Moth Club, Hackney
"Let people be free!"
After decades divorced from the scene, the glorified Zamrock band WITCH return to reignite their beloved psych-rock sounds amidst a 3-show residency at Hackney's Moth Club.
During the prosperous, turned turbulent, post-independence days of Zambia during the 1970’s, WITCH pronounced themselves as the apex in the country’s rebellious, liberating affront felt at the time (including their apt acronym: We Intend To Cause Havoc). Whilst many other acts fanned their wings within this period, very few across the African continent can still justify their claim to still hold such recognition. Alongside a renewed piqued interest in such proto-punk, garage-rock bands over the last decade or so (including The NY Times’ revival of Death), WITCH ultimately made their comeback: releasing their first studio LP in nearly 40 years, Zango, receiving widespread acclaim.
Armed with a renewed vim and vigour, as well as an extensive line-up on-stage tonight, the band’s founding leaders, Emmanuel "Jagari" Chanda and Patrick Mwondela, beam with an effervescent brightness as they wade through the crowd in their entrance. Imminent intermingling between lingering guitar lines, steady drums and hazy synth keys re-introduce us to Zamrock’s yesteryears. Influenced by the Western world’s omnipresent likes of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the stoic genre pours through the crowd and injects anticipatory excitement through their incessant wailings (“Cry, cry, we don’t have to cry”).
The cramped quarters of Moth Club transpire into this evening’s sweatbox as WITCH delve into the aforementioned recent material, leaving the crowd relentlessly perspiring to their refined repertoire of late. ‘Waile’ reaches across a range of upbeat emotions caught within a frenetic psych-rock aura, whilst ‘Unimvwesha Shuga’ and ‘By the Time You Realize’ acquire a more disco/funk-driven approach, acquiring the drummer and percussionist’s jostling rhythms to ignite a dance-fuelled arousal.
Whilst the remainder of tonight’s insightful set into Zamrock’s glorified past continues through their acoustic-recited hits (‘It’s Alright’, ‘Chifundo’), it’s Chanda and Mwondela’s enchantingly optimistic pining which beseeches the crowd’s consciousness. Beyond the upbeat repertoire of WITCH’s music, Chanda connects with the audience throughout: pronouncing “Let people be free”, offering us sporadic cowbell strikes, ferociously hi-fiving the crowd at their exit. For the encore, the crowd dance and sing along together with the utmost conviction; as if caught in a hyped-up fever akin to one of James Brown’s rambunctious outings.
For who truly knows when we’ll acquire another chance to see such a shimmeringly bright spark burst back onto the rock-inspired scene from this era. Although some of their material has aged significantly better than other parts, WITCH’s continued aura (no doubt bolstered by their seismic entourage tonight) surges with an eclectic swirl of sounds stricken from the beloved scenes of psych-rock, garage-rock and even disco and funk. Where many others have fallen to the wayside since their genesis over 50 years ago, Chanda and Mwondela’s adored band continues to this day: the triumphant flag bearers of Zamrock.
7/10
WITCH's latest LP, Zango, is out now via Partisan Records and can be found below.
Photo is courtesy of Janie Jones whose work can be found here.
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