The conversation around bands touring relentlessly and still winding up broke is one that we should be having regularly. It’s insane how much artists put into being on the road and how little it all amounts to. Doom-punk rockers Witch Fever have re-sparked that conversation.
The band supported Danish metal band Volbeat on their 2025 headline arena tour. Turns out, taxes and fees left them with very little by the end, after playing to thousands of fans across the globe.
Witch Fever bassist Alex Thompson and vocalist Amy Walpole opened up about their specific situation during an appearance on the 101 Part Time Jobs podcast. “We did two months in arenas and stadiums,” Thompson said, noting that they had to quit day jobs to take on the tour. “We played Wembley [Arena]. Then we got to the end of it and found that the pot of money, which was going to be our profit, is all stuck in withholding taxes across Europe.”
“It’s a Brexit issue,” Thompson went on to say. “We’re basically paying double tax. We pay tax in the U.K., and we’ve U.K.to pay tax on all of the fees [internationally].”
Walpole chimed in and revealed that she has actually been living off the inheritance she received from her late mother. “We’re broke, and we just did two months in arenas,” the singer said. “We also can’t get a job because we’re back on tour in March, so nowhere will hire us.”
Witch Fever is shedding light on the real, day-to-day struggles of bands trying to be full-time artists
“I’m just really laying it all bare here. We’re signed to a major [label, but] this is what the music industry is like at the moment,” she continued. “I’m currently living off £4,000 from my late mother’s pension that I got at the end of last year. That is rapidly running out.
“So, it’s quite a depressing landscape at the moment,” Walpole added. “We’ve done a fair few years of touring, and the fees are low, but the costs are getting higher and higher.”
The conversation sparked many comments on Witch Fever’s social media accounts, with many fans critical of the band’s record label, Music for Nations. They quickly came to the defense of their label, however. “Heyyy, MFN are super supportive and have spent a lot of both our album campaigns,” they wrote in response to one such comment. “Our issue isn’t with them, it’s with the music industry as a whole!”
The post Witch Fever Reignites Important Conversation About Bands Touring Non-Stop and Coming Home ‘Broke’ appeared first on VICE.
