L.A. Witch and Blackwater Holylight Hang Out

Sade Sanchez is the vocalist and guitarist of the LA rock band L.A. Witch; Sunny Faris is the bassist/guitarist and vocalist of the formerly Portland-based, now LA-based rock band Blackwater Holylight. Both bands put out new music last month — L.A. Witch released their record DOGGOD and Blackwater Holylight put out the EP If Only You Knew — on their shared label, Suicide Squeeze Records. The two got together to catch up about Blackwater signing to the label, their new records, and more. 
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music

Sade Sanchez: So, we’re sitting together and hanging out. The last time we hung out was probably four months ago, maybe a month or two before you guys switched on to Suicide Squeeze. Which was kind of the reason why we were hanging out, right?

Sunny Faris: Yeah. That conversation was really helpful. It was crazy for us, being in Portland for as long as we were. Then when we moved here, it was kind of the same time that we fulfilled our contract with RidingEasy, so it was this really big, unknown time. There were a lot of labels that we were interested in, but it was really cool when David [Dickenson, Suicide Squeeze founder] knocked on our door, because I know you guys and have had so many friends on that label. So it was really fun to be able to actually have conversations with people, and everyone was like, “Obviously, do it.”

Sade: Yeah, when you reached out, I was like, “Oh, hell yeah.” We already knew each other. We had played shows in — where was it? 

Sunny: San Francisco and… Ventura?

Sade: Yeah. And it was cool because at those shows, it had been a while since I had seen you guys, but being in the green room, it felt like we were all part of the same band. 

Sunny: I know!

Sade: So it was like, “Oh, this already feels like family.” 

Sunny: Yeah, we’re stoked. I mean, we had no plan after RidingEasy, and all we know is all of the labels that our homies have worked with. And a lot of our friends are, like, metal metal, you know? Like, actual metal, not whatever metal we’re doing. Musically, the rosters didn’t make as much sense. And we felt that way about Suicide Squeeze at first, but then looking into it, David has worked with so many heavy bands throughout the years, and he’s been doing this for such a long time, and the diversity of the label is actually what was really appealing to us. Because he can put out this huge plethora of music and have this following, and it gets everyone to have eyes on other bands that they wouldn’t necessarily know of otherwise. So it’s cool to be a part of this diverse group. And that’s something that you had talked about when we first sat down. It just feels good to meet new people and bring other people out to our shows. We’re really stoked.

Sade: I’m glad. And you guys just released an EP. I listened to it, and it’s really cool. I really like the second track, “Torn Reckless.” 

Sunny: Thanks! We started recording those songs last year. The EP is kind of interesting, because there’s two songs on one half by one producer, and then there’s two songs on the other half by a separate producer. We had gone in to do those songs as demos, and they ended up being really good recordings. Then we started working with David, so we were like, “We have these recordings, let’s put them out instead of going and rerecording some of them.” Which we’re about to do too. But, yeah, it was kind of a collection of things that we had already had, so it felt right to put it out. And it’s been a minute since we had released anything. I know it’s been a minute for you guys, too — your album just came out as well, and it’s a full length. How many songs is it? 

Sade: Nine songs. 

Sunny: Your guys’ last record was…?

Sade: It was four years ago. It was during COVID, 2020.

Sunny: So we’re kind of in the same boat. It’s been a minute since we put anything out. And you guys were touring like fucking crazy for a while.

Sade: Yeah, which I think is part of the reason. We were doing an interview yesterday and someone asked us why it had been a while, and I was like, “Yeah, why did it take us so long?” And then I remembered: duh, we were touring for three years on Play With Fire. Because we released it during COVID and everything was shut down, so when things opened up again, we were back on the cycle. Before we went into the studio, we were doing one European tour that was still on Play With Fire, and that was three years after it had been released. So I think COVID just did a lot of weird shit to the music world.

Sunny: Yeah, we’ve gotten that question a lot, because our first three records came out pretty quick. I think we released released one in 2018, 2019 and 2021, so people have been like, “Why has it been a minute?” And it’s like, “Well, we recorded a record during COVID, and then we started touring immediately after COVID” — which was not the wisest idea, because we did this European tour right after November of 2021, and the regulations were still changing country to country, and we had to cancel stuff halfway through. We had to, like, get the fuck out of Switzerland because the regulations had changed that morning.

