All Them Witches

A quartet rooted in Nashville, Tennessee, All Them Witches channel inspirations stretching from Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath through the Sun, Moon & Herbs phase of Dr. John to Junior Kimbrough’s electric Delta swamp blues. Their approach fuses blues-drenched neo-psychedelic rock, stoner metal, and progressive space rock in a self-reliant, immersive style. The group surfaced in 2012 with the independent release Our Mother Electricity. Refining their balance of structured songwriting and expansive grooves, they followed with Sleeping Through the War in 2017 and ATW in 2018 before opening the decade with their sixth album, the widely praised Nothing as the Ideal.

Bassist Charles Michael Parks, Jr. fronts the lineup completed by drummer Robby Staebler, guitarist Ben McLeod, and Allan Van Cleave on Fender Rhodes, organ, and further instruments. Our Mother Electricity became the first American title issued by Germany’s Elektrohasch label. The band promptly delivered the follow-up EP Extra Pleasant, tracked with two microphones straight to cassette. An intense touring regimen helped cultivate an audience that circulated concert recordings among fans. Lightning at the Door appeared as a low-key Bandcamp self-release in early 2014 before Tone Tree Music took over distribution. The recording drew international critical notice while the quartet sustained its road activity, including a series of dates alongside doom rockers Windhand.

Momentum built through high-profile appearances at SXSW and Bonnaroo, coinciding with the reissue of 2014’s Lightning at the Door. The third album took shape in a remote cabin near Pigeon Forge in eastern Tennessee, where the band lived and finished Dying Surfer Meets His Maker in six days; the set arrived at the close of October 2015. An eight-month tour followed, with one March 2016 stop captured for Live in Brussels. The single and video “Bruce Lee” surfaced in November 2016 as a preview to Sleeping Through the War, produced by Dave Cobb and featuring Caitlin Rose and Mickey Raphael.

Allan Van Cleave exited in May 2018, after which the remaining trio recorded ATW, released that September. They tracked Nothing as the Ideal in 2020, and Van Cleave rejoined the group in April 2021. The next year brought several standalone singles plus Live on the Internet, an official document of a 2020 broadcast.