Introduction

We Intend To Cause Havoc, acronymized into WITCH, emerged in Zambia during the optimism-filled post-independence days, and for all intents and purposes achieved what they set out to do: their gigs were famously wild, lasting several  hours and whipping the audience up into a frenzy. Their first album, Introduction, begins with a … well, you can guess. With his Jagger-like vocals, singer Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda (he is, in fact, nicknamed after the Rolling Stones frontman) introduces the band members over a relentless organ groove, before Chris “Kims” Mbewe rips it up with his fuzz guitar. The band weaves between chill, bluesy sounds on “Home Town” and “Feeling High,” the cool psych of “Try Me,” or the garage rock of “Like a Chicken.” Their debut album is consistently excellent, but it’s only a small glimpse of what they’d go on to unleash over the next ten years.