Housecore Horror Festival 2014 was this amazing entity of a festival that opened us up to new music, and allowed us to meet and talk to some of our favourites.  Acid Witch, have long been a favourite of the Graveyard, perfect music for getting super baked to or just playing really loudly on a Sunday morning to scare the church goers that gather at the church next door.

The dudes in Acid Witch are cool as fuck, chill guys who spoke to us at Housecore about witches, LSD, and what Housecore means to them.  Join me.

Robin Goodfellow:  So tell us who you are and what you do.

Slasher Dave:  We are Acid Witch and we play music.

RG:  So tell us about the concept of Acid Witch, for our readers that don’t know.

Shagrat:  The concept of Acid Witch..

*random dude screaming in the background – “FOR YOUR READERS THAT DONT KNOW ACID WITCH FUCKING ROCKS”*

S:  Yeah..  well there ya go you know, you can have a quote in there as some guy..  some random..  I think though it just originally started out as kind of a goofy side project with me and Dave and we wanted to write a bunch of songs about Halloween and witches and be kinda just cartoony.  I don’t think we ever really saw it going anywhere you know, we were just maybe gonna do a demo we thought, and maybe people from Michigan would be into it.  We got an offer from Razorback Records to do a full length and took it and it just kinda went from there.

SD:  The first album has Lasse from Hooded Menace singing on it, on Witchtanic, and that album sold out, it did really good and I think it was Pentagram in Detroit that got us wanting to play live a bit, and it was kind of impossible because Lasse is in Sweden..  uh..  Finland.  So, we sort of decided to cut Lasse, because Acid Witch wasnt really a band band, it was just kind of me and Shagrat wanting to record and it turned into Mike Tough right there and at the Pentagram show we recruited him and Charlie to play the drums and that kinda got us a little more into band mode..  We did that show and we got up to what we kinda sing about you know..

S:  Being stoners and watching horror movies.

RG:  Yeah fuck yeah, I got your STONED TO THE GRAVE pin here on my vest somewhere.

SD:  Yeah man, that’s basically our life so we slacked off and then decided to do a second album and it turned out and we are working on a third album right now.

RG:  Oooh..  when can we expect a third album.

SD:  Next year.  Expect crazy fingers Magic Mike over here to bring some crazy solos.

RG:  Holy shit.  My body is ready.  So your first live show was with Pentagram..  what was that like?

S:  One of my all time favourite bands.  I like everything they have done, from their 70s stuff, all the way up to their 90s albums and stuff, and their 2000s albums..

Mike Tuff:  Fuck we were just talking about that.

SD:  Yeah on the ride over here we were blasting that shit.

S:  Having the oppurtunity to open for them live was just..  We had that oppurtunity to open for them again you know after years of obvious drug abuse and problems with that, and the first tour they did in 2009 and we had a chance to get on that show and we pulled some other members from other bands, to get it together..  like our drummer Charlie plays in my other band Shitfucker and then Mike we have known for years and he plays in some other bands, and we have played with the same live line up ever since and we will probably record with these guys for the third album and get a little bit of a different dimension you know?

SD:  I think it’s also going to be technically a first studio album because me and Tim have done everything DIY, we record everything ourselves, we do all of our art, everything ourselves.

RG:  Wait, you guys did all of the album art?

SD:  Yeah, he did all of the art.  *pointing to Shagrat*  Those are his paintings.

RG:  Holy shit, those witches are so awesome.  I appreciate that.

S:  That’s the element we want in the band right?  We aren’t really careerists, we aren’t one of those bands that are out here trying to get on package tours and stuff..  even being here, we are fans.  Like, I’m a fan first and foremost.  I get to see bands that we like, and we get here and I go into the lounge room and there’s Arnie from Napalm Death you know?  Corporate Death from Macabre and stuff..  Bands that I have grown up listening to..

SD:  Voivod.

S:  Yeah, Voivod..  and I’m here going..  “Whoa, hey man, can I get a picture?”  I like to just kinda have total control over our project and we are just fans doing what we wanna do and we are lucky enough that people like it.

SD:  And if you listen to the music, listen to the lyrics, you can just tell that we are fans you know, first and foremost.

RG:  Absolutely.

SD:  We sing about shit that we like you know.

RG:  Totally, I really dig listening to you guys when I am writing for the site.  I’m usually black out drunk and my writing playlist has tended to be Acid Witch and Skeleton Witch.  My two favourite witches.

S:  That’s fuckin sweet.  A couple of Midwestern bands, Michigan and Ohio.

RG:  What do you guys think of Housecore, you had mentioned before just chilling out with people you had looked up to, being fans, so what’s this all been like for you?

Mike Tuff:  I really have to give a shout out to all the volunteers and staff here, because I don’t think I’ve ever been treated this well.  Everybody has just been really fucking cool..

