‘RETURN OF THE KRAFT’
It was about mid of last year when Witchkraft last appeared at this venue. They had just recently parted company with their former singer John, and as he had left quickly then they had no properly organised replacement vocalist. The band decided to honour their booking at the Office, and brought with them a young lass who had a pleasant voice, but ‘so’ wrong for the type of music that they were playing. Her range was limited, and when trying to sing material that was written in a lower key for male vocals, then she undoubtedly struggled to do the songs any real justice. It was good of her to help the band out under such short notice, but inevitably it was blatant to all those in the venue who saw that strained performance, that she was totally unsuitable for the lead vocalist role in that band. But that gig wasn’t a total disaster, because seated in the audience was Andy Atkinson, who at that time was the singer with the Mojo Hand Blues Band. He had seen Witchkraft’s adverts for a new vocalist, and had come along deliberately on that night to watch them perform. What should have been him sitting in audience sussing out the band, instead turned in to an impromptu audition. Andy had the courage to jump up on stage on several occasions to sing 4 songs that night, and he did superbly! 

Needless to say I wasn’t all that surprised when about a week later Witchkraft publicly announced that Andy had landed the lead singer’s role in the band, and would be permanently performing with them from the next weekend onwards. So basically Andy jumped right in to it, and after a couple of rehearsals he was out playing with the group on a regular basis. That was now a good 7 months back, and finally Witchkraft had returned to the Office where they first met Andy. Here’s a review of that new gig on Saturday the 11th of February, and an account on whether their new singer has finally brought the magic back to Witchkraft. Not only did this occasion give me the opportunity to see the band in action with their new vocalist Andy, but it also marked one of the last couple of gigs that their drummer Lloyd Croft would be playing with them. Lloyd had recently been moonlighting with a new local band called The Zoo, and most of the musicians in that group are much closer to his youthful age. He’s just agreed to join The Zoo full time, which meant that he had to hand in his notice to quit, as future bookings were going to clash. Lloyd got in to Witchkraft  via his dad Gaz, who is the bassist in the band. Originally he was just helping them out while they were in-between drummers, but he ended up staying on for the next 2 – 3 years. He’s enjoyed the experience of performing live with the band, as he was only 16 when he first started out with them, and that kind of experience at that young an age is invaluable. But now he is moving on to pastures newer & greener, and he’ll be a big miss to the rest of the group as he’s become such a large part of the band’s dynamics. Witchkraft  are currently looking for a permanent replacement drummer, yet in the meantime have a couple of lads who are willing to help them out during this up’n’coming period. But for the moment, the Office gig was Lloyd’s second last show with the band.

The rest of the outfit is made up of Gaz on bass who has been the rock of the band in recent times, and Mal on guitar whose on-stage persona has become a trade mark for them. I’ve seen Witchkraft  perform so many times over the last decade, and even back to the days when the infamous Brenda used to sing lead vocals for them. So as such then I’m always looking for that extra spark that separates a particular gig from just being another standard show. For this occasion I felt that the band had upped the stakes. This performance was far removed from their last appearance at this venue, as that night had been a fairly lacklustre affair. This was closer to how the group were a good 18 months back when spirits were much higher within the group. The main difference is of course Andy who is a sprightly and vibrant entertainer. I remember watching him a good year ago when he sang for the Mojo Hand Blues Band, and although the music may not have been my own personal cup of tea, I did recognise him as being a decent frontman. He’s always had a happy aura about him, and comes across a genuinely likeable chap. He’d definitely more animated than his predecessor as it seems that he has constant ants in his pants (his legs twitch even when he’s talking in-between songs). Plus his vocal range has a greater top-end reach than John’s did, so with no disrespect to the job that John did for many years, Andy is probably more suited to the role. 7 months have gone by since I saw him perform that strange impromptu audition, and obviously he’s far more settled with the job. He seems to have a firm grip on all of the material that he has to deal with, and I never really heard him struggle at all with any of the song choices. Overall he has upped the quality of the band altogether, and brought them back in to their prime. The new blood injected in to the group has given them a rejuvenated lease of life.

