Witches In Bikinis

30 Sep 2006, by Sophie Creole, Emergenza writer

Witches in Bikinis were a trip!! Six lovely ladies donned in witch costumes and bikinis took the stage by surprise with their hipster attitude and performance centered rock set. They had excellent compositions that were aided by dance routines, great guitar rifts and a drummer who was on point. Check these guys out at the quarter final of Emergenza shows as well.

Full article:
http://www.emergenza.net/document/news/news.asp?id=2220

You can go to that website and vote for the article, if you are so moved …

- Emergenza Music Festival

September, 2006
By Jodi Lee Reifer

... Trick or treating is for kids. You, ladies and gentlemen, have graduated to rocking out with surfer witches and fang-banging with vampires.
From a Lower East Side rooftop to a former tuberculosis hospital in Sea View, NYC is oozing with eerie, erotic environs for grownups this Halloween.
After all, no one ever really outgrows All Hallow's Eve, insist the masterminds behind these adult scenes.
"There's still a child in everybody," says Bill Rozar, creator of Witches in Bikinis, a theatrical pop band that headlines Saturday's Witches Ball at the Delancey. "It's the one time of year where that inner monster or that inner witch gets to come out."
'DRINKING BLACK MARTINIS'
Halloween cast its spell on Rozar when he was a boy. After college, he played in a rock band, but the guitarist shelved his arena dreams when he started a family and took a corporate America job.
About two years ago, the Brooklynite, now 49 with two teenagers, resurrected his formative fascinations and gave birth to Witches in Bikinis.
They are six hotties in candy-colored bikinis and neon wigs who sing and dance to horror-flick inspired ditties with titles like "Video Vixen Vampire," "Alien Surfer Babes" and the group's eponymous theme song.
"We're not real witches by any means," says Rozar, the outfit's guitarist who jams with a bassist and drummer. "We're really about having fun, but we're also about free expression. Bikinis are sort of the opposite of burkas."
As they take the stage, shapely gams fly, velvet capes swirl, and the ladies rip into lyrics like: "Witches in Bikinis/flying through the air/drinking black martinis/and throwing back their hair."
And they "roast human weenies." Metaphorically, of course.
"It boosts your confidence," says the witch in purple, Julie Betts, 33, a dancer/arts administrator from Park Slope. "You're practically naked and you can be comfortable, and when you realize you're comfortable, there's a sense of power in it."
Sunday at 10:30 p.m., Witches in Bikinis play the 2006 Witches Ball, an authentic celebration of the Wiccan new year at the Delancey, 168 Delancey St., Manhattan. From 6 p.m. to dawn, the Lower East Side club will bounce to live World Music and DJ Joe Usher's mix of house, new wave and punk. Gothic belly dancers, tarot card and palm readers, too. At midnight, a high priestess performs a ritual for revelers to communicate with deceased loved ones.
Admission: $25 at the door; $20 pre-paid online. charmedbystarr.com. Proceeds benefit breast cancer research. Costumes mandatory.
Can't make the ball? Check out Witches in Bikinis on Nov. 17 at 11 p.m. in Martini Red, 387 Van Duzer St.... - Staten Island Advance

October 2006

“The first band I’d like to have you check out this week is Witches In Bikinis. They submitted themselves and how could I refuse? They are described as a theatrical rock band. I guess the theater part is that they all wear bikinis… If you think of a beach movie written by Rob Zombie you might have a pretty good picture of this band. I listened to three of their songs on the submission page and thought they were pretty cool. So if you are in the mood for a sexy dose of the Halloween spirit check out Witches In Bikinis.”

