The Watchmen dissatisfied with labels
Canadian band has international attitude
By: Darren Boisvert - Prevue Weekly
The Watchmen, who have been on the road for most of this
decade grinding out a fanbase for themselves, are as serious as musicans
come. With thousands of shows and four discs to their credit, they cannot
be accused of taking their cradt lightly. Talking to lead singer Daniel
Greaves and to guitarist Joey Serlin about their music and the Watchmen,
there is the unmistakable feeling of mission and purpose. While there's
nothing wrong with confidence and dedication in musicians, a sense of
mission coupled with a pair of healthy egos all too often comes across as
pretentiousness.
Perhaps this is why the Watchmen are still seen as primarily a university
band-pretentiousness is an easier sell to the angst-ridden university types
than to the piblic as a whole. Greaves bristles at the suggestion that the
Watchmen have so far been unable to shed their image as a university band.
"I don't buy into that at all. I think there are only two types of music:
good music and bad music."
Adds Serlin, "Music is honest and people respond to that. We give the most
generous gift we can - the gift of our music."
No Canadian sound, eh?
With platnum record sales and a spot in the lineup at Edgefest, it is very
easily argued that the Watchmen have indeed expanded from their university
touring days and have become a mainstream and innovative Canadian band.
But trying to fit them into any category was met with some indignation.
"I don't buy into that Canadian sound thing," says Serlin, "Music is an
international language. People don't care about where you're from. That
would be like saying that we're Canadian so only Canadians can listen to us.
Life experience dictates what we write about: loss, love, healing, hope,
searching for hope."
Labels and categories aside, there is no mistaking that Greaves has a
phenomenal voice. He is the cornerstone and focus of the band. With a
Michael Stipe attitude towards music and lyrics (sounds are more important
than words), Greaves has propelled this Winnipeg band to success. There
latest disc, Silent Radar, once again proves to be a showcase for Greave's
prodigious vocals. With power and emotion, Greaves has the ability to make
the average song-writing on the disc seem better than it really is.
Performance over recording
Even Greaves and Serlin admit that the Watchmen are more of a performance
tour de force than a brilliant recording band. They acknowledge that they
are still learning about the industry side of their careers and are trying
to make success a long road than just a brief run down the block. "It's
work," says Greaves. "It's just that it is done in a good environment.
We're glad to have taken the slow route. It was a conscious decision we
made between our first and second albums [1992's McLaren Furnace Room and
1994's In The Trees]. As you grow up you have more reasonable goals - more
mature goals. Our goal has always been to gain new fans."
As Serlin puts it, "We're not satisfied yet. There is so much we have yet
to learn."