Sade: Having to get specific COVID tests before entering certain countries. 

Sunny: Yeah, it was crazy. But then we moved here, and we’ve worked with different managers and different producers and did all these different demos… So we were just trying to figure out what the fuck we were doing.

Sade: I get it.

Sunny: Sometimes people are like, “Why didn’t you just bust out another album super fast?”

Sade: [Laughs.] Because we’re living our lives. 

Sunny: Because I’m a human. Also, I know plenty of people that just shit out songs, and I’m very envious of that. Sometimes we have that experience — sometimes it’s like, “Oops, we just wrote a really cool song in 20 minutes.” But for the most part, this shit takes me time. And you have to do the artist thing where you question it 500 times and then you rewrite it, and then you restructure it, and you do all the things. I feel like you guys can relate to that. 

Sade: For sure. 

Sunny: I had one question: What is one of the most vulnerable songs you’ve written, new or old, and what helps you support it when you’re playing live?

Sade: Honestly, I think that “DOGGOD” is probably lyrically one of the most vulnerable songs that I’ve ever done in my life. 

Sunny: Good for you. 

Sade: I think I reached a point where I was OK with that vulnerability. I was like, “Yeah, I’m a human being. I have these fucked up feelings. I have feelings of love, feelings of sadness, feelings of death even.” And that’s where I used to be a little bit… not “ashamed,” but maybe embarrassed, or something. Or, you know, society is like, “You’re sensitive.” It’s like, “Yeah, I’m sensitive. I’m a human being.” What the fuck else am I going to write about? What else do I know more than my own true feelings? So I might as well put that out there and be honest. And that’s a really cool thing to be able to do as an artist, because a lot of people don’t have that opportunity to be on a stage and play songs and put this energy out into the world so that other people can connect to it, and other people can be inspired by it.

Sunny: Have you played that one live much?

Sade: We haven’t really played any of the new songs live. I think we played maybe one of them on our European tour. We thought that we would start preparing by playing them live to go into the studio, but then we kind of got scared and were like, “No, we shouldn’t be playing them live. Let’s wait.”

Sunny: So you’ll have to dip into really feeling that on stage. I ask that because in my experience, every song is vulnerable, but the ones that hit extra hard and are really personal for me — there’s been so many times where I’ve choked up on stage and I’ve cried while we’re trying to perform. It’s really fucking hard to be on stage and be feeling these really big feelings, and just feel like you’re standing there with your pants pulled down in front of everyone. So I had to have this learning curve of, OK, if I’m going to be a person and make the type of art that I do and have it be really personal and scary and vulnerable, what is going to help me get through that on stage? Because you’re sort of reliving it every time you perform it, and some nights are more intense than others. 

Sade: Yeah, I’ve definitely had moments where I was like, Shit, I’m fucking crying. Hopefully nobody can see this shit right now. We’ll see what happens. I’m sure there’ll be moments like that in the future for myself. I think I just have to accept it and be like, “Whatever, I fucking cried. So what?” But yeah, I know exactly what you mean. When you’re singing and you’re putting your fucking heart out there, it is like you’re reliving that, because you’re trying to connect to that feeling of the time when you wrote the song. 

Sunny: It’s kind of this cool superpower, in a way. Because I think that when you’re watching someone perform and you see them go back to this place, it does something to you as an audience member. And I think that we can both say that we’ve looked out into the audience, and you see people seeing you, and it just creates this powerful connection between you and the audience. People interpret it into their own lives and make meaning out of it in their own way, and that’s what makes it so special to me. It’s a cool thing to be able to witness. And I just get curious about how that is for everyone, because I think that there’s a lot of different ways to support yourself through that. For me, I think just knowing that I’m on stage with my band members, I’m like, My best friends are right here, they don’t care if I get emotional. I’m not worried about people judging me, because I’m like, OK, I’ve got my sisters, so I can say this scary stuff to a bunch of strangers.

Sade: Yeah. It’s true what you said about it being like a superpower. The beauty of music is that it’s like a language and people come to connect. So you want to be honest and you want to people to feel that honesty. There’s been times where I’ve seen shows and I’m like, Dude, I feel nothing right now. The show is great, there’s energy, but it feels empty. 

