Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
This week, Bong Witch is the New Music Monday highlight!
Bong Witch is a stoner metal band, influenced by blues and prog scenes, with all members having played in established Victoria bands previously, or currently, including Saltwater Cowboy, Maitarra, HopeCity Waters, Standard Issue Pleasure Model, the Smokestacks, Poppa Don Gurnie and more.
The band formed because all members had previously played together in some capacity and wanted to start jamming together, playing something new to them.
Bong Witch is comprised of Dan Froese and Braxton Glass on guitar, Sam Burke on bass and Ben DeCicco on drums, with all members taking turns on vocals.
“I think at the start, none of us really wanted to do vocals so we just kind of divided up all the songs and were like, ‘okay, everyone has to do one part,’” Froese told Victoria Buzz.
“It was like a means to an end so we could keep doing shows and playing music,” Glass added.
The name Bong Witch came about because Froese had been trying to think of the most cliche stoner metal band name.
“It was between [Bong Witch] and cactus breath,” Burke explained.
“Bong Witch just sticks in your head better,” Glass added. “You know exactly what the show is going to sound like.”
They started playing together in 2023, then began playing shows in October of last year and have quickly become a mainstay of the Victoria music scene.
Now, as of October 11th, the band has released their first EP, Origin, into the world.
Though Origin only has four songs, it manages to pack over 28 minutes of heavy, sludgy riffs in, contrasted by soft tones, spoken word lyrics and an impressive dynamic range.
The EP was recorded and produced by Froese out of their jam space in the Art Farm, while also utilizing his roommate’s bedroom as a vocal booth.
They recorded live off the floor to try and capture what their live set sounds like to the best of their ability.
“All of the neighbours were a little concerned because they just heard screaming, Sam’s blood curdling scream, with the windows open too,” Glass laughed.
One song Bong Witch wanted to highlight was the nearly 10 minute title track of the EP, “Origin”, which features a spoken word poem as well as heavy vocals by all members of the band.
On “Origin”, Froese wrote his heavier vocal parts while Burke wrote the remaining vocal parts, including a poem which she adapted for the song.
She says the poem came to her while thinking about the interactions between light, darkness and sound.
“I feel like it’s very clear that, kind of in the same way that light comes from darkness, the bassline is darkness but light shows up within darkness—the same way that silence is like the bassline and sound shows up within silence,” Burke explained.
“I thought it would be cool if you could cultivate that as a space that you could sit in and just exist within—that silence and being aware of the sound.”
“That’s the space where the Bong Witch sits,” she added.
Additionally, the poem spoken by Burke in the song “Origin” is featured in the artwork of the EP.
DeCicco joined the band last so he says that even though he didn’t have a hand in writing the songs on the EP, he really gets to lean into them in a fun way, adding his own flare to the sound.
“[“Origin”] is definitely my favourite on the EP because it’s the most fun to just dig into as a drummer,” DeCicco said.
“It’s so slow so I can really get some big beats in there, then when Braxton’s lead line comes in, it always sticks in my head. It’s so much fun to play and hear.”
Preview the song “Origin” off Bong Witch’s debut EP below:
To listen to the rest of Origin, check out Bong Witch’s Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp pages.
The EP is also available on CD at live Bong Witch shows, Ditch Records and Vinyl Envy in Victoria.
Though they are not having an official EP release show, Bong Witch will be playing an intimate show at Wheelies Motorcycles on Saturday, November 16th.
They will also be doing a live-streamed show on November 1st during CFUV’s Hot Local Singles In Your Playlist radio show.
Follow them on Instagram to find out about this show and other upcoming shows.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Bufflehead leans into anxiety and despair in new single “Felt Better”
- New Music Monday: Julian Marrs processes loss through creating art on self-titled album
- New Music Monday: liquidjane pulls songs from subconscious on ‘Light Matter’ EP
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
“They just crush it, such a wide variety of music. That’s where my car radio lives, is on CFUV,” Glass said.
“Listening to CFUV has allowed me to discover so many artists I wouldn’t have otherwise known,” added Froese.
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of Bong Witch in the comments below.