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/10/19/075111.php:

- Blog Critics Magazine

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
http://www.newyorkcool.com/archives/2006/April/theater_2.html#witches

March 2006

A gaggle of gorgeous girlie ghouls in flimsy-wear?
A camp collection of wanna-be drag queen hags--only pretty?
A slightly-scary, always-entertaining, coven of crazy/cuckoo female vixens
Well, all of the above, actually.
Formed in March of 2005, (in Brooklyn of all places!) Witches has grown in stature and reputation and can be seen in full cabaret form at Don’t Tell Mama’s and other locales in the area.
Composer/lyricist William Rozar weaves a concoction of poppy/rocky tunes that pay homage to the Supremes, Frankie and Annette as well as The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The result is a mostly entertaining sound that is sometimes even highly satiric.
Standout numbers include: the rousing ‘Video Vixen Vampire’ that opens the show; the haunting ballad ‘Hold Me, My Little Ghostie;’ the witty ‘Horror Flick Chicks’ and creepily delightful ‘Zombie March.’ The only real misfire musical moment is the redundant ‘Haunted Mansion.’
An audience participation song, ‘Party Like a Chimpanzee’ provides more fun (and prizes as well.)
The witches themselves have a ball onstage and that feeling envelops the audience. The two lead witches do most of the singing. Jules Hartley has a strong voice and presence while Carolyn Demisch tears up the cabaret floor with her powerhouse vocals and spooky/sexy strutting.
Three quarters into the show director Amir Levi appears in near-drag regalia as Popeye Khan, a descendent of Ghengis Kahn. This bit of info provided one of the biggest laughs of the evening and made one long for more cleverisms.
While I would love to see an eventual book tie these irreverent moments together, for now, Witches in Bikinis holds its own because the sexy and talented gals onstage are just so bloody entrancing, infectious and scare-a-licious!
- NY Cool

WITCHES IN BIKINIS
By Christine Werthman
September 2006

Forget all of your Wizard of Oz, Wicked Witch
of the West memories of green skin, shapeless
black robes and wart-covered noses, these
witches are hot. The seven female members of
Witches in Bikinis, a Brooklyn-based
performance group, strut their collective stuff in
brightly colored wigs and bikinis that would
make Glenda blush. Since 2005 the group has
been singing tunes by William Rozar about
Halloween and horror. But these ladies aren't
one-trick ponies: They dance, too. The eye
candy may draw the crowds but the suggestive
moves and lyrics don't hurt: the group's theme
which boasts "I saw witches in bikinis/Wearing
velvet capes/Roasting human weenies/And
stuffing them in crepes." Think of it as a testrun
for Halloween (albeit a little early). It's
never too soon to start figuring out those
costume ideas … And did we mention the
bikinis?
Sept. 29. Kenny's Castaways, 157 Bleecker St.
(betw. Thompson & Sullivan Sts.), 212-979
9762; 10, $7.
Volume 19, Issue 39
©2006 All rights reserved. - NY Press

March 28, 2006
- by Michael Dale

"I saw witches in bikinis
Flying through the air,
Drinking black martinis
And throwing back their hair…

I saw witches in bikinis
Wearing velvet capes,
Roasting human weenies
And stuffing them in crepes."

No, the above verses were not cut from an early draft of the Scottish
play. They’re from the theme song (Remember when pop groups had theme
songs?) of the adorably silly coven of campy cacklers, Witches in
Bikinis.

Combining three beloved staples of 1960’s pop culture – the girl group,
the beach party movie and the low-budget horror flick – Witches in
Bikinis
perform catchy and funny original songs by Bill Rozar, singing to his
recorded music with arrangements heavy on the goofy rock/gothic sound.

They sing love songs (“Hold me, my little ghostie / We got some vampire
kissing to do”), party songs (“They came to Earth / To ride the big
waves
/ Pretty alien surfer babes) and songs about dealing with horny
ectoplasm
(“Spooks on the loose / Tried to goose / My caboose”). A clever number
reminiscent of “Leader of the Pack” has a tearful witch asking Dr.
Frankenstein to sew up her boyfriend who died in a drag racing
accident.
Also very funny is “Horror Flick Chick”, a tribute to the dumb moves
made
by brainless cinema babes who meet gruesome ends.

And yes, they do wear bikinis. Not all the time, but often enough to
justify their name.

