All Them Witches & Emily Wolfe @ The Glass House, Pomona, 13th October 2024
Tonight’s excursion takes us roughly an hour east of Los Angeles to the agricultural town of Pomona. It’s a fairly charming locale with a nice downtown area and an old Germanic church that looks like it’s from a Stephen King story. Whether it is host to any ghosts or cosmic beings is anyone’s guess, but I’m here to catch one of my favorite rock bands of recent times, so paranormal investigations will have to wait.
The Glass House is a well-sized and well-maintained venue that’s been around since the mid-90s. It also has some of the most militantly strict bar rules I’ve ever come across. Patrons are to line up and order drinks at the bars, not congregate and socialize which would interrupt the flow. And they let you know that.
It’s a Sunday crowd, which begins as a light trickle but then surges into a decently packed house. I was most impressed to meet a Canadian gentleman from the province of Alberta who used time off from work to come all the way here to catch All Them Witches (‘Oh sure bud!’). A sure sign of a passionate audience.
All Them Witches tourmate is Texas-based blues rock priestess Emily Wolfe. Possessing wispy-yet-robust vocals and a formidable arsenal of guitar riffs and licks, her music is an effective blend that could fall squarely under the label of ‘hard rock’ but incorporates a wide range of influences from the ‘60s and ‘70s to ‘90s alternative rock. While not poppy, it undoubtedly has a smart pop sensibility, and while I’ve been familiar with her work, this is the first time I’ve seen her.
From the get-go what impressed me was her mastery of the pedal board while maintaining such a powerful singing voice. With her backing band behind her, Wolfe launched into vigorous numbers such as the high-octane desert rock of Ghost Limb Gambler and Walk In My Shoes, the decidedly PJ Harvey-ish Second Of Relief and the spirited British post-punk meets American South sound of Silencer. The entire set was free of any mishaps and was as consummate a performance as I’ve ever seen. I definitely recommend catching her if you get the chance.
A soundcheck later and Nashville’s All Them Witches take to the stage, playing a fan favorite – the dreamy and luminous Diamond. Following the departure of drummer and founding member Robby Staebler, Fortune Child kit man Christian Powers has been brought in as a temporary touring replacement. Powers drumming style is significantly less loose than Staebler but he has no problem gelling with the band.
The frenetic garage blues number Fishbelly Onions saw a well-placed guitar switch during one of the song’s pauses after six string maestro Ben McLeod had to swap out his misbehaving Flying V for an SG, with bassist and frontman Charles Michael Parks Jr. improvising with almost comedic timing. The night also saw some impressive retooling of songs, such as a modified version of the blisteringly heavy doom metal ditty Swallow By the Sea and beautiful rendition of Sea You Next Fall with added violin courtesy of keyboard player Allan Van Cleave.
Much of the remainder of the set took on a pleasing blues character, perhaps the gear that the band is most comfortable with, like The Marriage Of Coyote Woman with its Rory Buchanan inspired grit. McLeod’s guitar solos were some of the best I’ve ever heard from him, which is saying a lot. It takes a lot to bring blues rock soloing out of a place which could see it sound stagnated and stale.
An encore performance saw two Pink Floyd covers, Have A Cigar and stoned university student classic Time. That song seamlessly transitioned into Elk Blood Heart off of their 2012 debut as the last performance of the evening. I’m rarely a fan of encores but being that this was such a succinct two act show, I had to stick around as it was well worth it.
All Them Witches are one of the best bands of their type, effortlessly blending blues with psychedelia, folk, stoner rock, a dash of metal and most important of all, a strong dose of creative identity. I wholeheartedly recommend them as one of the most satisfying live acts around today.
Scribed by: Rob Walsh
