The Eighth Note is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians. A chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music. Up next are Housewitches, who have just released a new EP ‘Harsh Mellows’.
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
We’re (The Socialised Union of) Housewitches, born from a fuzzy cauldron in Pōneke, and love to write songs that skirt the very edges of seriousness. A lot of our music seems to end up expressing some kind of cynical fed-upped-ness with something around us. Sometimes they’re serious issues related to gender and expression; sometimes they’re just about how cute cats are. Our favourites are the ones that manage to be a little bit of both.
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
After releasing our album Animal Husbandress last year, we’re excited to be writing new songs again and have just recorded a wee follow-up EP!
Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
We’re most likely to be seen on Instagram, with music on Bandcamp and Spotify.
What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
We’re going to cheat and give four, but we’ve picked an album that we think encapsulates our early introduction to music: Linda Rondstadt’s Simple Dreams (Rory), Patti Smith’s Horses (Esther), Whatever and Ever Amen by Ben Folds Five (Bridget), and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill (Micheline).
Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
Honestly, we’re just constantly overwhelmed by the quality and volume of excellent music we hear coming from Aotearoa artists, and we’d be proud to share a stage with any of them. We did share a stage with Odessa at the 2021 Newtown Festival, and are looking forward to playing with them again soon!
What is your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
We’ve had a lot of fun playing at Moon – it’s a fun, accessible venue in our necks of the woods, and with something different every night of the week.
In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
We all like to come together when someone’s got a “seed” for a song, and try and grow it together – we figured out pretty quickly that we all have different strengths, and our favourite songs are definitely the ones we’ve all contributed a lot to.
Where/when is your next gig?
We have an EP release at Moon 1 on Thursday Jan. 20th with Odessa & Bored Housewives Club!