Handling lead vocals are the talented pair of Carolyn Demisch and Jules
Hartley, both possessing an attractive pop voice and a keen skill for
comic phrasing. Backing them up is a comic quintet of singers and
dancers:
Julie Betts, Christina Johnson, Emily Reiter, Carrie Thorson (who is
darling in her one lead vocal) and Zoe Schieber. Director/choreographer
Amir Levi creates cute and energetic routines (some choreography is by
the
dancers themselves) drawing on 60’s dance moves, cheerleader drills and
even a bit of The Rockettes. He also appears for a guest spot as glam,
power-rocker Popeye Kahn.

Clocking in at nearly 90 minutes, their current show at Don’t Tell
Mama, the group’s cabaret debut, can use either a good bit of trimming or a
lot more variety; perhaps even a dramatic through-line. The material and
performances are a lot of fun, but they need to be structured into
something more than just one song following another. And with seven
performers filling the tiny cabaret stage, the show often looks
cramped, with much of the choreography blocked by the singers.

But as a whole, the concept works and the talent is there. With some
experience and tinkering, Witches in Bikinis could be casting their
spell on audiences for quite some time.

Witches in Bikinis appear at Don't Tell Mama, 11PM, March 31 and April
7.

Visit www.witchesinbikinis.com for information.

Photos by Julie Rozar: Top: Zoe Schieber, Emily Reiter, Julie Betts,
Carolyn Demisch, Christina Johnson and Jules Hartley

Bottom: Jules Hartley, Carolyn Demisch and Carrie Thorson

Related Links:
Visit www.witchesinbikinis.com
Michael Dale's dry2olives.com

- Michaeal Dale, Broadwayworld.com

July 11, 2008

"This band is great fun. No one in New York is doing anything remotely like what Witches in Bikinis are doing. Unlike what you might be led to believe from a glance at their myspace, their show is a pretty standard rock band performance..." - Lucid Culture

"Inside the Mad Musical Coven of Witches in Bikinis;
Is That A Wand In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me?"

WWW.HARRISRADIO.COM | WWW.INDIESOUNDSNY.COM | FEBRUARY 2007

There I was, surfing venue websites to find some music to go see, and on Kenny's Castaways' site I came across a listing for Witches in Bikinis. Intrigued, a click later and I could tell this was a literal description of the act. Arriving at Kenny's, I found music critic and aficionado of all things related to female body flesh Pierre Jelenc in the crowd. Pierre secured front row seats for us, and so I had no trouble in getting intimately acquainted with the performance. It was a blast … really good fun and a great contrast from the usual singer/songwriters or indie rock bands that normally fill up my nightly schedule. Wanting to find out more, Indie Sounds caught up with Witches creator Bill Rozar, who revealed all.

Indie Sounds: So where did the idea for Witches In Bikinis come from?
Bill Rozar: Originally, the words "Witches In Bikinis" just popped into my head one day and I wrote it in my notebook. Something about it was very intriguing to me and I kept coming back to it. I started researching witches, the great witch hunts of the middle ages, began developing characters and stories, and then wrote the song Witches In Bikinis.

IS: When did the act get going?
Bill: It all began at Halloween in 2004, when my good friend Janelle Lannan and I started recording Witches In Bikinis and other Halloween-related songs I'd written, like Subway Spooks, Hold Me, My Little Ghostie, Cemetery Boogie, Horror Flick Chicks, and some others. Our first true gig, as a full "coven" of performers, was exactly one year later in October 2005 at Arlene's Grocery for the Mondo Porno Halloween Ball. But even before that, the very first public performance of Witches In Bikinis was for a fund-raising benefit that a friend of ours organized for her theater group in March 2005 at the Slipper Room. Janelle sang Witches In Bikinis with Joanna Walchuk (and a friend of hers) as bikini-clad witches. The crowd went wild and that got us thinking that maybe we were on to something.

IS: When did the recorded music get replaced by the band?
Bill: We did about 25 shows all around the city with pre-recorded music tracks and live vocals before adding the live band in September 2006. The first gig with the band was at R&R on Labor Day Monday for a goth party.

