WATCHMEN'S NEW SET RIGHT ON TIME AT RETAIL
Billboard, Vol. 106 Issue 32, p42, 3/5p
Band's MCA Canada Debut Makes Across Nation
TORONTO--Celebrating the Canadian release of their first MCA Records album, "In The Trees," modern rockers the Watchmen performed July 13 a suppertime rooftop concert in their hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The 45-minute, "Let It Be'-style performance on the roof of the Polo Park Mall, presented by modern rock radio station CITI, attracted some 2,500 people and, according to MCA Records Canada sources, helped start cash registers ringing for the album in Winnipeg retail stores.
"They outsold the Rolling Stones in that week," says Carol Simpson, manager of the Sam The Record Man outlet in Polo Park Mall. "Their first album did pretty good for us, but it didn't take off like this one."
A follow-up to "McLaren Furnace Room," released by the MCA Canada distributed Sumo Productions label in 1992, "In The Trees" debuted at No. 32 on The Record's Aug. 1 album chart, while the track "Boneyard Tree" debuted on the Canadian trade's Contemporary Album Radio (CAR) chart at No. 14. Meanwhile, the video for "Boneyard Tree" is in medium rotation at the national video channel MuchhMusic.
Label executives indicate that initial national retail response to the album has been positive. "Sales are strong in Winnipeg, and the obvious concern is that [their support] is still pocketed, but we're getting favorable reports from Toronto and Halifax [Nova Scotia]," says Randy Lennox, VP of sales at MCA Records Canada. "We went out with 15,500 units, and we've been in re-orders in every major urban market from the first five days of release on."
"The record is doing well here," reports Chris Drossos, range supervisor at HMV's Yonge Street outlet in Toronto. "We had a re-order in after only five days. We'd done about 130 pieces in that time, which is very good. A lot of people compare them to the Tragically Hip, which is a huge deal here."
Formed five years ago in Winnipeg by guitarist/singer Joey Serlin and two high school friends, singer Daniel Greaves and percussionist Sammy Kohn, and featuring bassist Ken Tizzard, the band picked up career momentum only after hooking up with Jake Gold and Allen Gregg of the Management Trust (the Tragically Hip, Andrew Cash, and David GoGo). Despite a sizable reputation in the prairies and four cross-Canada tours, the Watchmen had been unable to solicit major-label interest.
"One reason we signed the band was because they'd been on the road for over three years, and there was a [fan] constituency out there" says Gold, who 'adds that he was tipped off to the band by S.L. Feldman booking agent Ralph James. "The band had already been shopped to all the labels by Ralph but they had been turned down. However, [producer] Chris Wardman was a big fan, and he wanted to produce them. We figured we had an interested producer, an agent [James] who'd fight 'til the end of the day for them, and they're a great band. We figured, let's do something."
Rather than seeking a direct recording contract, Gold and Gregg instead forged a production co-venture with MCA Records Canada to record emerging talent like the Watchmen on Sumo Productions, which MCA would distribute.
Produced by Wardman (Art Bergmann, Sons Of Freedom, Leslie Spit Treeo) "McLaren Furnace Room" was released in Canada in August 1992. According to Gold, the album has sold 28,000 units to date.
While Canadian mainstream radio, with the key exception of alternative CFNY here, mostly cold-shouldered the rough-edged album--and Much-Music gave only modest support to the videos 'Cracked" and "Run and Hide"--the Watchmen slowly built a sizable national fan base through a brutal, non-stop touring schedule. MCA also supposed gigs with strong local advertising, including radio buys and street posters.
"Allen and Jake asked that we build a groundswell and not go out [full force]," Lennox says. "That strategy worked, because on month 16 [of release], we were selling more records than we had sold on month three. About 70% of our sales, in fact, were done a year out into the record."
Explaining the band's switch from Sumo to MCA Canada for "In The Trees," Gold says, "Sumo's concept is to do the first records for bands, and then give MCA the option to pick them up. [Moving to MCA] was a natural progression."
In contrast to the response to "McLaren Furnace Room," Canadian radio has quickly embraced "In The Trees," produced and engineered by Mr. Colson (aka Doug Colson). In its first week of release, "Boneyard Tree" was the top add on The Record's CAR listings.
"We started playing it the day we were serviced with it" says Neil Kushnir, MD of modern rock CHOM Montreal. "We had played two or three cuts off the first album, but never got much of a response. This new song is much better than anything off the first album."
From August to late November, the Watchmen will do club and concert dates across the country. "Hopefully we'll have the U.S. release worked out by then, and have the album out there in the new year," says Gold.
Lennox pledges a strong MCA commitment to the album. "We've done regional media buys across the country, concentrating on CAR, and we advertised the album in 15 street publications the day of release," he says. "We also have 16 billboards between Toronto and Winnipeg. In August, there's a number of national account programs in which the Watchmen play a huge part."
Gold contends that with the release of this new album, the Watchmen have already emerged from the shadow of his top act, the Tragically Hip, Canada's most popular rock band. "The Watchmen are a band that plays Regina [Saskatchewan] and draws a thousand people," he notes. "Not many bands can do that anywhere in Canada."