Prior to their second stage headlining set at Doom v Stoner, I had a chat with Alex, Lewis and Doug from Cybernetic Witch Cult to talk about their soon to be released third album and plans for 2019.
Cybernetic Witch Cult at DvS3
Jules: First of all, many thanks for reaching out to me to do this interview guys. As I said to Alex, the first time I think I saw you play was at my local, The Red Lion in Gravesend supporting Acid Reign.
Alex: Yeah it was almost 2 years ago now that we played there with Acid Reign.
Jules: it’s been a while since you’ve released anything, so what are your plans going forward.
Alex: We’ve actually just finished recording album number 3 and also released our last album on vinyl. So anyone that liked that and didn’t want to buy a CD can now get it on wax! It has been remastered so even if you bought the CD it’s definitely worth getting on vinyl too!
Jules: Is that self-released or on a label?
Alex: Yeah that’s self-released and we’re going to try to put the new album out on a label.
Jules: Any label interest as yet?
Alex: We can’t say at the moment as it’s top secret!
Lewis: We’re hoping to release it early in 2019 though.
Jules: Will it continue the theme of album titles that nobody can pronounce?
Alex: The title is still under discussion, but it won’t make much sense as it will be science fiction related again. At the moment the key word is “absurd”, that’s what we’re going for both musically and philosophically.
Jules: You’ve obviously got an interest in science fiction. Where does that come from?
Alex: Well we all love sci-fi and I did a degree in Astro Physics. I didn’t do any work in that space so need to use it somehow and just stuffed it into the music!
Jules: So what do you do for a job now?
Alex: I teach A level maths now, which has some science in it! My main outlet for all the space stuff is the band now.
Jules: That theme also continues through your album covers too. Do you use the same artist all the time?
Alex: The new one is even further down that rabbit hole! The artist is my sister Amy Wyld, who has done all our album artwork so far.
Lewis: The new artwork continues the theme of weird things happening in space.
Alex: We recorded the album at Cro’s Nest Studios in Croydon with Sam Thredder (Slabdragger guitarist). We lived in Sam’s living room for 6 days, made some riffs and then made some more riffs!
Jules: As far as the recording process goes, how does that work for you guys?
Lewis: This time round there’s been much more of a jam element because I think the 3 of us communicate well as musicians.
Alex: Doug joined us last year on bass and since then we’ve just been jamming new stuff and it’s all been written that way pretty much. All of this album was written together in a room in a jam style and you can definitely hear that in it. It flows better and is definitely more organic and you can tell that we’re all coming from the same place musically. It’s easily the most cohesive album in terms of the 3 of us all working together to the same goal.
Jules: As far as influences go, is there anything in particular that influenced the sound of this album?
Lewis: There’s maybe a bit more Sleep influence in this one. Boss Keloid as well as we’ve been listening to their new album a lot. Both of those fed into it a bit when we were writing the album. Hawkwind is also definitely rearing its head as well.
Alex: We’ve started throwing the prog claims round a bit and if you go back to our first album there’s none of that at all, it’s just good time rock n roll! We’ve kind of changed the band identity since then, especially with the line-up changes it’s kind of inevitable I suppose!
Jules: Do you find that coming from Cornwall inhibits you guys as a band in any way at all or is it not a problem?
Alex: It could inhibit us, but we don’t let it. We do Cornish gigs because they are close and are cheaper petrol wise etc. There’s not much of a doom scene in Cornwall.
Jules: I’ve heard Monolithian, who I think are from Cornwall?
Alex: Yes, they are and we know them well. There’s not many doom fans in Cornwall either, you need to go to places like Plymouth and Bristol for that. It doesn’t seem like there’s much of a metal in scene in Cornwall at all. The venues are shutting, which is tough. Thera are a lot of cover and tribute bands but very few people seem to be interested in hearing new music.
Jules: It’s the covers and tributes bands who make the most money too, which must be annoying.
Alex: Yeah, let’s not get into that! But on the plus side that’s where we found Doug!
Doug: Yes, and I’m much better now!
Alex: We had a Cornwall gig a little while ago where I had someone ask what we played while we were setting up. She was shocked and appalled when I told her we played our own stuff. We don’t play Nirvana or anything, we play our own riffs! We basically rescued Doug from that whole scene as he was in a covers band before. So he was playing crap music and is now playing good music, but he is broke and happy!
Jules: And today he’s headlining the second stage at Doom v Stoner! So what else is in the plan for next year other than releasing the new album?
Alex: We’d love to get out and tour Europe next year. We say that every year but this time it will happen! There will at least be a couple more UK tours next year as well and hopefully our first foray into Europe. We’d love to do some festivals too. Bloodstock would be great again and Simon Hall knows that we want to do that!
Jules: Well I hope all goes well with the album releases and tours guys. Good luck with the set later today too.
Alex: Cheers Jules. Thanks a lot for doing the interview.
Jules Throne 