Wicked Stitch returns as a trio

After a four-year hiatus, Wicked Stitch is sewing up some loose ends.

The local metal band is celebrating two decades together and returning to the stage with a short regional tour supporting a new compilation album, “20 Years of Bliss.”

The hiatus happened when frontman, bandleader and chief songwriter Jason Durbin decided to put the band on hold to focus on his personal life.

“I took some time off to concentrate on other priorities, like family. My family is the most important thing in the world … Needed to get my life back on track,” Durbin said.

Before the hiatus Wicked Stitch was a five-piece band, but they are back to the core trio of drummer Chad Burk, co-founding guitarist Brian Holland and Durbin, aka Durb, on bass and lead vocals. Holland played drums originally when he formed the band with Durbin but switched to guitar 10 years ago.

“Since we’ve been together so long, the hiatus didn’t affect us much,” Durbin said. “We had to obviously shake off some cobweds, but it’s just like riding a bike.”

Wicked Stitch spins a seamless blend of subgenres into their scrappy brand of heavy metal.

“On our CDs you’ll hear a mix of many different styles. I like to refer to our style of music as ‘scrap metal.’ It’s heavy metal with scraps of about everything else you can think of thrown in. Live, we like to stick with the heavier, higher energy songs which the crowd seems to dig,” Durbin said. 

The “20 Years of Bliss” compilation contains an unreleased song, “Hail to the Thief,” which Durbin said isn’t as political as the title suggests.

“It sounds political but lyrically it’s a little more abstract,” Durbin said. “I try not to get political in my lyrics. A social commentary on stuff going on is one thing, but when artists are blatantly hard right or hard left, it alienates people, including me. So I try to have that same respect, since we all have our own beliefs and opinions.”

In addition to the compilation album, Stitch has plans to release “Senior Keg,” the album they recorded back in 2006 but had to shelve when they ran out of money.

“(We) just finished (‘Senior Keg’) up last fall, (we) just need to mix and master it now,” Durbin said. “Once we get some money coming in from the upcoming compilation album and our shows coming up, we’ll head into the studio and record a new album.”