Melding sludge, punk, and riotous energy with an unmistakable gothic tinge, Witch Fever have jumped to the forefront of the UK's alternative rock and metal scene thanks to their unparalleled stagecraft and fearlessness in dealing with the most difficult of topics, both in their lyrics and beyond.
The four-piece – who recently embarked on a huge 41-date tour with Volbeat, released their critically acclaimed sophomore album FEVEREATEN, and are now embarking on their own European headline tour – have made headlines for shedding light on the harsh reality of touring in 2026.
In a clip that has since gone viral, the band revealed that they got to the end of an arena tour and “all our profit is all stuck in withholding taxes across Europe”.
“We’re broke as fuck – and we just did two months in arenas," said Walpole. “We also can't get a job because we're back on tour in March, so nowhere will hire us. I'm currently living off four grand of my late mother's pension that I got at the end of last year. This is just crazy that this is what the music industry is like at the moment.”
Despite the financial hardships and ongoing grind, as guitarist Alisha Yarwood puts it, playing alongside acts such as Poppy, IDLES, and My Chemical Romance in arenas and stadiums is a feeling that never gets old – and a privilege the band doesn't take for granted.
“For someone like me, who doesn't know theory or anything like that, it's been really cool to go on tour with a bigger band that doesn't have this huge ego and is willing and open to teaching you things,” she says.
“Going from what we were playing five years ago, only small venues, to stadiums and arenas... You cannot beat that feeling once you get over the nerves of, ‘Oh my god, I'm playing in front of thousands of people,’ then you realize you're actually doing it, and it's just the best feeling in the world.”
When did you first start playing guitar? And was it your first instrument?
My dad is a drummer, so I started out playing drums. You start playing an instrument, and you just feel like there's something more suited. I think I was about 12, and my dad knew loads of musicians [and] I wanted to start learning guitar. I just started to watch videos and try to learn how to play.
Were there any particular guitarists that you looked up to during this exploratory phase?
It started with my dad, but his kind of music is jazz funk. So that wasn't the kind of music that inspired me. Then I remember starting to develop a music taste in heavy music, like Deftones. I never really had specific guitarists who I was like, ‘Oh, I really want to be like them’ – [more like] music that I wanted to make.
I think the first heavy band that I was like, ‘Whoa, I want to sound like this,’ was Nirvana – that grunge sound and that guitar style. It was the first one that drew me in.
The first heavy band that I was like, ‘Whoa, I want to sound like this,’ was Nirvana – that grunge sound and that guitar style
It's more the feeling on stage of just not giving a fuck, and just going a bit crazy and kind of letting something out. I don't think I really have any specific guitar heroes – just music that inspired me to play.
I've spotted you sporting a Jim Root Jazzmaster and a Gretsch Electromatic G5230T Jet FT with Bigsby. These are very specific models, especially in relation to your band's heavier sound. Why did you go for those two?
Before I had the Gretsch, I had a bad guitar... It wasn't good. And then I was really young, and I was like, ‘Dad, I'm in a band now.’ I was probably 17. And at that point in time, I wasn't well-versed in anything sound-wise. It was more like, ‘This is a cool guitar. I want it.’
So that's how I started playing the Gretsch, and it was a blessing because it's not really traditional for the kind of music that Witch Fever play. It's carrying the heaviness and picking up the fuzz of my pedals, and then when we play softer, more melodic things, it's so good at both.
With the Gretsch, it's taking a guitar that wouldn't traditionally be used in this kind of music, and then using it creates a different sound dynamic that you know isn't usual, and you're only really going to get something unique out of it. And I think that's what I look for in a guitar – ones that can push that heaviness and then apply that heaviness when you're playing softer, without any distortion or fuzz.
The Jim Root was a bit of an adjustment, because the Gretsch is so light and easy to play, and the Jim Root is so heavy – the strings, the gauge, and the pickups are so hard to control.
Are you a pedal geek or do you take the less-is-more approach?
It's something that, again, over the years, I've had to learn myself. When we started out, I had nothing. I had a guitar and an amp. So it was transitioning from that to doing something that I'd never done before, and learning how to use all these pedals.
But now, you can't do what we do on stage without having all the pedals. A big pedal I use in every single Witch Fever song for the past two albums is called Fur Coat Fuzz by Orange – that pedal and my reverb pedal [TC Electronic Hall of Fame] are on every single song.
You've opened for a lot of big artists, including Poppy, IDLES, Bush, My Chemical Romance, and Volbeat. What are some of the biggest things that you learned from these artists?
I've had recommendations of pedals and sounds that I should try, guitars I should use, [and] amps that I should use. The bands that we've gone on tour with, fortunately, have all just been lovely.
The only change in gear was using wireless. It was only on the Volbeat tour [that this started] – because we were using wires, but it just makes it so much harder when you're playing stages that big, using wires. My lead wouldn't reach the end of the stage.
When we started out, I had nothing. I had a guitar and an amp. So it was transitioning from that to doing something that I'd never done before, and learning how to use all these pedals
Also, there was one incident where my wire – that had just been working perfectly every single day – just decided to stop. No reasons. It was perfectly fine while the set was on. It just stopped and broke. And then, panic.
When everyone's staring at you, you can't run off and cry, you just gotta deal with it. So we dealt with it, and then started using wireless, which was the sickest thing ever, [as] you could just go everywhere.
What would you say was Witch Fever's ultimate turning point?
I think it was when we got offered the IDLES tour. That was the first big tour we were gonna do. This was 2022, just after COVID, so we were all just a little bit deflated. And then we got offered that tour, and I just remember us all being like, we all love IDLES, and we've all been listening to them for however long. So then getting offered that just after lockdown, that was the point where we were all like, ‘Whoa. This could be something cool. This is a big opportunity.’
- Witch Fever's latest album, FEVEREATEN, is out now via Sony’s Music For Nations. You can catch the band on their ongoing European and UK tour.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
