One of the earliest champions of the NWOTHM movement is ready to cross a continent and melt some faces at the upcoming FROZEN IN TIME festival in Fresno, California! Your true friends in metal here at THENWOTHM were able to catch up with the Witch and see how they feel about their new single, upcoming album, and their first West Coast show in many years.

THE NWOTHM: Greetings, Icarus Witch! Can you introduce the members of the band and where you are from?

I.W: Greetings, thanks for reaching out. Icarus Witch is currently a two-state band. Our guitarist Quinn Lukas and I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while our Singer Andew D’Cagna and drummer Noah Skiba both live in Martins Ferry, Ohio.

THE NWOTHM: For people meeting you for the first time, what is the elevator pitch for what your band sounds like?

I.W: Back in 2009 in an issue about the then-new “New Wave of Traditional Metal” genre, Britain’s Metal Hammer magazine described Icarus Witch as “Dio-Sabbath crashing a Priest gig”. I took that as an accurate compliment at the time though I’d say if you’re adding comparative bands we probably lean more into our early Fates Warning and Queensrÿche influence. We’re dark classic metal with a dollop of doom, a pinch of prog, a grain of goth, and a melodic AOR writing sensibility that somehow ties it all together in a palatable package.      

THE NWOTHM: Which acts have been the biggest influences on your sound?

I.W Again, the most noticeable influence probably comes from the early work of bands like Dio, Sabbath, Purple, Rainbow, Rÿche, Maiden, Fates Warning, Malmsteen, Ozzy, Whitesnake, Fastway, and Scorpions. But we’re also influenced by some of the proto-prog and arena rock bands like Rush, Thin Lizzy, Yes, Uriah Heep, B.Ö.C., KISS, AC/DC, Toto, Styx, and Kansas. 

Since we grew up in an era where west coast metal permeated the scene, you may catch those sleazy melodic Dokken, Ratt, Crüe, Van Halen, Night Ranger, Badlands, Guns N’ Roses, and Y&T licks poking through occasionally. However, any feel-good Sunset Strip vibes are likely to be tempered with the other end of the genre spectrum in the way of early doom like Candlemass, Trouble, and Mecyful Fate or the first wave of thrash and speed metal like Testament, Metal Church, and Sanctuary. 

Like many metalheads of our era, by the ‘90s we were absorbing everything from Florida and Gothenburg death to Scandinavian black metal to industrial and goth. However, Quinn and I are honestly more likely to reference a Bryan Adams or Journey hit when determining song structure even though once it passes through our weird Witch filter it’s probably going to sound closer to Dio-fronted Rÿche. 

THE NWOTHM: You have announced that your upcoming album, No Devil Lived On, is a concept album. Can you tell us about the concept?

I.W No Devil Lived On is an automatically written loose reimagining of the Aradia witchcraft legend set in the near future rather than the 14th century. In our version, the protagonist observes the collapse of modern society caused by greed, hypocrisy, and lack of stewardship for our planet. She uncovers a covert plot by an occult global alliance of sorcerers, radical ecologists, and non-human intelligence to encourage the exodus of those responsible for Earth’s decay. 

Compelled by a combination of curious youthful bravado and an undeniable sense of spiritual destiny to see the mission through, Aradia follows the exiled antagonists into the cosmos as they blindly seek their extraterrestrial fortunes. Her exploits lead her into dangerous intergalactic adventures with a cosmic wizard who offers her a chance at immortality to serve as a transhuman deity for a race of eco-witches set on restoring Earth to its original destiny as a celestial Utopia.

The price of this bargain could very well involve the sacrifice of Aradia’s remaining sanity if not her mortality itself. Will she choose the path of the martyr or will she awaken to find this was all a lucid dream within a simulation? Tune in to find out. 

THE NWOTHM: You released a single from the album called 10,000 Light Years From Home, what has the reception been like? 

I.W Fortunately, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. There’s always that vulnerable moment of holding your breath as you release a new creation into the world (especially when you’re following up a successful album with your first music in four years). 

When we dropped this single and video at the end of last year it was met with critical praise by outlets like BraveWords, Metal Insider, and Metal Storm. More importantly, it was enthusiastically received with raised fists by the folks that came to our shows and it’s been a highlight of the live set ever since. 

THE NWOTHM: Did your longtime followers ever expect you to go into full-blown sci-fi territory with your music?

I.W Hopefully not, because if they expected it that would mean we’ve become stale or predictable and, to me, that’s one of the greatest sins a creative can be guilty of. 

THE NWOTHM: You recently announced that you’re joining the killer lineup at the FROZEN IN TIME festival this June in Fresno. Is there more pressure to blow the roof off the place when you’re among very strong peers?

