified twang and atmospheric post-rock fit the room, and there were plenty who showed up early to see them. Acoustic, lap steel and electric guitar, the latter reminding me distinctly at times of Yawning Man‘s airy tone, and multiple vocalists drove home the Americana vibe, and for a group of Northern boys taking on a distinctly Southern sound, they acquitted themselves well. People were still coming in as they got going, but by the time they finished, there was little doubt the evening had begun.

More pics after the jump. Thanks for reading.

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