They're too good to lose but the Yorkshire acoustic girls Patsy, Jools, Bex and Rach that make up Waking The Witch have decided to call it a day. Just voted Classic Rock Society UK's Folk/Roots Performer of 2007, the talent-rich singer songwriters with stunning harmonies take to the road reprising the 'best of' three genre-defying albums We interviewed Patsy Matheson just before the tour started in mid January 2008.

Well, you've got a lot coming up...quite a momentous tour this one isn't it?
It's not going to be easy this one, I don't think!

Let's go right back to when you started...it always fascinates me when a group like you seems so made for each other, vocally, harmonically, songwriting...everything seems to just gel. How did you get together?
When we originally started, Becky MIlls wasn't in the band, so there was Rachel, myself, Jules, and another lady called Michelle Plum, who was a backing singer at the time with Chumbawamba. The 4 of us knew each other from the circuit, we'd ended up sharing the bill, and all of them had guested with me at my gig. Rachel and myself had had a rehearsal with a view to doing something like this about 10 years ago but then we both got pregnant, so the whole thing went on hold for 4 years, and then I said, 'come on let's have another go' and roped Rachel in and Michelle and Jools at the time. Then Michelle had to drop out after a year due to her committment to Chumba. So then Becky joined.

That's quite a gestation period! Regarding the songwriting, what are your influences?
One of the reasons it works as a whole is that all of our influences are very very different. Jules likes the old blues men, her solo act was a tradtional blues act, primarily. Rachel likes more standard singer songwriter stuff, Becky very much likes the 70s stuff, and my background was that and traditional music as well. But basically we're all quite openminded, all the different influences went into a pot if you like, and that's where the label of 'genre defying' comes from.

The trouble is the music press can't cope with that, they desperately want to put you in a box of some sort....
The good thing about it is we do touch a lot of people, and we're not pigeon holed into doing a particular type of festival or a particular type of venue....but on the downside I think a lot of the people who are at the top of the tree at the moment are people who are really specifically stuck in one sort of genre....it might be that we've diluted ourselves too much, but we didn't consciously do it, we just play what we like

But you've got a huge grassroots support and following....one of the reason's why I started this website was because you go to these festivals that are sold out, tens of thousands of people....and you wouldn't find the breadth of bill you get at a lot of these festivals reflected in the music press at all, and bands like you are great in that you can step outside of that...
My big hero was John Martyn and I think it's very similar to him. He was known as a folk artist, but then he's also a jazz artist and blues artist! The annoying thing is that many folk magazines won't review a single one of our albums because they say we're not folk music...it stinks!

How do you define that?! There's a huge snobbery in the folk world...
We could have produced exactly the same sounding album, but if we'd done the songs about different subjects then it would have been reviewed! Another big hero of mine is Richard Thompson, but that's another one that ain't folk...but his album is up for a Folk Award....

The folk awards is slagged off every year because it doesn't pick the things other people like....but they get people talking about folk anyway...
We love them if we win them! The Classic Rock Society one is the only one that counts!

Did you get a trophy for that? Do you fight over it?
We got it last year, and the idea was that we'd circulate it and Rachel took it home because her kids wanted to see it, and then we forgot about it until got another one this week...so I've got the new one!

Over the 3 albums and the 5 years of touring, how do you feel your sound has developed and changed?
That's a good question....I think the main thing is we've got a lot better! Singing is just like any other exercise, if you do it all the time, it's quite amazing how much better you get. Like being able to hold notes longer....so that's the main thing. And I think the way that we work together has got better, we're very in tune with each other.

Do you end up asking a bit more of each other?
Yes, I think that's true. Also, because we know each other so well, we've become more brutal with each other....so for instance, if someone brings a song to the table, whereas perhaps 5 years ago we would have compromised for the sake of that person, we don't do that any more!

So you're raising the bar for yourselves then?
Yes, and the result of that is that we've got better. I think that's probably why we're so proud of these 3 albums, because you can see a progression in technical skill, through them. We haven't stood still.

One of the signature thing about all your songs and albums is some really good musical arrangements. Did Dave Creffield (producer of Boys From The Abbatoir) bring a lot of different ideas to the table?
Yes he did. We only had 10 days to record that album so the time had to be really well used. Even before we'd met Dave, we'd demoed and arranged all 11 of those songs so that we knew who was doing what on them, so as far as we were concerned they were well structured. So what Dave added, apart the fact that he engineered everything beautifully so that the vocals sounded so lovely, was other things, like being insistent that we added the brass band! So the guys at the studio actually rang round and got the local youth orchestra...Dave is very fixed, if he decides he wants something, he makes it happen. He was fantastic to work with! Also, from a man management point of view, he really got the best of us, sometimes it can be quite tense in the studio....

Well, that's the old addage 'never let the band get in on the mixing' because they all want their particular bit pulled up!
We were mixing sometimes right through 'til 6 in the morning and we wouldn't have been able to do that album to that level unless we'd had Dave's complete committment. It was great working with him and I'd do it again.

The songs you write, do they tend to be individually or communally written?
Up until this album, it was more of an individual process, but we've now been writing together more...it's the first time we've done that and I think it's been very successful.

It must be a very hard decision to decide that you're going to call it a day...it's not the sort of decision you make overnight is it?
We had said prior to making ' Boys from the Abbatoir' that we'd got up to a certain level and we were going to call it a day then. We felt we just couldn't keep up the comittment, frankly for not much financial reward. But we persevered and made that album, as we wanted to finish on a high. Just making the album was quite demanding....we had to have 2 rehearsals a week, it was a 40 date tour to support the album, which is quite difficult with kids to consider. We just kind of said 'enough's enough' really.....well I haven't but the others have....I love it!

So what's up your sleeve next?
I'm going to making a solo album...I'll probably do some duo stuff with Becky too, but she's going to have a baby in April so she'll be committed to that for at least another year or so. Waking the Witch might appear in another format at some point but there might be some personnel changes. Jules and Rachel have just had enough...they just don't want to do that trogging around anymore. Becasue we were so pleased with the last album, we felt if we did any more recording it'd be halfhearted...I was watching Michael Caine on Parkinson at Christmas and he said that he didn't compete against anyone apart from himself, and how he just makes sure that everything he does is better than what he did before, and that's kind of how we feel, that we'd become mediocre if we carried on...

So every gig on this tour is going to be like a last night...
Yes, it is! The real shame about it is that Becky won't be able to make the last few gigs because of her due date. So it would have been much nicer to finish with all 4 of us!

Well I hope it all goes well, it's going to be quite an emotional tour for you
Yes, it will be. But I'm really looking forward to doing something on my own.

What kind of material will you be doing for that?
It will be all completely new stuff....it has to be something really good in order for it to stand out....I'm really concentrating on making the songs first class. I can't make this album until I've got 10 good songs, and I want to get those written by the end of this tour.

Best of luck with that Patsy, and thanks.

Iain Hazlewood

http://www.wakingthewitch.co.uk/