The Watchmen: Hi-tech, Lo-hype
Chart Magazine
by Sarah Chauncey
"I feel like I'm modeling for a
Sears catalog," laments The
Watchmen's bass player, Ken
Tizzard, as he stands in the
lobby of Toronto's
multi-million dollar Ford
Centre For The Performing
Arts. And he could be, if it
were a hip, funky,
spiky-hair-and-tattoos kind of
Sears. Instead, he's being
dressed by a stylist for a
Chart photo shoot in the
upscale building, amidst
mahogany-and-silver trim, broad skylights and marble
staircases. This is where Forest Hill matrons and their
stockbroker husbands come to watch La Boheme. What
the hell are The Watchmen doing here?
Sure, they have a "rock star look," as someone will point
out the next night at the MuchMusic Video Awards. Sure, all
four of their albums have gone gold (50,000 copies sold) or
platinum (100,000). But these are three down-to-earth guys
from Winnipeg (and one from Newfoundland) who've
worked their asses off for the past ten years to earn their
place in the upper echelon of Canadian music.
Their reality is far from glitz and glamour. Their road
hobbies include reading, jogging and going to movies; they
still get the shitty rooms in hotels; they have no use for
groupies, preferring to actually discuss the music with fans
after shows. As they patiently endure the make-up
application process, Ken and guitarist Joey Serlin lovingly
discuss the newest additions to their respective
households: A shih-tzu/poodle blend chez Ken and a
lab/shepherd mix for Joey. Macho posturing, this ain't.
The shoot ultimately becomes a parody on the whole "rock
star" idea. In one shot, Joey leans forward and grabs an
extra - dressed as a paparazzi - by the collar, "threatening"
to beat the shit out of him. After the flash goes off, Joey
dusts off the guy's lapels and straightens his collar, making
sure he's done no permanent damage. While the
photographer re-loads his camera, Joey and drummer
Sammy Kohn play slap-jack, giggling like schoolkids when
Joey retracts his hands in fear. Sammy impishly places a
dime on top of an unsuspecting singer Danny Greaves'
shiny bald pate and waits for him to notice.
What kind of rock stars are these guys?
While the
photographer sets
up the next shot, the
four relax over pizza
- much more their
style - and discuss
what to play on Mike
Bullard's
nationally-broadcast
TV talk show, Open
Mike, the following
night. Sammy wants
to play "Brighter
Hell," a mellow, poignant song that would surprise people
who are only familiar with the band's rocking singles. Danny
disagrees, saying that the song only works in the context of
a full set. "Something's only dynamic when it's relative to
something else," he explains. "It's only down if it's coming
from something that's up."
As the pizza disappears, so does Danny, who wanders the
acoustically-perfect lobby, singing to himself and listening
to the perfect reverb that comes from spending millions on
lobby walls alone. The three are left to discuss their
relationship.
"It's almost, like, closer than a brotherhood," says Sammy,
picking at a last bit of cheese. "I can't even describe it." A
sibling vibe permeates the band, a sense of each knowing
what the others are thinking before they think it.
"I think if we didn't have the family [feeling], the band would
be dead in the water," adds Joey. "In all honesty, there's no
way we could get through the shit we've gone through if we
didn't have the relationships."
"The way I look at it," Sammy explains, "The musical
differences - that's a totally positive thing. And we have
that, certainly. Everyone's just fighting to make it better, to
grow. Personal differences are just things you have to work
through sometimes. That's part of living in each other's
pockets for months at a time."
Everyone in The Watchmen has an equal say in everything
that happens, on and off the stage. "It's a democracy,"
Sammy explains, "Because we're all equal, and there's no
leader of this band, we argue about everything. But we all
have the same common goal. I know it sounds kind of
cliche, but it's true... We're a group in every sense of the
word."
Those words are put into action later in the day, when they
have to decide which of three t-shirts to use for their
upcoming tour. Danny tries on all three, and the others
compare the weight, touch, neckline and wrist of each
choice, eventually deciding on Fruit Of The Loom, the
long-sleeved variety. Then they pore over the stage design
for the tour, debating which images should be painted on
the upstage panels.
Although they operate as a democracy, Sammy explains
that Danny is the focal point when it comes to live
performance. "We look at ourselves, the three of us, as
being competent players, always striving and working at our
individual instruments, but Danny, to me, is an exceptional
singer and frontman. I think he's arguably one of the best
singers in this country."
The Hardest-Working Band In Canada
The Watchmen have
never been a flavour
of the month. From
their 1992 debut,
McLarenFurnaceRoom
to 1994's platinum In
The Trees, to the
1996 follow-up,
Brand New Day and
their current album,
Silent Radar, the
band is pure
whole-album-rock. Given that the band members listen to
everything from Morcheeba to Willie Nelson, it's hard to pin
them to any one sound. While a distaste for genre-hopping
and hype has perhaps kept them from achieving superstar
status, it also means they're guaranteed longevity.
