Colby Hink from Wormwitch: An Interview
Wormwitch are a band from Vancouver, British Columbia.
(photo credit: Lucien Xavier)
Weirding: I know you've said that you pounded out the vocals in a single session and that it was very DIY. Give me more color on that. How this was different from past experiences?
Colby Hink: This was actually the first time we’ve recorded vocals ourselves since our demo. We really wanted to have an open and laid back approach to the vocal tracking, so we decided to record them just Robin — who's on bass and vocals — and I at our practice space in East Vancouver. We share a small but comfortable practice space with some other great local bands near the port. We just got in there with some weed and some beers and Robin nailed the vocals in one weekend. I know he likes to wait until the last minute to write vocals and lyrics because he likes it to be spontaneous and unplanned — and I think this has become an important aspect of our sound.
Weirding: Let's talk about the intro on the new album. Often when bands provide an intro, they sound sort of different than the rest of the album and the shift to the album is rather jarring. One of the things I love about the way you approached it is that the intro itself is moody and complex and has that wavering detune going on and then you fade out and into the first song proper. The effect is very cinematic and cohesive.
Colby: The order and cohesion of songs on an album is really important to us. I think in today’s age of single-focused release campaigns, bands have a responsibility to continue to make great albums for those who still live by the old ways.
Weirding: I can get behind that.
Colby: I think “the album” — as the main piece of artistic output — is what rock and metal fans want and it’s the format that suits the music the best. So with that in mind, short ambient songs and different sorts of tracks are part of the recipe for us. And I like them being their own separate tracks so you have the option to skip them. I hate when a great song has three minutes of boring ambience attached to the beginning that I’d rather just skip.
Weirding: I've read stuff talking about your approach as anti-authority, anti-state, and anti-religion. At the risk of asking you to produce a dissertation on the spot, I'm interested in how you define authority.
Colby: Without getting into specific politics, our band has always stood for individuality and liberation. Our lyrics have always concerned empowerment of the self and exaltation of the mind. Organized religion, the government state, any force of power that stands to benefit from public subjugation is our enemy. I feel that this is the core of Black Metal, Punk, and Rock and Roll as a whole. In life we’re constantly assaulted by marketing and media that tells us how to behave and think, and our music encourages the listener to defy and rise above.
Weirding: Tell me about Vancouver. As a person who's never visited and who may want to tour there sometime, what should I know about the city and its music and music venues?
Colby: The city is great, but we’re suffering from a shortage of venues. Things don’t feel like they’ve entirely opened up since the COVID lockdowns, so half of the venues that used to exist are still absent. There’s always been very few places to play — and I’ve almost never played a DIY house gig that the police didn’t shut down. But that said, it’s a great city full of great people. I’ve only been living here for about two years and it feels like home.
Weirding: Shifting back to the music on the album to close us out here... "The Crimson Proof" really stands out sonically. Coming as it does in the middle of the album it sort of plays a similar role to the intro track. And it makes me interested in what your non-Metal musical interests are. I can hear some dark folk and some film-oriented music in those pieces on the album, but I'm interested more broadly in what music you listen to when you aren't listening to heavy music.
Colby: Everyone in the band listens to all sorts of stuff. Medieval and traditional European folk music has always been an influence as well as more contemporary neofolk. As for me, I listen to a lot of psych rock, some blues, country, and hip hop. The other dudes are all into a similar variety of music.
About
"Recorded in their own studio in Vancouver, Wolf Hex was engineered by Tim Creviston and the band themselves, before being mastered by Brad Boatright. The ten track album seethes with visceral blackened death metal delivered at a relentless pace, conjuring mysticism and magick at every turn." — Prosthetic Records
Wormwitch on Bandcamp: https://wormwitch.bandcamp.com
