Blackwych started out in 1982, after Declan ( Dec) answered an add in the
local news paper for guitarist wanted for rock band. That band were called
Warlock and were based in Kildare town, This outfit was giging the local
venues and required a second lead guitarist to fill out the sound. So after a
bit of an audition, he got the job
With their new lead guitarist on board, Warlock got straight into rehearsals
in back gardens and gigs in local youth halls, well is that not what all 19 year
old bands do. The band were going well but this line up only lasted about 10
months. Around this time, the singer Martin made the decision to leave the
band and Ciaran joined.
More gigs, more rehearsals and more importantly. The recording of songs on
demo tape began. Their first demo included Mental Telepathy and Out of Control,
and were recorded on a 4 track tascam. Dec had written these songs in his Dads
garage to the back ground noise “turn that f--king
down”. Most likely the inspiration for the song title
Mental Telepathy.
These demo’s opened up doors for the lads. People got to
here the sound and feel of the music the band were
producing. Around the same time two more changes
occurred. The bands drummer John, lovingly know as
“Gonz” decided to leave, effectively leaving the band
with no drummer as there was no one else in the frame,
and the bands name was changed. The name “Warlock”
was already in use by another successful recording outfit from Germany. So after
a period of names in a hats and bit of ranting etc, the guys settled on “Blackwitch”
put forward by Mario, who like the whole dark magic aspect
Around 1984, Dec was chatting to songwriter & producer Pete Holidai from the
Radiators and asked him to promote the band if he could. It was through Pete
contacts that the band got offered their first recording release on new
compilation of Irish Metal called Green Metal
It was on the strength of a demo produced by Pete and recorded at SRS Studios
Slane. This demo included Rockin Lady and Out of Control. It was around this
time Mario the band bassist decided it was not for him, and Niall C joined. After
securing the release of two tracks on this compilation, and a short deliberation
the bands name spelling was modified to Blackwych. Using the word Wych as a
preferred spelling, its comes from the name of a tree, the Wych Elm, the tree
brothers being carpenters, it was something they all embraced, its also used in
old English give to an area of London called Aldwych (old town). The name
change was a must, the lads wanted to Move away from the whole Witch thing,
dark magic etc, not their bag.
Shay Hennessy at Crashed Records asked if it were possible to send in two more
tracks as Rockin Lady was not heavy metal enough for this compilation, so the
lads went back to S.R.S to record another two song demo including Metal Mania
and The Hangman. In the end, Out of Control and Metal Mania were picked to
appear on the compilation. Unfortunately for all the bands on this compilation,
the record company used their demo tapes as the masters for this release, so its
not what it could have been.
Chris “Andralinus“ Connolly from Shadowfax had played drums for the previous
demo, but he was not available for the second session . So Damien Grant a young
drummer from Maynooth who had been rehearsing with the band assisted on
these two tracks. About a month or two after this session Richard left, Later to
reformed Warlock with Mario, Gonz & Martin
Blackwych now consisted of three brothers, Dec, Niall, and Ciaran, who became
the core members of the band..
After the release of “Green Metal” Album and the promotional gig in the Project
arts centre, Dec approached Crashed Records, Dublin. Spoke with Shay Hennessy,
and secured the release a full debut album. This album was recorded at SRS
studios Slane, and release on the Crashed Records label in Ireland, and Metal
Masters Records Label for the rest of the world. This debut album was recorded in
three days at SRS Slane, and called Out of Control
z\
Warlock
Pete & Dec
© Blackwych2009
