Watchers

Now we take you to 2007: by Joe Meno (Punk Planet) Watchers are about to explode. Watchers will not wait. Unlike almost any other band rising from the underground today, this quintet plays propulsive, angular modern music, with vibrant echoes of new wave, punk, post-core, soul, and reggae. Comprised of singer and keyboardist Michael Guarrine, guitarist Ethan D'Ercole, bassist Chris Kralik, drummer Jess Birch, and percussionist and keyboardist Damien Thompson, this Chicago five piece delivers daring songs that sound unlike anything you've ever heard. If you've not had a chance to hear the band do this right now: imagine a secret satellite, careening somewhere in the clouds over your head, beaming sharp-edged anthems and intelligent art-pop from some hidden radio station, a radio station that only plays your favorite records—but not just rock and pop, dub and funk and noise-core---a veritable encyclopedia of catchy numbers, one of your faves after the other. Listening to Watchers gives you this feeling, of absolute forward momentum, of thrillingly enjoyable vertigo, of not wanting to stop moving ever. Following their debut LP To the Rooftops, and a number of full-tilt EPs, their new full-length record, Vampire Driver, (Gern Blandsten) reveals a collection of incredibly engaging, surprising, and challenging songs, each rocketing at you from some new unexpected era, some other time and place in popular musical history. Unlike previous recordings, Vampire Driver began as an attempt to capture some of the spontaneous, inventive energy of their stellar live show. Watchers explain: "We had the opportunity to record for an entire month, coming and going as we pleased, improvising over the course of a number of late nights, and we actually wrote a number of songs in the studio itself. We brought in everything we had—every kind of keyboard and noisemaker, traffic cones and pylons and PVC piping—and then we set up the recording mics around these objects in weird formations to create new sounds." Drummer Jess Birch built a drum kit out of some of this weird trash and at different moments during the recording sessions, some member of the band would start playing it. "We would just improvise. We'd have some new idea and just run to pick up a new instrument or we'd try making some strange noise like bouncing light bulbs off guitar strings to hear how that would sound." Eventually the band brought in guests like no wave legend James Chance and Damon Locks and Wayne Montana (of the Eternals and Trenchmouth fame) to compliment the improvisation with raw, established talent. The song "Science Theme" actually began as an after-hours improvised keyboard war between singer/keyboardist Michael Guarrine, drummer Damien Thompson and Montana, resulting in a fiercely frenetic instrumental, which works as a kind of transition between some of the album's longer compositions. Watchers remark: "To the normal ear, it's just a record maybe. But to get those sounds, it was constant experimentation. We had toys, noisemakers and vibes, (which feature prominently on "I Don't Want It"). We had no idea how it would sound in the end and the fact that we got it done in a month seems shocking." One of the album's standouts is the unapologetically complex "Out of the blocks." Singer Michael Guarrine admits, "I don't write too many love songs. Basically, the song is about someone who touched me and came into my life and I just didn't know what to do. I was so struck by this feeling that it was like I was paralyzed. I had had this reoccurring dream where I was on a track team in high school and the starter's gun would go off and everyone would take off running, except for me: I'd be in slow-motion. The song is about that feeling, about being paralyzed by this intense emotion." Another track is the intensely riotous "We've Got a Witness." A vocal collaboration between Guarrine and Damon Locks, the Watchers explain it as: "A simple call to arms, concerning equality and how far we are from it. As sad as it seems, we still found it necessary to write a song about it." Guarrine admits: "I had a basic idea. I had the lyrics. But Damon just went in and nailed, as if Trenchmouth never ended. He's so inspiring, as an artist and as a person. To have a hero of mine, hanging out, recording with us, was amazing." A final song of note is the album's last track, "Rabble," which was begun as a poem, and which Guarrine wrote while riding the bus in Chicago. "The light was so perfect, it felt like a black and white movie," he describes. "Outside the bus, the city was serene, the clouds were very pretty. All of a sudden it felt like everyone could just start dancing—it's really just about that moment where you realize the humanity of the people around you." With content that ranges from the complexity of gentrification to the topic of same sex unions, Watchers' lyrics and musicianship reflect a kind of maturity that is increasingly absent in most music today. These are not songs about the unfairness of life or love; these are not pouty emo anthems. These songs reflect the complication of experience, as does the technical craftsmanship, which makes the album entirely intricate and solidly unique. Having toured across America and throughout Europe, opening shows for Ted Leo, Radio 4, !!!, Gogogo Airheart, Panthers, as well as no-wave legend James Chance (in addition to serving as his backing band,) Watchers are now clearly poised to challenge the monotony of modern popular music. "...a band daring to sound unlike any other on the radar right now." -FADER