“Anyone that wants and feels the need for some empowerment or is curious about their more spiritual side, their witchy side. To us, music is very much like magic work… Also, anyone angry who needs an outlet to rage together,” says Nikoline Spjelkavik, guitarist, vocalist, and one-third of feminist Norwegian Black Metal trio Witch Club Satan when I ask who she’s hoping to show up for Founding of the North American Coven, the band’s first-ever North American tour, which kicks off this coming Wednesday, May 27th, at our very own Underground Arts. However, during our recent chat (via Google Meet), she tells me that potential concertgoers shouldn’t feel intimidated by the black metal label: “In Scandinavia, our crowd is not really a metal crowd, we’re like a gateway into heavy music. It doesn’t matter if you’re not super familiar with black metal, it can be a cool introduction.” I go on to tell her that I’ve been describing the group as “the black metal Pussy Riot,” which she agrees is a fair and complimentary characterization.
Earlier this week, Witch Club Satan released their latest single, “The Kids Will Kill Us,” along with their fifth Official Music Video, to accompany the track. When I ask Nikoline what inspires the band’s visuals, which embody the same rage and resistance as their music, she tells me, “What is so wonderful about stepping into the black metal world is it has such a strong aesthetic, so we’re twisting that and seeing how far we can get away from that and challenge that, but also mix it up like a joker, in a way… A lot of black metal draws inspiration from the woods, but to us the sea is even more inspiring, so there’s a lot of that.” But she also admits that the visuals are equally inspired by even older traditions: “Fairy tales, traditional lure from where we come from… In Norway, the witch trials were extremely brutal, especially in northern Norway, where I’m from, and they’re things I’ve been thinking about for a lot of my life.”
“The Kids Will Kill Us” is the group’s second single – following last summer’s “You Wildflower” – to drop since Witch Club Satan released their self-titled debut full-length in 2024 (There is, apparently, a sophomore LP in the works…), something which Nikoline tells me felt like a significant milestone for the trio (also comprised of drummer/vocalist Johanna Holt Kleive and bassist/vocalist Victoria Røising, who has to sit out the North American jaunt on account of just having twins), especially considering their backgrounds: “We felt like it was important to make an album because it has been a bit difficult to be taken seriously as a band, because we come from theatre.” However, the three have already made quite an impression on the music world: “The cycle of Witch Club Satan has been so short and small so far, but we’ve played Hellfest and Roskilde, which are some of the most important metal festivals in Europe.” But she says that the individual reactions the group has gotten have proven to be the most meaningful.
“The highlight has been the meetings with the fans and the feedback… To me, the ones that stand out the most are when people experience something spiritual. We met a woman who struggled getting pregnant for years and felt something happening at the gig in Norway, and the next cycle she was pregnant… I know that’s not really how things work [laughs], but just her acknowledging the shift in her body, it was truly magical.”
And while this may be the most memorable reaction an audience member has had to the trio, Nikoline emphasizes that a Witch Club Satan performance is never a traditional metal show: “We don’t even say ‘concert,’ we say ‘ritual.’ It’s supposed to open up all the senses of the partaker, open up a universe. We will always emphasize what we wear and the lighting and the actions on stage to create a universe.” But she tells me it’s the connections that are most important: “We try to create new meetings and a temporary community. What’s most emphasized is the community.” The band’s official website states, “We never wanted to become celestial beings far away from you on a stage. Our deepest wish for this band, this collective of witches, was always to grow a community/movement of more witches, who believe in the power of music and rituals.” And she says that there is one track off of Witch Club Satan’s debut that seems to best embody all of that in a live setting.
“My favorite song to play live is ‘Black Metal is Krig.’ It’s our battle song. We have an intro to that song saying where we stand with society at the moment, whatever’s happening in the world at the time, and it changes with what country we’re in. It’s a peace song in a way but also a war song. It always feels very good to do that song. And, like most of our songs, the lyrics are very much written like spells, very repetitive.”
I’m curious if Witch Club Satan feels as though they have any especially kindred spirits in black metal today, and Nikoline says there is another Norwegian band that they’re big fans of: “ROSA FAENSKAP, their debut album, Jeg blir til deg, it’s black metal, but it’s really pink metal… Lyrically, they’re more of an emo band in a way, not all death and nihilism.” She goes on to explain, “Norwegian black metal was infamous and the history is really quite awful, along with the politics… The history is something we’re kind of going against.” But there’s another artist with whom the band also feels a profound connection (who I met in 2021) who Witch Club Satan will actually be bringing along for the first half of the Founding of the North American Coven, including May 27th at Underground Arts, a venue Nikoline tells me feels perfect for the tour (“Smaller clubs are personally my favorite. When the cap goes over 700, it shifts and it’s harder to make a true ritual.”)
“Penelope Trappes has basically been on top of our wishlist of anyone to do support for us from the beginning. We did one show in Stockholm with her. What she represents to me is magic and the mythical and dreamscapes. To me, she’s really like a shaman. It’s about taking people on a journey, through the gates. And her music can be the perfect portal for opening up what we’re presenting. She’s a magician.”
*Get your tickets here.