I.W Yes and no. We’re honored to have been invited to perform at Frozen In Time by Trevor himself (and to play directly before Haunt, no less). There are so many incredible bands on the bill that we’re geeked to be at the show as fans too. But when it comes time for the Witch to hit the stage, no one will ever put more pressure on us than we do ourselves. 

We’ve been doing this a long time and hold ourselves to an extremely high standard, so we don’t see it as a competition between bands, but as an inspiration for all of us to rise up and perform at our absolute highest level for one another and for all who are traveling to be at the festival.

THE NWOTHM: Why don’t you guys come to the West Coast more often? Is it because our pizza is bad?

I.W I used to live in L.A. and love the west coast. Quinn spends a lot of time working there on various studio projects as well. But to get the entire band from the East to the West requires a lot of cash and time, two things that are tougher to come by these days. While Icarus Witch is my only band, the rest of the members are in multiple bands as well as running businesses so coordinating schedules is the top challenge.  

The cost of travel has surpassed the price that many promoters are willing to pay underground metal bands, so the old days of hopping in the van and throwing caution to the wind can create serious financial hardships for musicians without careful planning. A lot of bands are still doing it obviously, and our hats are off to them, we’ve just gotten a bit more selective as the years have gone on. 

We used to think nothing of hitting the road for 30 days at a stretch, but even when you travel frugally you’re often lucky to break even in our scene. Fortunately, there seems to be a rise in the popularity of European-style underground metal fests in the U.S. like Legions of Metal, Stormbringer, Descendants of Crom, Metal Immortal, Hell’s Heroes, Gates of Metal, and now Frozen In Time. This allows bands the opportunity to travel to one central location and have the metalheads from various areas travel to the event so you’re playing in front of hundreds or thousands of people at once instead of playing a hundred shows for a handful of people every night.  

As for west coast pizza, I’ve never been one of those territorial New York vs. Chicago or East vs. West pizza snobs. As long as it’s vegan, I say bring it and I will gratefully share a pie with you after our set.  

THE NWOTHM: Speaking of tours, you guys have toured with the great and powerful Paul Di’Anno! Can you tell us about what that was like?

I.W From what I remember it was a blast [laughs]. Of course, it was a massive honor to be selected by Paul as his backing band for multiple North American tours. We grew up idolizing those early Maiden records so to be given the chance to play those classic songs in a different city every night and look over to see the Beast himself belting out “Killers”, “Murders In The Rue Morgue,” and “Charlotte The Harlot”? Surreal to say the least. 

We had so much fun on those treks playing everywhere from Puerto Rico to Montreal but it was a lot of hard work too because not only were we supporting Paul as his backing musicians, but we were opening each show with a complete Icarus Witch set as well. So we had to strike that balance between pacing ourselves while not holding back and leaving it all on the stage every night… twice. 

You really learn what you’re made of as a traveling musician when placed in that situation. Paul is a hell of a guy, we became fast friends as well as bandmates yet he’s understandably quite demanding when it comes to his band and we never took that position for granted. Wouldn’t trade that experience for the world.   

THE NWOTHM: As of this year, Icarus Witch has been rocking for 20 years! Is there anything big planned for this major anniversary aside from the new album?

I.W The band germinated in 2003 when I moved back to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles and hooked up with our original drummer Keith Hurka and, shortly after, our original singer, Matthew Bizilia. It wasn’t until 2004 that we really became solidified by recording and releasing our first music. So while we’ve technically been around for twenty years, we’ve traditionally branded our “born on” date as 2004. Sort of like, do you count your birthday from the time you’re conceived or start from the day you’re born? 

There’s been so much work involved in pulling No Devil Lived On over the finish line that we haven’t had time to formalize any celebration this year. All of our focus is on the future currently, not the past. So once we have our new album release in the rearview, we’re more likely to switch gears to something nostalgia-based. 

We’ve talked about possibly reissuing some of the out-of-print material, perhaps a “best of” – maybe unearthing some songs, videos, and photos that have never been released. I’ve got vaults of old-school material; the problem is finding the time to dig through it and put it together in a way that’s befitting of a legacy and not just something that’s thrown together to cash in on an arbitrary date. Sounds like an excellent plan for the winter, what do you think?  

THE NWOTHM: If people want to learn more, where can they stay tuned for updates and buy your music?

I.W Our official website is icaruswitch.com and our Bandcamp is icaruswitch.bandcamp.com. We’re also active on socials like facebook.com/icaruswitch, instagram.com/icaruswitch, and twitter.com/IcarusWitch.

THE NWOTHM: Thank you so much for your time today. Is there one last message you have for your fans?

I.W Have a good time, all the time.