{"id":303,"date":"2016-12-21T06:21:08","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T06:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fiddlewitch.com\/?p=303"},"modified":"2016-12-21T06:21:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T06:21:45","slug":"could-fiddle-witch-and-the-demons-of-doom-conjure-up-a-grammy-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fiddlewitch.com\/?p=303","title":{"rendered":"Could Fiddle Witch and The Demons of Doom Conjure Up a Grammy Bid?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 6 a.m.
\nBy Jesse Sendejas Jr.<\/p>\n

—
\nAt Public Services Wine & Whisky, we\u2019re talking elevators and other vehicles of ascension with members of Fiddle Witch and the Demons of Doom. It\u2019s an appropriate subject for the band, whose star is rising with the news it is in contention for a Grammy Award nomination for its latest single, \u201cMidnight Mayhem.\u201d The song was released in June by the act\u2019s label, Domo Music Group, and a stirring video for the track followed on Halloween. Band members Jo Bird and Spike the Percussionist met with us to toast the moment and its thrilling possibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, from what I understand, the record labels submit all their stuff. Our record label submitted 20 or so things \u2014 singles and albums. The Grammys review all that stuff and then they send back what made it through the door,\u201d says Spike, the band\u2019s animated and gregarious drummer. \u201cWe\u2019ve made it in the door of the building; that means we\u2019re listed. We\u2019re in the elevator. Now, if we could get off the elevator, then we\u2019re nominated. If we make it past the velvet rope, then we\u2019ve won.\u201d
\nPulled together by violist and founding member Bird, whose other projects include Two Star Symphony and I Am Mesmer, the power trio had its debut concert at Rudyard\u2019s in May 2014. Last year, it won Best New Act at the Houston Press Music Awards. Bird says only recently did it adopt \u201cBattle Metal\u201d as an accurate description for its eclectic blend of classical, world and metal music.
\nThe rise to these lofty heights might appear swift. Each member of the trio, also including bassist\/guitarist Geoffrey Muller (who is absent this night), is a veteran Houston musician with multiple projects. Muller is a regular player with acts such as Robert Ellis, Craig Kinsey and Kelly Doyle. Spike’s projects include Unified Space and Morgue City. This Friday, Bird will sit in as a special guest with the Honky Tonk Blood Brothers at MATCH.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have a different background, we\u2019ve all played many different types of music, so we\u2019re all very versatile,\u201d says Bird. \u201cClassical really was there first, and it made its way into modern music and eventually metal music. Growing up, listening to metal music, I just loved it. It was in my bones. When I started playing here in Houston, composing for orchestral pieces, it all just made sense.\u201d
\nMaybe it made sense to her, but even music-industry veterans are being taken aback by the sound. The group recorded \u201cMidnight Mayhem\u201d with Ulrich Wild, who has produced music by heavy hitters such as Pantera and Jane\u2019s Addiction.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Spike the Percussionist and Jo Bird, with Bird’s canine companion, Edith – Houston Press Photo by Jesse Sendejas Jr.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAs a producer there are few situations as rewarding and exciting as being able to deliver something new to the public. \u2018Midnight Mayhem\u2019 is the ultimate marriage of classical and metal and world styles,” Wild says via press release. “There is no real precedent for Fiddle Witch and the Demons of Doom; they were truly one of a kind and a joy to work with. I am very proud of the band and very proud of this track.\u201d
\n\u201cHis laundry list of bands is incredible. Recording with Ulrich was amazing, but also it has the notoriety \u2013 he\u2019s actually won a Grammy with a Deftones track, eight years ago,\u201d Spike says.<\/p>\n

The song was co-written by the trio and features vocals, an anomaly for Fiddle Witch songs. Former Houstonian and Los Angeles-based singer Jesse Lynn Madera collaborated with the group. Her mesmerizing incantations over the Romani-tinged metal make the track spine-tingling. Bird calls it \u201cear candy\u201d compared to the Valkyrian journeys on the band\u2019s eponymous debut album.
\nThe band felt the video should reflect the song and shot footage for it over the past year, partially at Spike\u2019s studio, The Noiz Temple, and with Madera, a friend of the band, filming her parts in California. It\u2019s mysterious and beguiling. The music is cinematic and suits the scenes, which include all the band members, Madera, Bird\u2019s incredibly nimble work on the viola and other bewitching imagery.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s eye candy,\u201d Bird admits.<\/p>\n

Whether at Numbers, House of Blues\u2019 Foundation Room, Rudyard\u2019s or Nightingale Room, the band collects fans who are appreciative of how they\u2019re pushing the Houston music envelope in interesting directions.
\n\u201cWe have everything from a hardcore death metal guy to a soccer mom loving it,\u201d Spike says. He said some appreciate the technical aspect of the music, the crazy time signatures Bird dreams up and Spike and Muller expand upon, but said, \u201cIt\u2019s written in a way where it doesn\u2019t lose the ordinary listener.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the band defies labels, it might be seen as weird. It did, in fact, earn a 2016 HPMA nomination as Houston\u2019s favorite \u201cWeird\u201d act. The band was flattered, naturally.
\n\u201cI was all giddy,\u201d Spike says.
\n\u201cWe are weird in the sense that it\u2019s a viola, bass and drums and it\u2019s usually instrumental except for this one single. So, it\u2019s weird. It is weird,\u201d Bird agrees. \u201cI guess when I started this I thought, okay, I\u2019m going to do a metal band with viola as the lead and it\u2019ll be different. So, then, it was like what kind of metal? There are like a million different genres and this new song is totally different. When you\u2019re in the business and you\u2019re up for nominations and all these things and you\u2019re writing your bio, you have to know what you are \u2014 and I hate that. But we figured out that we\u2019re battle metal.\u201d
\n\u201cThe music, to me, is the witchcraft. Music is like a spell, so we\u2019re kind of casting a spell onto you with our music,\u201d Bird continues. \u201cI do have my rituals. I have an altar and I wrote the bare bones of the music, the skeleton, in a tiny apartment that overlooks Poison Girl\u2019s parking lot in Montrose.\u201d
\nBird says there are candles, incense and bones from her family\u2019s west Texas ranch on the altar. The music is written in the dark to evoke the spellbinding mood present in songs like the new one and those found on the debut album.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd,\u201d Bird notes, raising her glass for one more toast, \u201cof course, there\u2019s wine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final Grammy nominations will be announced December 6.<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

See the original Houston Press post here:<\/p>\n

Houston Press Interviews Fiddle Witch and the Demons of Doom!<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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