All Them Witches and New Madrid at the Turf Club, St Paul (19 December 2015)

Tour Dates

I was completely captivated by Allan Van Cleave’s amazing piano skills. It was nice to see a band where, even though the piano parts weren’t the biggest part of the songs, you could still hear every note and truly appreciate Allan’s talent.

Robby Staebler was a complete beast on the drum set. Even though the music seemed a bit ambient at times, Robby was pounding the crap out of those drums but didn’t let it become too overwhelming. He was the first drummer I’ve ever who turned the snares off on his snare drum during quiet parts of songs or when he wasn’t playing. That doesn’t sound like anything special but it truly added to the amazing musicianship throughout the set.

Guitarist Ben McLeod seemed to cling to the shadows of the stage for the set. He didn’t move around much and he didn’t pull much attention to himself until you realized what he was doing. There were amazing, detailed guitar riffs coming out of his amp but, like I said, you would have no clue because he did it from the shadows. Usually I hate this, I hate great musicians who refuse to make themselves known while on stage but last night it worked perfectly. No one in the band tried to stand out. It was almost as if they took the stage thinking they would just be background music…. but they weren’t.

Singer/ bassist Charles Michael Parks, Jr. commanded the crowd from the second he stepped onto the stage. Although his vocals left a little to be desired as they were hard to hear and few and far between, his skills on the bass were immeasurable. His southern swagger was alive and well. He came off as a true southern gentleman when he would quietly, yet sincerely, thank the packed house for coming out.

All Them Witches was on tour promoting their newest album Dying Surfer Meets His Maker but they played songs from all of their releases and a few brand spanking new ones.

I’ve never really understood what it means for music to be “textural” but I think I get it now after listening to New Madrid. There were layers upon layers in their music even though they were only a four piece group. It sounded like there were at least twelve musicians on that stage but in actuality, it was just the four of them.

New Madrid are out on the road to promote their 2014 release on Normaltown Records, Sunswimmer. Make sure you keep your eye on these guys. They are due for a new album and I’m sure it will be nothing short of amazing.