This past weekend, the writer was mostly alone. I had a lot of time for new discoveries. Witchrider was the one find that kept me up past one in the morning into Sunday. And there was no substance abuse of any kind other than coffee and tobacco. They are self described as a Stoner Rock band from Austria. This band was the perfect prescription for an evening of vibrational bliss. Got them cranked up while writing and their flow is rocking just as well as the other night. This band from Austria is well worth a listen if you like your speakers challenging the house windows vibrational resistance. These fellas are window cracking good.
Excerpt from their Facebook page
Witchrider is a rock group formed in Graz/AUT in 2012 by Michael Hirschmugl, H.P. Leitner and Daniel Dorninger. Before finally settling with the name “Witchrider” they called themselves “Desert Mountain” (after “Desert Sessions” in California). However, they decided that “Witchrider” was a better fit to their musical style. The idea for the band-name was taken from sleep paralysis, which is also known as “riding the witch”.
Their first release “Black” was recorded just a few weeks after their formation in November and was released on the Witchrider EP together with 4 other songs.
The EP and especially “Black” gained airplay on Radio FM4 and Radio Soundportal.
Although Dorninger, Hirschmugl and Leitner recorded all the instruments on the EP, Bernhard Weigl supported them live as the bass player on their first live gig and has been part of the band ever since.
Witchrider have released their first album on Fuzzorama Records in November 2014 (Europe) and in January 2015 world wide.
The first video is the album Unmountable Stairs which can be preordered here. The second video is the EP they released in 2013. The third video is a well done video worth a listen even if just for the effects, but simulated sex acts are present, so be warned.
“He spoke at length of God, of his morning and evening prayers, of his fasts, his vows, his burning desires. He expressed himself very clearly and definitely, there was no hesitation for the right word; his mind was well trained, for his profession demanded it. He was a bright-eyed and alert man, though there was a certain rigidity about him. Obstinacy of purpose and absence of pliability were shown in the way he held his body. He was obviously driven by an extraordinarily powerful will, and though he smiled easily his will was ever on the alert, watchful and dominant. He was very regular in his daily life, and he broke his established habits only by sanction of the will. Without will, he said, there could be no virtue; will was essential to break down evil. The battle between good and evil was everlasting, and will alone held evil at bay. He had a gentle side too, for he would look at the lawn and the gay flowers, and smile; but he never let his mind wander beyond the pattern of will and its action. Though he sedulously avoided harsh words, anger and any show of impatience, his will made him strangely violent. If beauty fitted into the pattern of his purpose, he would accept it; but there always lurked the fear of sensuality, whose ache he tried to contain. He was well read and urbane, and his will went with him like his shadow. Sincerity can never be simple; sincerity is the breeding ground of the will, and will cannot uncover the ways of the self. Self-knowledge is not the product of will; self-knowledge comes into being through awareness of the moment-by moment responses to the movement of life. Will shuts off these spontaneous responses, which alone reveal the structure of the self. Will is the very essence of desire; and to the understanding of desire, will becomes a hindrance. Will in any form, whether of the upper mind or of the deep-rooted desires, can never be passive; and it is only in passivity, in alert silence, that truth can be. Conflict is always between desires, at whatever level the desires may be placed. The strengthening of one desire in opposition to the others only breeds further resistance, and this resistance is will. Understanding can never come through resistance. What is important is to understand desire, and not to overcome one desire by another.” Jiddu Krishnamurti
BB Batez 