THURSDAY DECEMBER SIXTEENTH, 1999		EVENING EDITION * 25¢

A MILLENNIUM IN REVIEW (a Witchazel timeline)

The millennium has come to its final weeks. In the past 1000 years many great things have come about and many tragedies have struck. For the sake of this article, I will only focus only on the past three years.

On September 9 1997, in a crappy bar on Main St. Lexington, three angered (and determined) youth fired up their respective instruments and gave birth to the monstrosity now Known as Witchazel. The trio, unknown to anybody outside a small circle of friends, played a short set of original material. This is where the madness all began.

After playing a Halloween show, the trio almost immediately entered TuneTown Studios in Lexington, KY, and recorded a three song demo. In February of 98 Witchazel began playing again. Several hundred copies of the tape were given out freely at Witchazel shows as they played shows around their hometown and surrounding cities. They spent this time biulding a small fan base and making some allies in the scene.

A few months later in April, the band debuted on a local FM radio station. They felt this hour long live broadcast confirmed that the handful of shows succeeded in establishing them as a prominent local act. The band spent the next few months expanding its territory by playing shows in Ohio and Indiana as well as another radio broadcast in Lexington.

The trio felt a strong momentum propelling them forward. Unfortunately, in July 98, long time drummer Ken McCuthen left the project. The two remaining members (Paco and Dave Ryles) were determined not to let this setback negate their efforts up to that point. They found a replacement in the same week (current drummer Dan Barkman) and played a show the following month.

Witchazel's new line up finshed off dates already scheduled for the next two months, then took some time off. They spent the months surrounding the change between 98 and 99 working Dan's style into the now infamous Witchazel sound. They also returned to the studio to update their demo with three new tunes.

The fine tuned trio returned to the scene in Feb 99. Over the next four months they played shows distributing their new demo and stengthening their hometown fan base. They also once again appeared on an hour long local radio show and continued spreading its reach into West Virginia, Tennessee, and Ohio.

In September 99, the band made its web presence known by moving into "witchazel.com". This gave the band world wide exposure which gained them fans in Europe, South America, Asia, and beyond. Almost immediately the band recieved airplay in Cananda and Europe.

In October 99 a final line up change occured.. Lath Motley was added a lead vocalist. He brought an extra spark to the already high energy stage show. Currently the band is in the studio, once again updating its demo to feature the new line up. The quartet feels good about its present state. They feel confident about the upcoming millennium, and have set there sights for world domination!

~WFP~