8 Questions for L.A. Witch

Touring in support of their third album, the Los Angeles-based psych-rock trio answer the Octet questionnaire.

This issue’s guests are the members of L.A. Witch, one of my favorite bands to emerge from the Los Angeles psych/garage-rock scene over the past decade or so. They are in the final throes of their US tour, in support of their third LP, DOGGOD, and will play dates in Europe this autumn. The band—Sade Sanchez (guitar/vox), Irita Pai (bass), and Ellie English (drums)—kindly shared some tour diary photos to accompany their answers.

—Hamish

Hamish: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

Ellie: I think surroundings are heavily influential to creative work. What we see, feel, absorb, it impacts us.

Irita: I’ve been a visual learner since I was little, so in that aspect it’s easy to be inspired by what’s around you physically. More importantly though, I also feel greatly influenced by the people I surround myself with, especially their energy or emotion—in particular when we are going through any type of creative process. I love collaborating and bouncing around ideas, and getting inspired by others.

Hamish: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

Sade: Museums, gardens, shows, and hanging out with other creatives.

Ellie: Sometimes I just listen to old playlists or old projects I was working on years ago. Back to the roots.

Irita: This tends to be quite a nightmare, but it does happen and is important to address. I find sometimes altering your consciousness, whether it be through something like weed or simple meditation, helps open your mind up to something you may have not have thought of before. And also opening yourself up to collaboration helps, because again you can play around with ideas that can kickstart something else.

Hamish: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

Irita: Growing up going to Catholic School, church organ and chamber music has always been a fascination. I especially loved the simplicity of Bach’s compositions and “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” has always been a favorite. It’s haunting and atmospheric and perfect.

Ellie: It's kinda funny but I remember seeing the movie Empire Records when I was little and I learned about a lot of bands from that movie!

Sade: Mamma Roma, Theorem, Medea, The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Just watch any Pasolini film. For music, a good go to is Terry Riley, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Steve Reich, or Phillip Glass.

Hamish: What is a movie you think everyone should watch?

Irita: Amadeus, because it’s always important to never take yourself too seriously; and They Live by John Carpenter, because I think it’s important to understand the times that we’re living in.

Sade: Head On by Faith Akin and Bad Timing by Nicolas Roeg.

Ellie: I thought Dunkirk was pretty epic.

Visit AH-HA.us

Hamish: What reading material is currently on your nightstand/tour bus?

Sade: Thurston Moore’s memoir, Sonic Life. And just picked up Art Sex Music by Cosey Fanni Tutti.

Irita: I recently acquired Goth—A History by Lol Tolhurst, co-founder of the Cure.

Ellie: Well, right now I’m in school for clinical counseling so it’s a lot of looking inward, self improvement stuff, along with communication and educational material. But that's kind of what I like to read anyway. I love the human psyche, human connection, and how people all operate differently.

Hamish: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

Irita: Anything by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

Ellie: Woman Ironing from Picasso’s blue period.

Sade: Ummmm, woa… A Goya like the Nude Maja, or Saturn Devouring His Son. Origin of the World by Courbet would be a fun one to hang up. Something like The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch would be epic.

Hamish: Tell us four people (living or dead) you'd invite to a dream dinner party—and where you'd host it.

Ellie: I’d honestly love to have my grandparents all together. I’d ask them about all the family history and what they were up to at my age. I’d also probably get chewed out for a number of things but it would be funny.

Sade: I'd invite Mussorgsky, Mary Shelley, Baudelaire, and Pasolini. Maybe we’d have a feast in Sardinia or Capri by the pool in front of the ocean?

Irita: Anthony Bourdain, Vivienne Westwood, Patricia Morrison, and David Lynch— inside the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Hamish: Lastly, you get to book 5 bands/musicians (past or present) to appear on a single lineup—who do you choose?

Sade: Joy Division, These Immortal Souls, Death in June, The Fall, Big Black.

Ellie: Mortician, Mammoth Grinder, Power Trip, Undergang, and… Kim Petras. I love her.

Irita: The Velvet Underground, Rowland S. Howard, Wipers, Galaxie 500, and Spacemen 3.

— Paid subscribers can see bonus questions and photos, below. Thanks to all who support.

Hamish: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice what would it be?