Sunny: That’s also a really real experience. OK, I have another question. This is a sillier one: What’s your most embarrassing pee story on tour?

Sade: An embarrassing pee story? I don’t know. I feel like there’s gotta be a pee story somewhere. Oh, my god…

Sunny: [Laughs.] I feel like we’ve had so many close calls. I was talking about this the other day with a friend, about being a “pee pee band.” Because we all just have to stop so much.

Sade: [Laughs.] 

Sunny: Any drive, it’s like, “OK, we’re going to add on another two hours because everyone’s gonna have to pee, but it’s never gonna be at the same time.”

Sade: We always try to warn whoever’s the tour manager, and I don’t think they realize… We’ve joked about getting sponsored by Shewee — but I think it’s you guys who told us that they don’t work!

Sunny: [Laughs.] They definitely don’t. I’ve tried using Shewee before and it just makes it go everywhere. But I have also, in terms of superpowers, gained the power of being able to pop a squat in any given moment in public. Which is not a good thing to do, but…

Sade: You gotta do what you gotta do. We gotta hydrate, you know? 

Sunny: And we’re not dudes, so we can’t do the peeing in a bottle.

Sade: I have a question for you. You have a cover on the EP, right? 

Sunny: Mhm. 

Sade: Of Radiohead [“All I Need”]. Which is a cool song. At first I couldn’t tell, but then I was like, Wait, these lyrics sound really familiar. It’s a fucking sick ass cover. It’s really hard to do covers — and I know because we did a Gun Club one, and it was a whole challenge. What made you choose this particular song?

Sunny: I’ve always loved that song. It’s just a really beautiful song. And I think it was a good amount of time ago that I texted them a screenshot of the song, listening to it on Spotify, and was like, “We should cover this.” Sarah [McKenna] was like, “I love that song, let’s do it,” and everyone was like, “Yeah!” It was like, “Let’s do this thing!” And then we didn’t talk about it for six months. But then I think it was Mikayla [Mayhew] that started to figure out the bassline.

Sade: So it just kind of happened naturally.

Sunny: Yeah, it did. But then as soon as we started doing it, I got kind of nervous. I don’t know if the other girls were thinking about it as much, but I was like, Fuck, this is kind of a bold move to be covering Radiohead. I mean, any cover, you obviously want to give the band justice, but I’m like, “This is Radiohead guys, we can’t fuck this one up.”

Sade: Well, you definitely didn’t. It’s really hard to do covers, because like you said, you’re trying to do the band justice, but you’re also trying to do your own version that still sounds like you. You guys did a really good job.

Sunny: Thank you. OK, I have another question for you, which someone asked me a few weeks ago and I thought it was a good question. What was something unexpected that happened while you were writing or recording your record?

Sade: I feel like we planned it so hardcore that everything that we did in terms of production was extremely deliberate. We had been talking with the producer and exchanging songs of what we were aiming for with the drum sound, the guitar sound, the bass, and it came out exactly what we had intended. The only thing I can think of is that the bass was put through a Minimoog, which I was like, “Woah, I didn’t know you could do that!” But aside from that — because also, we were recording in Paris, so we were really strict on the time. So we had to be really organized. 

Sunny: How many days were you guys in the studio?

Sade: Ten days. And, you know, the first day or two, it’s just setting up the drums and shit.

Sunny: That’s cool. You guys had obviously been working on this record for a long time, talking about it for a long time, so it makes sense.

Sade: One other thing I can think of is that the song that we thought was going to be the easiest actually turned out to be the hardest.

Sunny: Ooh, one of those!

Sade: I was like, “What the fuck? Why this song?” We practiced it, it’s not that hard to do. That was “777.” For whatever reason, it just was a nightmare. I think we spent a whole day on it, which is not really like us. Normally, we can work really quickly. But with that one, we were super frustrated.

Sunny: Got stuck. 

Sade: Yeah, I don’t know what happened. But for the most part, I think we really stuck to what we had envisioned for the record. What about you guys? Did you have anything unexpected for those recordings?

