Interview: Wild Witch (Brazil)

8–13 minutes

The Nwothm

Wild Witch emerged from Curitiba’s underground in 2011, carving out a fierce identity rooted in classic heavy metal. In this interview, guitarist Lucas Shred and bassist Felipe Leite trace the band’s journey, reflect on Brazil’s metal scene, and share glimpses of the chaos, camaraderie, and craft behind their latest release.

Interview

TheNwothm: Greetings Wild Witch! Can you start by telling our readers where you are based and who is in the band?

Lucas Shred: Greetings! We would like to thank you for this opportunity to share a little about us! We’re based in Curitiba – Brazil. The crew consists of: Felipe Leite (bass), Lucas Shred (guitars), Tiago Rebel (vocals) and Weiberlan Garcia (drums).

TheNwothm: When the four of you first came together in 2011, what was the spark that made it official?

Felipe Leite: Our first Line up was formed by Felipe Leite (bass), Weiberlan (drums), Flav Scheidt (vocal) and Mariano Burich (guitar). The main idea in the beginning was to form a band to have fun, play some covers. In our first rehearsal we played some songs such like Burning the Witches (Warlock), Strong Arm of the Law (Saxon), Running Free (Iron Maiden) and Strutter (KISS). Then, almost in the same day, Mariano and I bring the first two Wild Witch songs: Burning Chains and Trail of Bones. That was the start we needed to the band get more serious. After that many other songs came up like WitchRipper, From the Purgatory and Diabolic Jaws and we recorded our first EP.

TheNwothm: What’s the story behind the band name Wild Witch. Was it a lightning bolt moment or a slow brew?

Felipe Leite: We thought about many names, such like Sandman (because we were really fan of the comic book) and Lamia, a greek mythology demon. Wild Witch was part of a brainstorm made between Flav and I. We came with some option in the rehearsal and the guys voted for Wild Witch. It was a strong name. Two inspirations for that were the song Wild Child by W.A.S.P. and Don1t Burn the Witch by Venom.

TheNwothm: How has growing up in Brazil shaped your approach to heavy metal?

Lucas Shred: Brazil has plenty of metal bands one can be inspired of, but it’s also a very rich land in terms of popular music, which makes our musical vocabulary have some variations and different influences. And about being in a metal band, we also had to learn to fight for it – no support from government for musicians.

TheNwothm: What’s something about the Brazilian metal scene that international fans might not know but should?

Felipe Leite: Something that they should know is that there are a lot of great bands working hard to put out new material. It’s crazy because Heavy Metal in Brazil got more popular in the second half of the 80s, after Rock in Rio 1. But even late it grew so fast. Traditionally, Thrash, Death and Power Metal used to be more popular here and we could mention Sepultura, Sarcofago, Angra and Viper. But bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest always had a great base of fans. In the early 2000s we have a very good revival of Thrash Metal here with bands like Violator, ByWar and others that really influenced me on my music formation and my preference for 80s Metal. The first band I had with Mariano and Weiberlan was an oldschool Thrash Metal band.

After that we also had a revival of Traditional Heavy Metal that still going on with a lot of bands. I was a great fan of Saxon and, my idea in the beginning, was to form a band that sound like Saxon in Wheels of Steel era. Today Heavy Metal that people use to call as NWOTHM still very popular in Brazil. Lucas have played in Hell Gun and now he is also on Phantom Star, two Traditional Metal bands. I also played in Axecuter and now I am playing bass on Espectro, both Heavy Metal. But what is more interesting his that all these bands are different from each other. Espectro is a Heavy Metal that sounds more like 70s rock like Sabbath and Lizzy. Phantom Star sounds more like Savatage. Even Wild Witch have changed through the years. But all these bands are always recording albums, producing video clipes and travelling for playing.

TheNwothm: Growing up, was there a particular artist or band that made you say “I want to do that”?

Lucas Shred: For me (Lucas) it was Kiko Loureiro from Angra.

Felipe Leite: Biff Byford, from Saxon, and Marcel Schmier from Destruction. Not by technique but because I saw Destruction when I was a teenager and that shocked me, one of my first concerts.

TheNwothm: I would love to know your preferred format for music for both the band and for collecting and why! Vinyl, cassette, CD, digital?

Lucas Shred: For the band’s merch, due to easier sells, the CD is great. For collecting, vinyl is great for the audio unique quality and the size of the cover art, easy to see it’s details.

Felipe Leite: Actually, I collect both. When I was younger I used to buy more CDs as most of my Metal friends in school used to not have Turntable. So we used to do exchange of music on times that downloading was really difficult. I knew many different thing through this process. But I always preferred Vinyl and also bought some when I was teenager as they used to be cheaper then CDs at that time. Today I have about 800 CDs and 600 LPs on my collection. My dream is to release both Wild Witch albums in vinyl.

TheNwothm: So let us talk about the music! Let’s rewind to 2013. What do you remember most vividly about recording “Burning Chains?”

