W.I.T.C.H.

FRI SEP 18 | 8 PM | STARLAND YARD

Western rock music was popular in the southern African nation of Zambia when independence was declared in 1964. To promote and celebrate national culture and unity, new president Kenneth Kaunda introduced the slogan “One Zambia, One Nation.”

A decade later, he decreed that 95% of the music played on radio stations be Zambian in origin. This well-intentioned, if somewhat heavy-handed, approach fed the already flourishing Zamrock scene.

Based on British and American rock, and assisted by an influx of electric guitars and amps paid for with spreading wealth from a late ‘60s copper boom, the style is distinct without being exotic or inaccessible to rock fans.

W.I.T.C.H., for We Intend To Cause Havoc, was a leader of the movement. Its 1972 debut and 1974 follow-up, Introduction and In The Past, are two juicy slabs of raw, psychedelic garage rock. Their darker and heavier third LP, Lazy Bones!!, gained the most attention and acclaim, deservedly so.

The maturity arc from the earlier records is clear without losing the soul and energy. Founder Jagari Chanda stuck around for two more records, exploring different rhythms and melodies before the band closed with two ‘80s disco-oriented albums too late to ride that wave.

After a brief 28-year hiatus, Jagari reformed W.I.T.C.H. with latter-day member Patrick Mwondela and a quartet of younger European collaborators. The 2023 comeback LP, Zango, maintains the solid Zamrock vibe with just a smidge of modern polish. The successful tour proved the revival had legs. 2025’s Sogolo picks up where Zango left off.

Despite the four-decade break in recorded material, it all sounds incredibly consistent. Song after song, the familiar Western rock foundation is treated to one unexpected swerve or sound after another. As good as culture clash gets, and a highly recommended show.

 

DOLETTE MCDONALD ENSEMBLE

THU SEP 17 | 7:30 PM | NICKEL & OAK

Talking Heads, The Police, Sting, the Rolling Stones, Laurie Anderson, and Latin superstar Juan Gabriel all called on Dolette McDonald when they needed another great voice in the room. After decades spent making famous people sound better, the Savannah resident now gets to put her own stamp on the material.

The Dolette McDonald Ensemble works from a wide songbook of pop, jazz, blues, and standards. Familiar tunes get the Dolette treatment, shaped around a voice that spent years trading lessons with some of the best musicians on the planet.

At a recent show, she reached back into her own history with Sting’s It’s Probably Me, then moved easily into Billie Holiday territory with Don’t Explain. Her drummer even stepped out front to sing one, reinforcing that this is an ensemble rather than a singer with anonymous hired hands.

It’s a collection of pros. Tight arrangements leave enough breathing room for Dolette’s personality and wisdom to shine. The range of material matches her experience, so don’t even try to guess what’s next.

 

ENOX + KAIJU + THIRST + RECTOPLASM + SORRY FOR THE MESS

SAT SEP 19 | 7 PM | COASTAL EMPIRE BEER CO.

It may be less than two weeks before the 1/2 Way to AURA Fest fest, a two-day, 16-band onslaught, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for yet another five-band crusher. Multi-band, reasonably priced shows are AURA’s specialty.

Kaiju is a very well-known quantity in Savannah. Their groove-oriented metalcore is a raging beast, consuming eardrums like a swarm of locusts polishing off a field of crops. Sorry for the Mess swaps out the groove for hardcore breakdowns, but is equal in rage and intensity.

Joining the local brutality aficionados is a trio of out-of-towners looking for an open patch of head to stomp. ENOX was smart enough to escape New Jersey for the good life in Athens, Georgia. Their progressive metalcore is injected with hardcore rage and djent precision, quite a task, akin to herding 5,000 cats on meth.

Frontman Michael Guevarez has barbed wire vocal cords and a ton of charisma. Their recent release, Polarize, refines the process heard on their debut with even better production and stronger bits of melody if you look for it.

Thirst, from West Palm Beach, rolled through town in May and returns to destroy any hopeless moments of silence they may have left undisturbed. Natasha Rogers blurs the gender line with harsh vocals that occasionally let up to mere shrieks of torment. The sound is menacing, like a sneaky li’l Abrams tank ready to roll all over your face.

At some point in the show, you’ll be all, “this heavy shit is unreal, but what about some Soda City Slam?” That’s the hole Rectoplasm fills.

A ridiculously heavy blend of brutal death metal, hardcore, and straight-up cacophony, the band with the best name in the universe serves as a metaphorical warning not to get too close to an open wound near a particular body exit to avoid being sprayed with…Rectoplasm. You’ve been warned.

 

MJT + ARKOSE

FRI SEP 18 | 7:30 PM | BROUGHTON STREET BOWL & BREW

MJT rocked the Bowl & Brew in April, so no surprise they’re invited back. The Godfrey brothers cover all the bases. Jordan kills on drums, David wails on guitar, and Matt handles keys and synth bass with enough skill and dexterity to make Geddy Lee smile.

With origins in progressive alternative rock, they’ve matured into a muscular soul-rock blend with the chops to make genre-hopping a breeze.

Atlanta’s Arkose shares some similarities. Tad Adams and Noah Sills didn’t grow up in the same household like the Godfreys did, but they’ve been collaborating since playing in three bands during high school. One was a jazz band, and that’s what they took to. Intent on playing it all, their current acid-jazz ensemble draws from R&B, funk, hip-hop, rock, and house.

To cover it all, the live show lends itself to improvisation, with few avenues left unexplored. Even the name underscores the intent. Arkose is a sedimentary rock formed largely from fragments of other rocks, an almost perfect description of what the duo does musically.  

 

 

KIDD G

THU SEP 17 | 8 PM | VICTORY NORTH

By the early 2010s, the influence of hip-hop in modern country music phrasing and vocal delivery was becoming a thing. In 2012, Florida Georgia Line worked rap directly into its songs, while Sam Hunt pushed even further with a speaking-singing delivery influenced as much by Usher and Nelly as Willie and Merle.

Kidd G throws this gearbox in reverse. Raised in tiny Hamilton, Georgia, he recorded DIY melodic rap songs as a Juice WRLD-worshipping teenager.

By 2020, his single Dirt Road was like a country version of the sound Beck hit alternative gold with on Loser. Sparse hip-hop beats and subtle Auto-Tune effects gird Kidd’s clean bro-country voice. The breakup-makeup story doesn’t break ground, but the chill vibe and crossover intentions work. It went viral and landed on the country charts.

Sticking with the formula, he wasted no time proving it wasn’t a novelty. The 2020 EP Teenage Dream reached No. 41 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and 2021’s Down Home Boy LP reached No. 15. The reverse crossover has clearly worked.

 – by Frank Ricci