IS: Who makes up Witches in Bikinis - the band and the dancers? Have there been any lineup changes?
Bill: Currently there are ten performers: six witches (singer/dancers) and four musicians. The witches are: Janelle Lannan, Joanna Walchuk, Julie Betts, Emily Reiter, Carolyn Demisch and Karen Weatherwax. The four musicians are: Luis Schittone on bass, Arnold Aprea on drums, Jonathan Hall on guitar and myself on guitar and keyboards. There have been several others over the last year that have come and gone but we have a pretty stable lineup now.
IS: What kinda girl makes a good Bikini
Witch? What draws the girls to the act?
Bill: Well, they have to enjoy wearing a bikini on stage (which usually means they look great in a bikini), they must be an exceptional singer and/or dancer, and they have to love the music. I think the girls are drawn, firstly, by the name itself. It's very fun, sexy and campy. Secondly, the music. Everyone who's ever wanted to be part of it loves the songs.

IS: Who writes the music?
Bill: I write all the music and lyrics, but the recording and arranging is a collaborative effort. Janelle did all the different voices and characterizations on the first album, (which people find hard to believe), but for the second album and nowadays in general, the singing is divided pretty evenly between Janelle, Carolyn and Karen, with Joanna and Julie B. occasionally singing as well. My wife (Julie) does all the screams.

IS: Where do the ideas for the zany songs come from?
Bill: Every song is different. Ideas can come from anywhere: movies, relationships, conversations, phrases I misread or mishear, things I see just walking around the city, fantasies, dreams ... anything! The songs on the debut album were mostly composed on piano, whereas the songs on the next album were mostly written on guitar. I try to be creative with the process of creation itself and invent different methods to write new songs. I always carry a little notebook with me to capture ideas whenever they happen. I do a lot of writing on the subway.

IS: How does the song then get choreographed into the dance performance?
Bill: Sometimes the dancers will choreograph a piece but most of the choreography (and costume design) is done by a very talented friend of ours named Angela Harriell, who is an excellent dancer and has her own dance company called The Love Show.

IS: What venues in NYC have you been playing in? Which are your favorites?
Bill: We've played many places; our favorites that come to mind are: Kenny's Castaways, The Delancey, The Hook, Galapagos, Bowery Poetry Club, Don't Tell Mama, Mo Pitkin's, Southpaw, Pussycat Lounge and maybe a few others. We liked playing all these places, some better than others, but none of them were perfect. For instance, we love playing The Hook because of the big stage, the good sound and the large room, but it's hard to get Manhattanites and Brooklynites without cars to come out to Red Hook. The problem with most places is the stage; they're just not big enough for a show of our size. Usually we wind up clearing an area in the front of the stage for the dancers. The other problem is the dressing room. Rarely do clubs have a decent room for the girls to get ready. Once they had to get dressed on a stairwell near the stage that had a door at the bottom, which we could close for privacy. But we didn't notice that at the top of the stairs was a large window, eyelevel to the sidewalk outside, so that anybody walking by could have peered in and gotten quite an eyeful!

IS: Given the act consists of several pretty girls dancing around with not much on, are there ever crowd control issues?
Bill: So far nothing serious. Occasionally we'll get some moron shouting out for them to take off what little they have on, but that's rare. A couple of songs involve audience interaction, like, for instance, Party Like A Chimpanzee, where we invite three audience members onto the stage to dance around and do their best chimp impression. Once we had some guy come up who couldn't keep his hands off the girls. They put up with it partly because the guy was obviously gay and didn't seem too threatening. For another song, Zombie March, the girls actually go into the crowd and crawl around, under and over people. So far we haven't had any problems with that but they don't always do it, depending on the crowd. The worst, however, was one of the times we played on the Coney Island Boardwalk last summer. There were probably 1,000 people crowding close to the performers who were just on the boardwalk with no separation from the audience. It got a little rowdy and the girls felt somewhat vulnerable, but we had a bunch of friends with us close to the stage helping to keep the crowd at bay and, thankfully, nothing really happened.