Mal was on tremendous form this time as well. We got the full ‘Blackmore’ showmanship routine from him, including playing the guitar with his feet, and having fun with grinding his instrument across the top of his amp. Mal played very well indeed, and for a one guitar band he fills up the soundscape marvellously. I loved the tone of his guitar. Gaz on bass is a fabulously solid player. There’s nothing overtly fancy about his style, but he does what is necessary in an very disciplined manner. This gives the band a very solid backbone, and when Mal is off-on-one, improvising away, then Gaz holds the melody together and keeps the song in order. Lloyd is a very talented drummer for his age. I think he must only be about 18 (going on 19) at this present time, but he does do exceeding well. I felt his approach was more laid back this evening, and perhaps he wasn’t driving the band along as strongly as he could have, but his technique was excellent. He may have sat back more on the beat than pushing it forward, but his time-keeping was superb and his showed real capabilities far beyond his young age. From my own point of view I would have liked to have seen Lloyd go out of this band in a more explosive form, but over the years his drumming style has definitely altered. He’s become more of a technical player and less of a tub-thumping rock drummer. His imminent departure from Witchkraft may be a very wise move for him, and allow him to explore different avenues of music with the Zoo. The 3 musicians in Witchkraft still make up a very reliable team, and with the band playing together (on & off) for the last 3 years then you’d expect nothing less. But for all intensive purposes Mal remains the prime focal point in the band, and you’ll forever find your eyes drifting towards the right-hand side of the stage.

As for the material that they perform, it hasn’t changed that dramatically over the years. The band were in a bit of a rut when John was still in the line-up, and I hoped that the inclusion of Andy in the ranks would give the band more freedom to be adventurous. To be honest the set list only had a few new songs in, and perhaps a couple of older numbers that have been dusted down and re-introduced. 2 of the newies were both AC/DC tracks with ‘High Voltage’ & ‘Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be’. The best of the new batch was undoubtedly the Montrose classic ‘Space Station No5’, which powered through in dynamite fashion. Not only was it the best new song, but it was also their best song of the whole show. It suited them right down to the ground, and I pray that they seriously consider following in this direction that is geared more towards hi-energy heavy rock, than blues-based rock. The Montrose track was a blinding flash of new inspiration, that was slotted in as the first vocal song of the night (just after the instrumental opener of ‘Difficult To Cure’). Yet all too quickly it was gone and then the band were back to their more traditional set. The first set also included 3 Free songs all played back-to-back, which I also felt was pretty heavy going, as they were all very slow-paced. But of course the second set is basically a cornucopia of Deep Purple tracks that are well-loved and of course were very well received by this crowd. Andy managed to do these songs better justice than John had done in the past, mainly because his range is far greater and it sounded a hell of lot less strained. But I would love to see this singer cut his teeth in to some ‘fresh’ material, rather than be walking in somebody else’s footsteps for the majority of the set. This is still the big stumbling block that I personally feel is holding the band back.

This was a much better all-round performance from Witchkraft  that stomped all over their last visit to this venue, and showed them to still be a very capable group. After 7 months of being in the line-up I had hoped that Andy’s inclusion would have opened up new doorways for the group, and maybe I’d see the new material that this band have hinted at introducing for the last couple of years now. The Montrose song was a brilliant idea, and when they burst in to that killer riff then they had me totally glued to watching the stage. I’d love to see more of those kind of songs being brought in to the band, and see Witchkraft moving away from the old blues-rock scene that they’ve been established with for the last decade. The band have always had a heavy edge to them, and it’s a part of them that should be explored more thoroughly. Some of the Deep Purple numbers bring that out of them, and the AC/DC tracks do that as well. But I’d like to see them taking more chances and maybe bringing in some other rock classics that also have a big heavy sound. They’ve got the singer in their ranks now that is quite capable of belting out some storming rock numbers, and he could be the catalyst to open up those new avenues. Plus hopefully in the near future they will have a permanent replacement for Lloyd on drums, and maybe this new band member might also bring with him some exciting ideas too. Bringing Andy in to the group was the best move they could have made, and he’s definitely a godsend that has breathed some new life in to them. But I’d still like to see this act seriously consider up-grading their current set list. It’s become a very comfortable pair of slippers for them, and they’ve done it for so long now that it’s hard for them to break free from it’s obvious familiarity. Another half a dozen new & exciting songs would work absolute wonders for this lot and give Andy a chance to stamp his own personality on songs that he can make HIS entirely! 

Yours, ”Start with the sun, and move on out”, … Colin Smoult.  13 / 2 / 06.