Two Witches reflects on ‘The Vampire’s Kiss’ more than 30 years after its release.
As promised in our second edition of Cápsula, the band’s founder, Jyrki Witch (vocals), along with current members Miss Blueberry (vocals and synthesizers) and Marko Gravehill (guitar), spoke with us regarding the 30th anniversary of the release of The Vampire’s Kiss (1993). They commented on the reception from both European and Brazilian audiences, and shared behind-the-scenes stories about the recording and release of the material. Once again, my thanks to the band for their kindness! Did you already know the band? Just discovering them now? Tell us what you thought of the interview and which artist you’d like to see here next! Rewinding The Finnish band was originally created by vocalist and songwriter Jyrki Witch and singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Anne Nurmi, who left the band shortly after the album’s release to join Lacrimosa. Two Witches‘ lyrics explore themes such as vampirism, psychological horror, fear, and sexuality. With a rawer, edgier, and less commercial sound, Two Witches brings a striking and unique tone to gothic music. This ’93 record certainly deserves a place of honor, alternating between Jyrki’s vocals and vocal passages by Anne and Nauku (the second backing vocalist who would leave the band a few years later), blending elements of darkwave and punk. The Vampire’s Kiss – The Release Jyrki shared some comments regarding the album’s release before the interview itself; his full remarks follow below: How has the band’s sound evolved since the 90s? Have your influences changed? Jyrki: Of course, each player has brought their own influence on the band’s sound and songs. I’m the only one left in the band from the 90s lineup. Studio technology has also changed a lot and that affects the sound. Before, we had to do everything completely in advance and then we just went to the studio to record the songs quickly. If the playing went wrong or something else unexpected happened, we had to leave all the mistakes on record because we didn’t have the money to pay for new studio days. Now we can record everything in home studios. Our guitarist Marko Hautamäki joined the band 2001 and nowadays he is also composing most of our songs. Miss Blueberry joined 2017 and plays the keyboards. We also have three live musicians; Alarik Valamo (drums), Antti Hermanni (bass) and Haydee Sparks (guitar). Over the years, my influences have certainly changed in many ways, but at some point, they always return to where they started. I still like the same bands, books, movies and other things as I did back in the 80s. Marko Hautamäki: When the line-up has evolved over the years, all new members have obviously brought in some of their own influences. Also the whole music scene has had its own evolution, and that also affects us as music listeners and consequently also as music writers. I don’t think there are any “original” influences whose influence on our music has somehow become any less over the years, but there are plenty more influences in the mix now. Two Witches has always been a more experimental band than people tend to think. In the early days there were experiments with poetry and such. Nowadays we experiment more within the broad “gothic” style and the various musical elements within the larger scene context. That said, our “GoodEvil” album also featured some of the early days’ poetry experiments so we haven’t forsaken our roots in that sense either. Miss Blueberry: I love dancing and I try to inject danceability into our current songs. I would like to bring more rhythms to the songs that would work on the dance floor. How do you see the reception of Two Witches in Brazil compared to Europe? Marko Hautamäki: Apart from audiences behaving very differently in South America vs Europe, we are seeing a big shift in the scene as a whole. The European goth scene has a lot of history but that also tends to make things a bit stagnant. People tend to concentrate on the bands and artists they fell in love with back in the 80s or 90s and don’t seem to care much what has happened since. On the other hand, the 2000s goth/darkwave etc bands seem to be supported mostly by a different audience. They still are within the same scene but the people are mostly different. That means that there is basically the old school vs new school division within the scene. In Brazil and South America in general (along with few other places) the scene is younger and while the influential bands are the same, that kind of division doesn’t seem as drastic and that makes the scene much stronger overall. For Two Witches it shows the immense support and enthusiasm that we are getting from the Brazilian audience. We hope to be back there as soon as possible! Jyrki Witch: I don’t know why, but Two Witches has been more popular in Latin American countries than in Europe since the 90s. Especially in Brazil we have been received very warmly. But of course, we love Latin American countries and our audience in return. If it were financially possible, we would like to play in Brazil every year. Miss Blueberry: There are much more incredible audiences in Brazil than in Europe. Although there has been a warm welcome in Europe, the welcome from Brazilian fans has felt really good. How was Anne Nurmi’s departure to Lacrimosa? Have you kept in touch over the years? Jyrki: Anne wanted to go and see what the world was like outside of our home. She joined Lacrimosa and I continued Two Witches. We were both so young at the time and future seemed to be wide open. Now we have both built our own careers and maybe some of the fans might even like both bands. After Anne left, I decided to continue with Two Witches, Nauku learned to play the keyboards and there were also some other changes in the line-up. It didn’t affect the songwriting or lyric work, but of