Witchfinder General

This Midlands-based New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) group are one of the most under rated bands of the legendary New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene (c1979). Formed in 1979 by Singer Zeeb Parkes and Guitarist Phil Cope, Witchfinder General was heavily influenced by Black Sabbath, with the exception that they used inverted crosses instead of the trademark standard cross used by Black Sabbath. Witchfinder General recorded their debut single Burning a Sinner and followed soon after with Soviet Invasion before being picked up by Heavy Metal Records where they recorded Death Penalty, an album who's cover art led them to great public attention, bringing them a to a greater audince. The album artwork featured a very poular Page 3 nude magazine model Joanne Latham topless on a grave as a witch being confronted by witch hunters played by the band members.

Death Penalty (1982) was a brilliant album that showcased Zeeb's unusual vocal style and Phil Cope's now legendary guitar mastery. They quickly followed with Friends of Hell in 1983 (although the album artwork was a bit of a failure due to the band and photographer getting a late start to the day and missing the moody morning lighting necessary for creating the right atmosphere for a graveyard photograph.) Even so, Friends of Hell contained some of the bands strongest material and furthered their appeal as a band to be reckoned with.

As with most bands of the time there was a desperate need to tour in order to introduce their music to new audiences and therefore establish new revenue. With little to no backing from Heavy Metal Records despite the incredible influence their two feature LP's had on the music world, Witchfinder General soon fell apart and hung up their instruments for good. Metallica, Sound Garden , Electric Wizard and just about every band in the Doom Metal and Stoner Rock scenes claim Witchfinder General as a major seminal influence. Part of their appeal was their incredible mastery of the sound dynamic. The balance they struck between light and heavy made them one of the best of the NWOBHM scene.

Witchfinder General have since reunited (minus Zeeb Parkes - nicknamed due to a regretable pair of zebra striped pants he bought) and the band have released a new studio album titled Resurrected. They have also released never before heard live tracks and have remastered and released their entire catalogue including some really beautiful limited edition vinyl LP packages.

Witchfinder General Lineup

Zeeb Parkes - Lead Vocals '79-'84

Phil Cope - Guitars '79-'84

Johnny Fisher - Bass '79-'80
Live only. Did record with the band but recording was never used.

Steve Kinsell (aka Kid Nimble aka Kid Rimple) - Drums '79-'82
Recorded Burning A Sinner and Soviet Invasion singles.

Kevin McCready (aka Toss) - Bass '81-'82 (replaced Johnny Fisher)
Recorded Burning A Sinner and Soviet Invasion singles.
RIP Kevin!

Woolfy Trope (aka Phil Cope) - Bass (replaced Kevin "Toss" McCready)
Phil played the bass tracks on Death Penalty.

Rod Hawks (aka Corks and Hawk Eye) - Bass '82-'84 (replaced Toss)

Graham Ditchfield - Drums '82-'83 (Replaced Kid Rimple)
Recorded Death Penalty, Friends of Hell albums and Music single.

Dermot Redmond (aka Derm the Germ) - Drums '83-'84
Live only - No studio work with the band.

ALSO - A little history on the man knows as The Witchfinder General

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matthew Hopkins (ca. 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witchhunter whose career flourished during the time of the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witch-Finder General, although this was not a title ever bestowed by Parliament, and conducted witch hunts mainly in the counties of Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and occasionally in other eastern counties of England, namely Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Huntington.

Hopkins' witch-finding career began in March 1645 and lasted until his retirement in 1647. During that period, he and his associates were responsible for more people being hanged for witchcraft than in the previous 100 years, and were solely responsible for the increase in witch trials during those years. It has been estimated that all of the English witch trials between the early 15th and late 18th centuries resulted in fewer than 500 executions for witchcraft. Therefore, presuming the number executed as a result of investigations by Hopkins and his colleague John Stearne is at the lower end of the various estimates, their efforts accounted for about 40 percent of the total, and in the 14 months of their crusade Hopkins and Stearne sent to the gallows more people than all the other witchhunters in the 160 years of persecution in England.

AND - There was a disturbing but fantastic horror film (starring Vincent Price) that came out in 1968.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Witchfinder General is a 1968 British horror film directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, and Hilary Dwyer. The screenplay was by Reeves and Tom Baker based on Ronald Bassett's novel of the same name. Made on a low budget of under £100,000, the movie was coproduced by Tigon British Film Productions and American International Pictures. The story details the heavily fictionalized murderous witch-hunting exploits of Matthew Hopkins, a 17th century English lawyer who claimed to have been appointed as a "Witch-finder Generall" by Parliament during the English Civil War to root out sorcery and witchcraft. The film was retitled The Conqueror Worm in the United States in an attempt to link it with Roger Corman's earlier series of Edgar Allan Poe-related films starring Price—although this movie has nothing to do with any of Poe's stories, and only briefly alludes to his poem.

Director Reeves featured many scenes of intense onscreen torture and violence that were considered unusually sadistic at the time. Upon its theatrical release throughout the spring and summer of 1968, the movie’s gruesome content was met with disgust by several film critics in the UK, despite having been extensively censored by the British Board of Film Censors. In the U.S., the film was shown virtually intact and was a box office success, but it was almost completely ignored by reviewers.

The film has gradually developed a large cult following, partially attributable to Reeves’s 1969 death from a drug overdose at the age of 25, only nine months after Witchfinder’s release.Over the years, several prominent critics have championed the film, including J. Hoberman, Danny Peary, and Derek Malcolm. In 2005, the magazine Total Film named Witchfinder General the 15th greatest horror film of all time.

		People who bought this t-shirt also bought these items:
		Witchfinder General	NWOBHM	Ram's Head
		Crow	Temptation	Coil

Express yourself while looking and feeling good doing it. Our shirts are not only expressive, but they're also printed using our specially developed environmentally friendly methods. We care about the environment and know there's a whole lot we can do to make this a better world, starting with our own back yard. The blank shirts we print on are made from the finest cotton, and are guaranteed sweatshop free. So get Grumpy and see how good it feels.