Sunny: Well, for the EP, I guess releasing it was kind of unexpected. Because we recorded all those initially to be demos, and to kind of just get the experience of working with different producers and different studios around LA, which was new for us, and dip our toes in some shit that we hadn’t done before. But when we were talking with David, we decided, “Well, we have these songs, we might as well release them.” So we actually had to scramble like crazy to get them mastered. It was just this whole get-it-all-together-in-a-week kind of thing. So that was a cool surprise. It was like, “Well, I’m glad that we did a good job on these demos, because they’re not demos anymore now.”

Sade: They’re just a real thing.

Sunny: Yeah. A couple of the songs, “Wandering Lost” and “Fate Is Forward,” were songs that were intended to be on the record that we’re going to go record right now — which has also just changed a lot, because we’ve spent so much time on it. We’ve written and rewritten and scratched things and blah blah blah…

OK, I have one more question for you. A term that we use to describe shithead sound guys is when you get the “girls can’t play music” treatment — you know, when you load in and the sound guy is just like, “Oh, you’re the band?”

Sade: Oh, yeah.

Sunny: Do you have any stories about the worst “girls can’t play music” treatment sound guy? 

Sade: Oh, god, I do. 

Sunny: [Laughs.] I’m sure you have a million.

Sade: I mean, there’s one in particular. This was in Las Vegas, where I was asking for something in my monitor — the band before us, the vocals were similar to what we wanted, and we had the same pedal. And he was acting like he couldn’t do it, and he started arguing with me during the live show. He shut off the sound and the crowd was booing him. After the show, I was trying to be like, “Dude, that was really fucked up.” He got in my face, so I reacted because I felt threatened. My reaction was — you know, whatever. I chose violence for sure. 

Sunny: [Laughs.]

Sade: So I got kicked out of the venue. They were threatening to call the cops and shit. But I met one of our biggest fans at the time, who has now become a lifelong friend. He was this crazy gay guy who was shouting the whole time, really flamboyant, fucking wild animal. I was kind of scared of him because I was like, Dude, this guy’s fucking out of control. But he went outside, helped me take my gear out, and waited with me out there. 

Sunny: Oh, angel. 

Sade: Yeah. And to this day — I mean, he’s one of the people thanked on the record. He’s been a close friend of ours for years.

Sunny: That’s amazing.

Sade: Brandon, shout out to you. But I’m sure you guys deal with that shit all the time, too.

Sunny: Yeah. We’ve never had the sound shut off mid-show — that’s crazy. 

Sade: That was gnarly. I’d never experienced anything like that.

Sunny: But we’ve definitely had, when we’re loading our stuff in, just eye rolls. We’ve had people ask us if they need to plug our gear in for us, or if we know how to do that.

Sade: Try to help you with your tone. [Laughs.] 

Sunny: Yeah, yeah. Or, we played a show a few months ago and we had Kat, our synth fill-in playing with us, and she’s new to live shows. She fills in for Sarah when Sarah can’t go on tour. She was talking to the sound guy, and the sound guy was kind of being like, “This is as much as I can give you in the monitor.” And I knew that wasn’t true, because it was really fucking quiet, but Kat was like, “OK, well, if that’s good enough for you, I guess it’s good for me.” And I was like, “No, no, no. It actually doesn’t matter what you want, it’s what she needs, so we’re uninterested in your opinion. Can you just listen to her?” And he got really bummed about that. And then of course, we played our show and he was like, “That was amazing, that was so cool!” We get mostly that, where you walk in and people are really confused like, “Oh, what are these girls gonna do?” And then you play a heavy, loud as fuck show and they’re like, “That was crazy!”

Sade: That’s the best thing.

Sunny: It’s like, can you just be nice from the beginning?

Sade: Yeah. I kind of love that feeling, though. When I get those kind of reactions, I’m just like, “That’s cool. Wait ‘til we play and you see our crowd.”

Sunny: Yeah, and then you can say something. But I definitely think anyone in a band has had that experience. And also, I know that it is not easy being a sound person either. Because on the contrary, you’re dealing with a lot of egotistical musicians that are treating you like shit, playing to a crowd of 20 people. So we’re all allowed to have our feelings. But I just think it’s always funny when you get the eye rolls at first, and then they’re trying to kiss your ass at the end of it.

Sade: Well, I guess we’re reaching our time limit. 

Sunny: Thanks, everybody.

Sade: Over and out!