Feature: Sawtooth Witch Decodes ‘The Chariot’
Punk Head: There’s an undercurrent of movement across the tracklist, from “The Hustle” to “Coming to America” to “The Dream.” Was there a narrative arc in mind, or did that emerge after the songs were written?
Sawtooth Witch: Oh for sure!
Maybe not in the full-on Joseph Campbell sense, but there's definitely a thread tying all the tracks together.
Say life presents a chaotic situation. The odds are stacked against you. Maybe someone or something is not what you thought they were. Even if it's no fault of your own. You still have to take the reins. You still have to work through it. That's the only way out. There's bound to be a light at the end of the tunnel one way or another.
All these songs deal with these types of themes and while we were putting this record together we kept dealing with all these crazy kinds of life situations. I bought this tarot deck and one card kept coming up over and over again: The Chariot.
When we needed a name for the album it felt like the perfect fit.
Punk Head: “The Hustle” feels like both a groove and a philosophy. What does the word mean to you in 2026?
Sawtooth Witch: I like letting words have multiple meanings. Sometimes the truth is on two sides of the same coin.
Initially I was taking shots at the government for being a bunch of scam artists but in 2026 everything feels like a scam. We're being hustled so hard we need side-hustles to get by, and instead of working to solve the problems the powers that be are profiting off of them.
There's a saying in songwriting, "all you need is three chords and the truth." I wanted to try a song like that with a dance beat behind it because in an age where out-right lying is completely normalized, telling the truth seems like a spectacle.
Punk Head: This project started as a search for something new, but you’re drawing from very old forms. How did you navigate that tension between discovery and tradition while writing The Chariot?
Sawtooth Witch: In order for art to make a statement it has to be part of a conversation first and I like to think that our experimentation is a continuation of that conversation. It's coming from a genuine place of appreciation and curiosity. We're taking music we truly love and seeing what's possible with it.
I grew up playing folk and bluegrass and as I got older I started getting into punk, funk, hip hop, and house music. These genres are just as a part of the American songbook as country or Americana in my humble opinion and I noticed that I wasn't the only one who shared these tastes. We aren't trying to tear anything down or challenge traditions. We're trying to find what they have in common.
Punk Head: Highway 61 has mythic weight in American music history. What did it actually give you in real, practical terms?
Sawtooth Witch: There's a lot of taverns along Highway 61 that gave us a place to play when no one else would, especially in the north country near Duluth and in the driftless area of the midwest.
There's a lot of cool towns tucked near the river with a creative culture like Winona, MN. A lot of these spots will have bands play for 2-3 hours a night and these places let us be ourselves.
There's just a vibe there that's hard to put into words. The scenery itself is inspiring. There are stretches of that highway that are so gorgeous you'll understand why they wrote so many songs about it.
Punk Head: As a debut, The Chariot feels very fully formed. Do you see this as a starting point or a statement of intent that you’ll spend the next few records unpacking?
Sawtooth Witch: We took a while to discover a sound that felt right for us and we'd like to see how far it will go, but I don't want to put any boundaries on it just yet.
We like to stretch things out at our live shows and we're always listening and learning new things.
I'm sure most of that exploration will happen on stage before it lands on another record.
