What inspires the band-are you interested in magical and occult subjects?
We don’t consider Mountain Witch an occult band. We may use imagery drawn from the world of the „hidden" but other than that it’s just a theme to play with. I hope we don’t disappoint anyone now.
We’re a heavy rock/ doom band that likes a tad of psychedelics.That’s about it. I have a couple of books about 70s Exploitation movies, Roggmann is developing a fantasy tabletop game with a friend and Tobert just recently discovered the charm of playing Magic cards. That’s how deep we are into the occult. My teens were connected with underground black metal music so maybe this somehow still channels through. Inspirations are drawn from old music and we like to walk in the woods and watch old Arthouse and Science Fiction movies. We also like art to some extent.
When was Mountain Witch formed?
Mr. Roggmann and I formed the band in 2008. I was a bad guitar player and he had a small jazz kit. We played as a duo for quite some time and later on we added a bass player that has been replaced by Tobert Knopp since 2011. In these early days we recorded „Scythe & Dead Horse“ LP which we consider a demo nowadays and the self titled ep which gave us a lot of you-tube plays. In the beginning we wanted to be just slow and heavy.
What is the stoner/doom scene like currently in Germany?
There’s a couple of bands around that make good music. Does Kadavar need any introduction? Probally a lot of you guys also have heard of Obelyskkh? Like the fact Thorsten and his boys is going to play Roadburn this year. I’m not a big scene guy but i would like to mention a few bands either because they are friends or i like their music: Heat from Berlin, Orcus Chylde from Aschaffenburg, Shakhtyor & The Moth & Rodha Hamburg gang. Watch out for Black Salvation, Wucan and Travelin Jack. Not to speak of the wall shaking band that is Black Shape of Nexus.
Whom are some of your favorite bands, Rene?
We are all into lot’s of different styles. There is only good or bad music. I enjoy SubRosa, Boards of Canada, Pentagram, Uncle Acid, Ash Borer, Bo Hansson, Mort Garson, Godspeed and so on.. Roggmann enjoys Manilla Road, Legend and other proto metal at the moment. Tobert is always into something but was lately hooked by Bosnian Rainbows and by the latest Motorpsycho record.
Any live dates planned for the year?
Yes! We will play live for the first time since 3 years. We’ll do 6 dates in march and another one in april. We get asked to play a lot of times but most of the time i have to decline it because our bassplayer is in another band that is way bigger and he earns his money with them so it’s not always possible. I also have a job that demands me on weekends. We recently got added to KKT Booking and when time allows we’d love to do shows.
What are you doing when not recording or practicing?
Sharing time with my girlfriend, Tobert spends time with his girlfriend and his two kids, Roggmann will become father in may and besides that we like to hike, read, watch movies and hang out with friends.
What lies in the band's future?
Only future can tell i guess. We will write new songs, go out and play some concerts. Besides that we will do a collaboration with Münster based KOLOSS Skateboards, release a new 7“ soon and when time is right and the songs are good we will enter the studio again.
Thanks for the interview John. We want to say thank you to all friends, Christian Smukal and Martin from Rückkopplung Vintage Music Store/ Rental Hamburg, Chris and ThisCharmingMan Records, Hauke Albrecht for making the record what it is, Emil Ahlman for the Artwork, Etnies and Cole Mathews from Element who hooked us up with some nice shoes and clothing.
Best - Rene Sitte (guitar player)
Interview By John Wisniewski
Bandcamp