LOCAL Houston | The City Guide AUGUST 2015 | Page 52

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RECORDING

FIDDLE WITCH AND THE DEMONS OF DOOM

An interview with Jo Bird and SPIKE The Percussionist

by Lance Scott Walker | Photography by Anthony Rathbun
You’ve got a heavy hitting beast behind the drums, a bona fide
Houston picking legend on bass guitar and a violist who has been
playing in the classical tradition since she was 10 years old. All
three of them have been ever-present around the Houston music
scene for decades now, and all three are working in new territory
that you could almost call Classical Thrash. In Fiddle Witch and the
Demons of Doom, Jo Bird (viola) has teamed with journeyman
musicians SPIKE The Percussionist (drums) and Geoffrey Muller
(bass) in a venture that gallops towards its heaviest moments
through long bridges of sound that never get muddy and never
slow. Nobody sings, because there is no space. They just strum and
stomp and pick and whip up a big tornado of sound along the way
without looking back. Their new album drops this summer.

For the interview with some of the band, visit www.localhoustonmagazine.com.

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