interview by Guitar Doug - photo by Mike Rhine

Members of Drop Six and Helle’s Belles merge into a killer new Seattle band. One of the more promising and popular new bands on the Seattle rock music scene is Witchburn. The newly formed band has sparked much interest and an instant following due in large part to the line-up which is a merge of two well known rock bands. Witcbburn consists of most of the members of Drop Six with the addition of the lead singer for the AC/DC all female tribute band Helle’s Belles, Jamie Nova.

The Witchburn set was obviously well rehearsed, mistake free and 100% professional from beginning to end. It was obvious the band was made up of musicians who had been around the business a long time and who had put quite a bit of time into the songwriting, rehearsal, and stage presentation of the band. I predict Witchburn is going to be as big, if not bigger, than Drop Six which had a huge following by the time the band called it quits.

The members of Witchburn are all well known players with extensive musical resumes in the rock music business. Witchburn consists of the following members who come from various backgrounds in the rock industry.

Jamie Nova is the lead singer of Witchburn. She has sang lead vocals for the all female AC /DC Tribute band Hell’s Belles for the past two years. She replaced Hell’s Belle’s original singer Om Johari. Before moving to the Northwest, she sang with an unsigned band in Denver, Colorado. The microphone she prefers to use is the SHURE SM-58 series in live situations. Her vocal sound with Witchburn is obviously different than her work with Helle’s Belles, and I would suggest checking out the witchburn myspace page to hear it.

Mischa Kianne plays guitar and violin in Witchburn. She previously played in the bands Drop Six, Buku Fungi, Dysfunktion and many other bands in California. Over the years, she has been a guest guitarist and violinist with numerous projects, both live and in the studio. Her heavy sound is generated by a Gibson Les Paul Standard electric guitar run through a Marshall JCM 2000 head and a Marshall 1960B 4x12 Cabinet. She also uses a Morley Bad Horsey, Boss DD-3 delay pedal, and a Boss TU-2 tuner pedal. Her guitar work with Witchburn is excellent, but it was her electric violin work during the set that blew us all away. The violin fit perfectly with the vibe and mood of the music in which it was played which is not an easy task to accomplish in this genre of music.

Jacy Peckham is the other guitarist for Witchburn. This is the first project where Jacy has opted for guitar playing over bass guitar, and he pulls it off flawlessly. Jacy was the bass player for Drop Six, Smegma Breath, The Adverts, Dysfunktion, and Buku Fungi. He has also worked in countless live and studio situations with other musical projects. The equipment Jacy is using in Withburn is a Gibson custom SG electric guitar with EMG pickups, Mesa Boogie Tremoverb head, MESA 4x12 cabinet, and a BOSS TU-2 tuner pedal. His style with Witchburn is focused on weaving in and out of interesting and complicated guitar riffs that are crisp and clean. Mischa and Jacy often play the same complicated riffs in unison which showcases the playing abilty of the pair, as well as how well rehearsed each and every guitar part is.

Jessica Bos is the bass guitar player for Witchburn. She was previously the lead singer and bassist in the band Flasque, with drummer Tory McKeag; Tory, by the way, is now in heavy metal band Burning of I. Jessica was also bass player and part-time vocalist in the stoner metal band Tranquilized until she left in 2007 to focus solely on Witchburn. Jessica’s sound with Witchburn is generated by Gibson Thunderbird IV bass guitar run through an Ampeg SVP-CL preamp, Mackie 1400i poweramp and an Ampeg 6x10 Bass Cabinet. She uses a Korg DTR-1000 rackmount tuner, a Morley Bass Wah pedal. The other bass guitars she uses with Witchburn as back-ups are an Ibanez SR-900 and an ESP F-204. Her stage precense is powerful as anyone I have seen play, and her bass parts are executed mistake free.

Matt Bos is the drummer for Witchburn. He has been the drummer for many well known Seattle area bands including Drop Six, Laced, The Josh Williamson Band and GAW. Throughout High School, Matt played in many bands in Mississippi prior to moving to Seattle. The drum kit Matt is currently using with Witchburn is a Tama Starclassic Maple series. The set consists of a 24” bass drum, 14” snare drum, 12”, 14”, 16” toms, and is surrounded by Zildjian cymbals. All drum hardware and stands are by DW. Matt is a must see drummer for drummers and those who admire drums. His timing is perfect and he incorporates both standard rock drum fills with unusual fills and rhythmic patterns he has created himself. The maple drums he plays have a warm, heavy tone and are why Tama designed this type of set for a particular type of playing situation. For this particular band, the Starclassic set sounds killer and worked perfectly with the acoustics at El Corazon.

Witchburn is now on myspace and has posted music, band and club date information there. I personally love the band because they are playing music that I love to listen to. I also know that with the line-up and with the amount of time they have put into making this a pro act, Witchburn is going to be one of Seattle’s biggest bands in the upcoming months and we assume years.

Take a listen to the bands music on myspace, and please check them out the at their next show. With all the bands out there that don’t take what they do seriously, it’s great to see a band who does and is able to deliver a flawless show that makes an audience feel they got more than their money’s worth.

Witchburn can be found at www.myspace.com/witchburn.