Hammer Witch

The band was founded in New Orleans, Louisiana, back in 1985, by bassist/ Wayne Abney, guitarist/vocalist /Frankie Dee, drummer/Terry Sims, and guitarist/ George David. Originally a 5 piece band, (vocalist's name unavailable) the band's core 80's line up was forged after Frankie, Wayne, George and Terry decided to go four piece. With all new material and enough songs for a complete set of their own music the band toured the New Orleans area circuit doing the club scene and opening for national acts when possible. After recording their first demo the realization set in that the band needed to explore new territories and expand its horizons because the material proved to be too brutal for the slower paced scene and commercialized market of their surroundings.



Former Frankie Dee bandmate from "Trashed", Bo Topousis had since moved to Ft. Worth, Texas and formed the band "Irun" consisting of displaced Louisiana musicians seeking a more liberal metal environment. Upon seeing the scene, Bo urged his friends in Hammer Witch to "come to the promised land" of DFW which they did in late 85-early 86. When Irun, after going back to Louisiana briefly, broke up in late '86, Guitarist/Sound Engineer Topousis went back to Texas to be H.W.'s sound engineer while looking for a new band. When George unexpectedly left Hammer Witch, Bo stepped in as guitarist and brought Irun's drummer Sal Torneo in to replace Terry. The "indulgences" of the 80's and the lack of creative input afforded into the already established Hammer Witch, proved too much for Topousis who left the group in February of '88 thus beginning the 3 piece format of the band, consisting of Wayne Abney, Frankie Dee, and Sal Torneo.



They performed frequently at Savvy's and later on, at the legendary Joe's Garage, in Ft. Worth, TX. Gradually, they would pummel the DFW area whenever and where ever they could. They were doing Judas Priest and Iron Maiden covers, along with original material from their album to be released in 1987, "Return To Salem". That album introduced the new 3-piece format. It had received quite a bit of airplay on short lived metal station, Z-ROCK and later became a collector’s item. They had already built a decent following, when personal differences resulted in the exit of Frankie in late 1989.
Wayne took over vocals and by word of mouth, Darrin Kobetich was brought on board as guitar player. He had jammed with them onstage at Joe's two years before, but ended up joining the ill-fated reincarnation of one of DFW's pioneer metal bands, Boss Tweed. Needless to say, he wasn't going to pass up a second chance with these dudes from "The Swamp". They immediately started working on new material and dominating Joe's Garage - along with other thrash bands of the day, Gammacide, Malignancy, Rotting Corpse, Rigor Mortis, Crucifix, Morbid Scream - to name but a few.
In 1991, they released "Legacy Of Pain", which moved the band into a totally new direction from the first release. This heavier more aggressive thrash metal forged the Hammer Witch Legacy on the 90’s scene. This release was produced in cassette format only with hopes of securing the right deal. When shopping for labels, the band was told thrash was on it's way out, giving way to death metal. Mounting conflicts and differences in direction within the band also hindered further progress. This all resulted in poor promotion of Hammer Witch and very little distribution of the cassette.
One last shot in the arm; Scott Shelby, lead guitar player from Gammacide joined the line up in 1993 and helped fill out the live sound during the last year of the band's existence. He recorded one song with the band entitled "Carve Your Own Doom". That was released on a cassette as well - one song! Yep.
1994 SAW THE END OF HAMMER WITCH. There are a few unfinished songs which never saw the light of . . . the recording studio. The only known recordings are on video of a 1993 gig at Dallas City Limits, with poor sound quality. Two of those songs are entitled, "Indulge In Madness" and "Epitome Of Hate". At some point in the future, that footage may released . . . we'll see.
Darrin and Sal went on to form Amillion Pounds with brother Adam Kobetich (who also did the cover art for "Legacy") on vox, guitar and banjo - and bassist Chance Lehman. After 10 years and two(and a half) recordings the band called it quits. Since then, Darrin has been devoting his time to recording solo acoustic guitar albums and touring. Sal has played with rock band, The Stink and is currently with Max Cady.
Wayne and Scott formed Null & Void and eventually Wayne put together another band, Mother Thumb. Both projects were short lived. Since then, Wayne survived Hurricane Katrina and a near fatal motorcycle accident. He is currently working on new tunes for an upcoming project.



After much demand over recent years, (which started with myspace.com/hammerwitch, built by Darrin) The "Legacy" lives on with the newly remastered cd release of "Legacy Of Pain"!
This is music that needs to be heard and never received the distribution it shoulda, woulda, could have, back in the day !!!!
Get your copy now !!!!