IS: You've released a CD of the music. How does the music stand up without the performance act?
Bill: Great! We have fans from all over the U.S. and Europe who love the music but have never seen the show. So far, we have been concentrating on the live act and have not really promoted the CD at all, other than making it available online through CD Baby, iTunes, our website, and MySpace, but we get emails from people all over telling us how much they love the music, and not just adults, but kids too. One woman from Sacramento sent us pictures of her four-year-old boy dressed up and rocking out to Horror Flick Chicks. She told us that "it's really hard to find music that kids can get interested in that doesn't make you nauseated." I'm thrilled that our music also appeals to young children (and also that it is not causing people to vomit).

IS: What's next for the act?
Bill: We will be releasing our second album at the end of March, which we are very excited about. It is different from the first album in that it goes beyond Halloween and witch-related themes to explore surf, horror, and sci-fi rock 'n' roll. It has songs like Alien Surfer Babes, Jennifer of the Jungle, Calling King Kong, and O.O.B.E. (for Out Of Body Experience). We are already looking forward to the third album (most of the songs are written already), which will further broaden us musically and thematically. We are also working on our first music video, which will be part dramatization and part live performance of Video Vixen Vampire. We want to reach a bigger and wider audience, play different kinds of venues, do more benefits. Last Fall, we did a benefit for "Stray From the Heart" (an organization that rescues, rehabilitates, and finds homes for stray dogs). It was a great experience and we'd like to do more of that kind of thing, particularly for animal-related causes. Other than that, we plan to keep performing, create new songs and dances, and generally have a great time with it all.

Weblink: www.witchesinbikinis.com




- Pete Harris, Harris Radio

I was kicking around the Radisson for most of Saturday evening, leaving only for a small misadventure with Shaun in search of C of Cortez. I must say that out of all the bands who played the Radisson stages, two stood above and beyond the rest.
First was the group Witches in Bikinis...
Patrick Salomon/For The Patriot-NewsPartying Like A Chimpanzee: the Witches in Bikinis - in action at the Radisson Penn Harris near Camp Hill, one of the more unique acts that performed at Millennium Music Conference XI.
There is no explanation needed concerning this particular group's gimmick. They were, in fact, witches who sang and danced while wearing bikinis. These six lovely young ladies were both aesthetically and acoustically pleasing, which was quite a bonus as I was expecting their music to be a little on the annoying side.
Patrick Salomon/For The Patriot-News"Lunapheria Kristubel" (Karen Weatherwax) of the Witches in Bikinis sings Saturday night at WIB's Millennium Music Conference show at the Radisson Penn Harris near Camp Hill.
Their show was entertaining, the (all male) band backing the ladies was tight, and the set, quite frankly, oozed innuendo. It was certainly the perfect show for a college boy to attend. I have a crush on the pink one.
There was an unfortunate incident during their set though. As I was trying to take pictures of the guitarist (cough cough) a group of three adolescent emo boys decided to jump in front of me and start acting like chimpanzees.
When the Witches asked for volunteers from the audience, these young masters were jumping and screaming and finally one of their friends was chosen to go up for the bit. There's not much else to say, other than that it was a good feeling to see the little monster realize that he was surrounded by six women wearing bikinis and he was in front of quite a few people.

...

And so MMC11's Saturday night ends, and I sit here at 2:24 AM filing a blog post. I only hope that The Witches in Bikinis will show up again next year.
- Patrick Salomon is studying communications and philosophy at Lebanon Valley College.
- Patriot News

"Now I have traveled all around this world. And never have I been so well entertained. With nasty rifts that made me remember Rock
of the 60's, The extravagant presence of the Witches themselves accompanied by very catchy
and easily understood lyrics. That takes you back to the fun of "Rocky Horror Picture Show"
without the transvestite & gore. Witches In Bikinis does not just entertain you, they bring you in captivating your eyes and imagination making you part of the show. The only problem is if your a guy get ready to get elbowed by your date for gawking. And girls this is girl power the Spice Girls could never achieve. A talented group of fun, loving, artists, friends and family. I will not miss a show near me ever. And neither should you!
God Bless" - Jim Fetzer, of Fetzer Music Management , of Hershey, PA