Today, All Them Witches - Ben McLeod (guitarist), Charles Michael Parks, Jr. (bass/vocals), Christian Powers (drums), and Allan Van Cleave (keys)- share their new song “Red Rocking Chair”, the first single the band will be releasing with BMG. The song marks the first new music with the band’s new lineup, and sees All Them Witches refashion a bluegrass standard into a haunting and hypnotic transmission, the perfect intro to their new chapter.
“I’ve actually been listening to ‘Red Rocking Chair’ since I was a kid,” says Parks. “Usually, it’s done in a traditional bluegrass style. Ben had the riff, and it made me start singing those lyrics. We used to play bluegrass at after-show parties, in stairwells, and on the streets sometimes. So, ‘Red Rocking Chair’ ties into our old time-y rough touring days.”
“Hopefully, it retains some of our core stoner doom fans,” adds Ben, “I wrote the riff and the wiggly verse part with the intention that Parks would actually sing those ‘Red Rocking Chair’ lyrics over them. He didn’t know it at first, but he wasn’t going to be allowed to say, ‘No’ [Laughs]. Live, we play our song ‘Swallowed By The Sea’ every now and then, and Parks would sub out the “Red Rocking Chair” lyrics at shows. Fans had always asked about it, and I thought it should finally be its own song.”
About All Them Witches:
You’ll find All Them Witches on the outskirts. This collective of creative outliers have never followed a pre-trodden path or comfortably fit into an existing scene or style. Instead, the band reside at an elusive crossroads where clouds of slow-burning meditative distortion soak up strains of stratospheric psychedelia, out-of-body blues, and thundering no-frills hard rock. The quartet—Charles Michael Parks, JR. [bass, vocals], Ben McLeod [guitar, vocals], Allan Van Cleave [piano, keys, violin], and Christian Powers [drums]—astrally amplify arresting melodies across an ever-evolving landscape, balancing extremes of blunt heaviness and melodic weightlessness, mythos and magic, and dark and light. The group first materialized out of Nashville, TN during 2012. Their organic progression manifested throughout fan favorite releases, including Our Mother Electricity [2012], Lightning at the Door [2013], Dying Surfer Meets His Maker [2015], Sleeping Through the War [2017], and ATW [2018]. They reached a critical high watermark on Nothing as the Ideal [2020]. In a “9.0” review, The Line of Best Fit raved, “Nothing Is The Ideal is their greatest achievement to date.” Classic Rock hailed it as “a dark, enticing feast for the senses,” and Paste christened it “a steady mix of gloom and acceptance.” Beyond gracing the stages of festivals a la Bonnaroo, Pukkelpop, and more, they packed houses on headline tours and hit the road with the likes of Mastodon, Primus, and Ghost.