Witch Fever: “Queerness Is Something to Be Fully Celebrated, and My Lyrics Are Never Really About Celebration”

By Laurine Payet, Music Journalist

With a name inspired by the hysteria of witch trials in Salem and Europe, Witch Fever is the Manchester band that is on its way to becoming the breakthrough act of 2022. After multiple singles since 2017, the post-punk quartet released this year their debut EP “Reincarnate”. As they’re about to go on a European tour with IDLES in February, we met frontwoman Amy and guitarist Alisha to talk about their musical environment and the impact of their queer identity on their music.

“We're not really coming with a specific agenda. We just enjoy writing music and we talk a lot about different things that are sort of making us angry.” – Amy

Whilst they call it “angry, unapologetic and fun”, Witch Fever’s music is full of energy and angst. It sounds like a cathartic way of expressing themselves, which also serves as a cathartic outlet to listen to. The songwriting process involves all four members of the band, Amy, Alex, Alisha & Annabelle. For Alisha, writing music aims for people to feel empowered and feel good about themselves as if they held a power that they did not before. Witch Fever might be an angry band, but they are also fun and want people to be able to enjoy their music in whatever way they wish.

“I think my lyrics have a feminist undercurrent. Sometimes overcurrent, if overcurrent is a word. It might not always be obvious, but my lyrics are definitely always pushed by feminist thoughts. As well as my experiences as a woman in a world that is very patriarchal. It’s sort of being angry at the oppression of whatever kind that is.” – Amy

Photographer: Debbie Ellis

Amy affirms that she, as the vocalist and lyricist, take a lot of inspiration from things outside of music, such as horror, film, and books. All four of them listen to different bands that fall under the bracket of alternative – apart from Alex, showing interest to dance music at the moment. Their main influences build a broad spectrum of artists. From Nirvana, Warpaint, Black Sabbath, or even Nina Simone, the big mix includes icons from then and now. They don’t necessarily want the music to sound like their idols; they however take inspiration from their musicality. Amy talks about the dream of a collaboration with American artist and poet Noname, as well as the Russian collective Pussy Riot. Both of which are highly regarded for being politically engaged. For Witch Fever, mixing politics and music is a very inspiring thing to see. While Amy does not specifically write about politics (yet), she is aware of the constant impact feminism has on her songwriting, due to her living and experiencing as a woman.

“Being on the road for three weeks or just like traveling in a shitty little van. Having the best times. Being on tour is just another level.” – Alisha

As with many artists, the past two years have not been the most ideal and easiest to develop a career in music. When the pandemic started, Witch Fever was in the process of signing with the Sony label Music for Nations. They did not have a choice and had to get on with the new music and stay productive while being away from each other. This has been a hard task and slowed them down a lot considering the fact they all write equally in the band. Since the end of the lockdowns, there's been a lot going on for the quartet. They were able to go on tour for three weeks, making it the highlight of their career for Alisha. Their music is made to be performed live and it is a way to complete the recording of songs. It is in what they call a “shitty little van” that they were able to have the rock band dream.

“Queerness is something to be fully celebrated, and my lyrics are never really about celebration. My lyrics are usually quite dark, sort of disgusting, and difficult. Whilst being queer can be difficult, I haven't really explored that in lyrics yet.” – Amy

The members of Witch Fever identify as queer, and the band itself identifies as a queer band. They are open about it being an important part of their lives and want to portray that through music, in the way they perform and play. However, Amy has still not yet tackled writing about it. For her, writing lyrics is still too dark to include queerness, which she considers to be something to be celebrated. They prefer to make a space for themselves and queer peers to express themselves and perform however they want to. For Alisha, the queer community has had an impact on their career, and they are glad and proud to be able to meet other people that are part of their communities.

“It's good to appreciate a full body of work. But now you get to listen to different types of music and artists that you may not have listened to, and discover new genres.”

Both Amy and Alisha affirm being less and less of album people. Whilst you had to listen to the physical form of music two decades ago, it is now much easier to just listen to songs and playlists to discover new artists.

Amy’s favorite queer artists to look out for in 2022 are CLT DRP, Nova Twins, Screaming Toenail, SLAP RASH, Little Simz and ZAND.

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