Lucas Shred: I wasn’t there yet, but when I heard it, I thought “this is one of the bands I’d love to be part of”

Felipe Leite: We didn’t have any experience on that. I have recorded a demo with Mariano in another band we had but it was totally unprofessional. So we decided to not start with a full lenght album to learn more about recording process. At the end, it was more satisfying than expected and I still love that EP. We still playing the title track and we re-recorded WitchRipper that still being the last song of our concerts.

TheNwothm: “The Offering” then landed in 2017 with strong reviews. What was the biggest creative risk you took on that album?

Felipe Leite: Most songs on “The Offering” were made at the beginning of the band. We started to record in 2013 and had a version with Flav Scheidt singing, but the production was really bad. So, we decide to restart from the beginning at Sonata Prima Studio in 2015, after I returned to Brazil (I lived in Dublin in 2014 and 15). We recorded the album throughout the year. Flav was focusing on some other goals at that time related to college, so she was not that involved in the process. I mean hard work like going to studio and practicing the songs. Also, we broke up at the end of the year, before she record the vocals and we decided we could no longer continue playing together.

So, I started to study and got vocal classes and recorded the lead vocals. For that album I think it worked fine, it was more focusing on sounding more “Rock” like early British bands like Saxon and Angel Witch. On Reaper’s Blade we changed a little, and we are sounding more powerful, with more influences of Power Metal bands, so I decided that we needed a stronger voice from a tenor dedicated to this. That’s why we invited Tiago, but I still sang some songs of “The Offering” in the shows, and the album had a good receptivity.

TheNwothm: “Reaper’s Blade” is your latest full-length. What’s one track from that album you’d love to see fans dissect line by line?

Lucas Shred: “Magic’s Sin” already drove some attention, but it’s still our favourite.” The Quahog” and the “Pearl” haves some interesting metaphors in its lyrics and Get Out! Is very provocative.

Felipe Leite: I have a special connection with “WitchRipper” but I agree with Lucas. “Magic’s Sin” is powerful! It’s my favorite and the one we see the best approval from people who likes us. But I love every song in this album. Fist is amazing as well, Quahog and the Pearl, King of Skies.

TheNwothm: What did you enjoy most about putting your latest record together?

Lucas Shred: Working together as a band and as friends. Easy group decisions and also enjoying the process of seeing your ideas getting shaped.

Felipe Leite: I think it was a hard journey. During the process we had many problems that postponed this like the covid pandemic and the passing of our friend and guitar player Paulo Ryba. Release this was like the feeling of doing the great work of our lives. This album is really special for me.

TheNwothm: And looking back at the music you have created so far is there a song you particularly enjoyed writing or playing live?

Lucas Shred: “Heavy Metal Inferno” is very fun to play.

Felipe Leite: I agree with Lucas and that’s the most exciting part on having a band and recording new albums. When you notice that some songs are too strong to leave the setlist even with a lot of great new songs coming up. In our last show there were a lot of younger faces that knew us from Reaper’s Blade and playing “Heavy Metal Inferno,” a simple and catchy song from the first album was amazing!

TheNwothm: If Wild Witch had a signature drink at a bar, what would it be called and what’s in it?

Lucas Shred: A bock or red ale, called Bruxa Selvagem (Wild Witch in portuguese).

Felipe Leite: I prefer malty and winter beer so I would go with Lucas, maybe a brown or red ale. Or maybe something from the German school like a Dunkel Weiss or a Weizen Bock.

TheNWothm: If you weren’t in Wild Witch, what would you be doing instead—no music allowed?

Lucas Shred: Cinema, painting

Felipe Leite: Painting or drawing comics.

TheNwothm: What’s been your most chaotic gig moment so far—gear failure, crowd madness, anything goes?

Lucas Shred: Without a doubt, one gig in São Paulo (can’t remember the year). Both guitarists were drunk, but under control. Can’t say the same about the drummer, who forgot how to play the songs. My belt broke and my pants started to fall off, so I used the guitar to hold it on its place.

TheNwothm: Are there any upcoming live plans fans should be watching for as we head into 2026?

Felipe Leite: We will give a time of recordings and will keep playing the songs from “Reaper’s Blade.” But I really want to record something new.

TheNwothm: How can our readers buy your music and merch?

Felipe Leite: Now we are selling all our stuff by social media contacting directly the band, but really soon we will activate the selling of our merch in our bandcamp for Brazil and rest of the World.

TheNwothm: Where can fans follow you online?

Felipe Leite: follow us on Instagram (wildwitch.metal) and facebook. Also we have a channel on youtube with our live videos and studio video clipes for Diabolic Jaws and Magic’s Sin. We are also in all streaming platforms.

TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention?

Felipe Leite: Thank you very much for all the support! It was a great pleasure to answer this questions. We could spend hours talking and writing about something that we love like making Heavy Metal!