Witchskull (ACT)
Smoke Witch

At 7pm on Easter Sunday, Geelong’s Medusa bar opened its doors to a crowd ready for a night of stoner doom following the public holiday. I spent some time hanging out in town with my friends, before leaving the group with Zi to go to the venue.

We made it to the bar in the later half of the hour, but in time to catch both bands. Starting at 8:00, local Geelong band Smoke Witch played their set first, a doomy, groove-heavy stoner rock performance. Originally formed as a two-piece with just drums and guitar, the band’s lineup now features four members.

Their immersive and textural sound featured a deep and gritty bass which covered most of the songs’ melody, while the thin yet crushing guitar tone cut through the mix to contribute to a thick soundscape, almost reminiscent of howling wind.

The second and final band of the night, Canberra trio Witchskull, played next at 9:00. Their set went for nearly an hour, delivering a thick and heavy classic occult doom sound. From the start of the performance, their music sounded massive, with dense, sometimes sludgy riffs played at a low tempo. The guitar work, while largely riff-focused, was also very technical at times with some impressively intricate tapping and sweep picking solos.

Guitarist and vocalist Marcus De Pasquale’s singing was also very cool, vibrato-heavy wailing with occasional screams of anguish which combined with their occult lyricism to add a ritualistic atmosphere to their act. As their set finished, they leaned heavier into experimentation with a droning finale that saw both the bass and guitar downtuning in a rhythmic pulse along to the drums, to near crushingly low static.

After the show had ended, Zi and I spoke to Witchskull members Marcus, Joel (drums) and Tony (bass) outside the bar. They were all so lovely and kind, although Tony’s thick Brooklyn accent caught me a little off guard. We talked about the importance of young people in music and keeping smaller scenes alive.

Overall this was a really fun night. Thanks for coming with me Zi! Also shoutout to the guy who I met in an alley in Geelong who told me I should come to this.

photos from the night (click to expand)