S:  I think a  lot of that has to do with Phil Anselmo being a musician.  He’s been on the road a lot and he knows what its like, knows what its like to live out of the back of a van.  The production staff here has been great.  Everything has been coordinated really well, even in comparison to bigger festivals.  We have done Maryland Death Fest and it fucking sucked compared to this..  There’s no hospitality, no green room, no beers for bands, no food, the stage set ups are band, people don’t know what they’re doing..  They don’t have the things you need on stage for when you’re playing..  Everyone is stressed out and this has been so stress free, everyone has been super cool.  It’s been great.

RG:  Would you rather play here?

SD:  Fuck yeah.  Anyday.

RG:  So, how did you get involved with Housecore?

SD:  It was through fans of ours who work on the fest, and they asked us.

RG:  Like Justin Giallo?

S:  Yeah, Justin is a fan of ours and our friend.

SD:  He’s the one who got us on the bill, he’s super cool and we talk on facebook and he messaged me one day asking if we wanted to play it, and I ran it by..  and I’m glad we fucking did this shit, because we get here you know and its awesome.  Being on the road is fucking shitty and we come here and we are eating three meals a day..  more than that probably, for free, drinking free beer..

S:  And I will venture to say that between the four of us in this band, we are probably the biggest, nerdiest horror movie fans of probably any band here, so..  I mean, that’s a huge part of my life outside of music, is film, and that aspect you know is a no brainer.

RG:  Did you see any films here?

S:  Unfortunately I haven’t really had the time yet, but we are gonna go watch Rocktober Blood.  There’s a couple things we wanted to see but it just didn’t work out what with us working and all that shit.  I really wanted to see American Guinea Pig that premiered on Friday..

RG:  I know!  I missed it too!

S:  I’m a big fan of all those guys..  Steven Biro, Marcus Koch and Jim Van Bebber.

RG:  Oh we love Marcus.  Did you see any cool acts or remarkable sets?

S:  Fuck I thought Neurosis was so incredible.  The music was so loud you could just feel it going into your chest you know?

MT:  Gwar was great.  I didn’t know what to expect after Oderus died.  Dave Brockie RIP.  I thought it was hilarious the way they worked in his death into the set, it was just perfect.  The whole “Resurrect him with what he loves the most” and the heroin needles and crack rocks..

S:  They’re still ribbing him from beyond the grave and I really think he would get that.

RG:  Well you’ve gotta have a sense of humor about it, right?  If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

S:  I think Oderus would approve.  Voivod was good.

RG:  What about Portal, did you catch them?  What did you think?

S:  Pummelling.

MT:  Yeah I caught them when they did their appearance at MDF in like 2008/2009 and it was the same thing, just this bludgeoning wall of noise and cacophonous riffs.

RG:  Okay, so our last question..  So, our blog is called Drunk in a Graveyard, and we sit around getting wasted and watching horror movies, you guys would fit right in..  So, favourite horror movie, and the alcoholic drink to go with it..  or you know..  other stuff.

SD:  Mike you should take this first.

MT:  I don’t know man..  first thing that’s popping into my mind.  I really like Dead and Buried and I dunno man..  Shitty union beer, PBR.  Old style.

S:  I would have to say, I dunno if it’s really horror..  I don’t even know if it would count, because it’s a short but My Sweet Satan by Jim Van Bebber.

RG:  YES!!

S:  it’s probably one of my favourite uh..  all of Jim’s work.  Jim is actually probably my favourite director of all time.  A lot of his stuff doesn’t necessarily fall into the horror category but you know there’s horrific elements.

RG:  My Sweet Satan almost made me puke last year at this festival, so that’s really remarkable.

S:  Yeah.  Jim is just this larger than life character and uh..  with that movie, what you gotta do, you obviously have to drink a lot of booze but you gotta drop some LSD too.  Favourite straight horror movie of all time though would have to be Phantasm.

MT:  Ah fuck, I didn’t even think about that.

S:  What’s a good Phantasm drink?  I dunno.

MT:  Something to get you hard as love.

S:  Yeah I dunno..  some bourbon, Jim Beam.  Rye.  Just get loaded.

SD:  I’m gonna have to go with Halloween 2.  I love Halloween, I’m a huge fan of the first movie.  I can literally say I’ve seen that movie more than 300 times.  I can fall asleep to that movie, I’ve seen it a ridiculous amount of times.  Halloween 2 always seemed to step it up like a hundred notches, in terms of production and special effects and gore.  There’s no gore in part one.  I’m not gonna actually say a drink, because I’m not really a big drinker, but this is a fucking..  I’m having fun tonight, so I’m gonna say me and my fucking bong watching Halloween 2.  I’ll drink the bong water as my fucking drink.

S:  Dude, seriously this question could like, go on for ever and ever.

RG:  Well we have gotten some interesting answers for sure.  Yours were great.  That’s it, that’s all.

We really want to thank the dudes in Acid Witch for being cool as fuck and speaking to us. If you haven’t already, you need to go purchase some of their music and merch and pack a bong and get ready for some awesome witch trippy vibes.