Peterborough trio The Wytches released their debut album Annabel Dream Reader this week (25 August). The record, co-produced by Bill Ryder Jones, caps several years of hard work, including a lot of touring up-and-down the UK and to mark their time on the road bassist Dan Rumsey has made Q a Playlist of “Bands that blew us away live”. “We’ve been on the road for around two years now and we’ve played with and watched a lot of bands,” he explains. “Here is a list of some of their songs that blew us away or were particularly inspiring to us.”
Metz – Negative Space
“I’d say Metz are like our cool older brothers, who are also much better than us. We’ve watched them live so many times now and they keep improving with each show. Negative space live is incredible to watch. Each of the guys have their own moves and they are just slaying it.”
Traams – Klaus
“We met Traams on the Brighton circuit originally. Then opened the London Drenge show too earlier in the year at the Scala. They hold your attention and this song is over seven minutes which is testament to their craft. Our tour manager told us once they played only two songs live and an extended version of Klaus was one of them.”
Radkey – Out Here In My Head
“Caught these guys live at Best Kept Secret festival. This song stayed in my head a long time after. It’s so early Misfits it hurts, in a good way. They are leading the way in this genre.”
Blood Red Shoes – Light It Up
“We toured Europe with them which was incredible for us being fairly new to long hauls at the time. On the last night in Amsterdam they asked us to sing Light It Up onstage with them. It was a great moment at the end of a memorable tour. Half the audience invaded the stage too. Awesome times.”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
“We were lucky enough to catch the Bad Seeds live in San Francisco on the 7 July. Nick Cave is always such a commanding presence to behold while he’s performing. He ended the set with Push The Sky Away then just walked off. It was a perfect ending, we said he should have left it there but he did a great encore anyway. That whole record is possibly one of the best of last year.”
Pulled Apart By Horses – High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive
“I know it’s obvious to do one of a bands biggest songs but honestly this song live is incredible. Every night of the tour, Tom would be in the crowd during this one. Either in the pit, crowd surfing, on the bar or on a table. It’s full of energy and people went wild for it.”
Claw Marks – Soul Food
“We’ve played a few shows with these guys and they supported us on New Years eve 2013. This song stands out in the set. There’s a great sing along bit in the middle before it goes mental for the crowd (and a drunk us) to chant along to.”
Kagoule – It Knows It
“Kagoule are one of my favourite new bands. Their songwriting is light years ahead a lot of young bands around at the moment, even more established bands. The guitar and bass tones in this song are very 90s and remind me of early Placebo records of the time that I was into. Kagoule supported us on a few dates of our February headline tour this year.”
God Damn – Red Checker
“This song is like an assault, and live it is even more intense. We’ve watched God Damn a few times now… They stole our limelight in Birmingham when they supported us. A tough act to follow.”
Chelsea Wolfe – Flatlands
“We supported Chelsea Wolfe in London in the early days of the band. She mesmerising to watch. This song particularly, is beautifully written and has an interesting message. Her set evolved from an acoustic set to start with then she added a few more band members which eventually ended in a full on metal band. It was great.”
For more head to Thewytches.com