"Nobody can take away the success that we've achieved
and the success that we're going to continue to gain," says
Sammy, as they wait for another photo set-up, "because
we're doing it ourselves, and not with the help of all the
other kind of bullshit that is there with bands."
"Because [the success] was such a gradual thing," Joey
points out, "...We developed a real sincere and earnest
rapport with our fans. We have that core that will always be
there with us."
"That's always been the mandate," Sammy adds. "Staying
together, growing, writing good songs, keeping things
exciting for ourselves." Their goal, he says, is to be a
timeless album-rock band. "I want people to have a huge
collection of Watchmen CDs."
On the Subject of The Watchmen's Maturity
As they've matured individually, so have The Watchmen
matured as a band. After ten years, they're finally
comfortable enough with themselves - and consistent
enough as a band - to accept that not only won't they
always be perfect, but that sometimes, imperfection is
preferable.
That acceptance is a luxury borne of many years of intense
self-criticism. Ken remembers being terrified by the
moments following his first Watchmen show. The minute
the band was offstage, he recalls, "Somebody picked up a
set list" and proceeded to critique every single mistake of
the night. "It freaked me out so big-time, because I'd made a
lot of mistakes, and I thought, 'Oh God, they're doing this
because of me.' I didn't realize at the time that this was
something the band did regularly."
By contrast, Sammy points out, "Now, we come offstage,
we have a drink, we look at each other and we go, 'That
was good. Next.'"
The intense self-scrutiny "made for some uncomfortable
moments," Joey recalls, laughing. "[But that process] got us
to that point, where we reached a level of consistency live
where, a bad night to us now wouldn't be noticeable by
anybody in the crowd; it would only be noticeable to us."
Radar Recording
The new, laid-back
attitude followed
them to Seattle,
where they recorded
Silent Rada r at
Pearl Jam bassist
Stone Gossard's
Studio Litho, with
producer Adam
Kaspar (R.E.M.,
Soundgarden).
"The way it sort of appears to me is that after you hit those
one or two takes, you're just sort of playing a cover version
of that song," says Sammy. "You've already nailed it."
Adds Danny, "I think the beauty of music is the stuff that is
impromptu... Because talking about it fucks it up... The
things on this record I like best are just the things that we
didn't plan on doing."
What makes Joey proudest are songs that, "while we're
working on them, jamming, just hearing them come
together, I know we've reached another level of songwriting
and maturity." He cites "All Uncovered" from In The Trees
as one example of such a song; "Brighter Hell," the
powerful final track on Silent Radar, is another. "Songs like
that are really special to me."
Touring The Homeland
In the past six months, The Watchmen have toured Europe
and Australia, headlined the second stage at EDGEfest and
opened for The Tragically Hip in the States. While those
have been mind- and audience-expanding experiences, the
band is particularly looking forward to this fall's
cross-Canada tour with Big Wreck, the "official" Silent
Radar Tour.
"EDGEfest was just a tease," explains Sammy. "A quick
little 45-minute 'greatest hits of The Watchmen' thing. This
time, it's going to be fans and friends and stuff, lights and
sound, a special evening in small theatres across the
country."
Sammy's excited about being able to show a more dynamic
side to the band. "We're not just this rock 'n' roll, wanky
band; there's a lot of moments and elements to our music
that are very quiet, reserved and emotional."
The tour will also give the band time to connect with their
fans. "When you talk face-to-face with people," Joey
explains, "that's when you really get a feel as to what's
going on, where they're coming from on the new record,
what they think."
The Watchmen always make time for it. "We generally sign
things for people and like to talk to them. Anyone that's
going to go through the effort of buying your CD, buying a
ticket to your show, buying a shirt and then wanting to hang
around for an hour after the show - to me, you gotta take
the time to talk to them."
Open-Mike Night
The next night, The
Watchmen are the
main attraction on
The Comedy
Channel/CTV's
Open Mike, with a
supporting cast that
includes race-car
driver Greg Moore, a
"miracle bird" named
Raja, who has
appeared 23 times
on Johnny Carson
(the old Tonight Show), and a stand-up-comic- turned-poet.
In the band's dressing room, the four members lounge on a
plush maroon sofa, surrounded by glass bowls of water
adorned with tiny, floating candles. The topic of the
evening, other than the show and the video awards to
follow, is what to do now that they have a five-day break in
their tour with the Hip.
Everyone votes for going home, but finding the means to do
so is a challenge, given that Air Canada's seat sale has
sold out just about every flight for the next six months. Ken
is the designated "travel guy," and until just a few minutes
before showtime, he's busily working a cell-phone, trying to
find a way home for one and all.
When the band finishes performing "Any Day Now," the
applause continues for several minutes. Even while viewers
at home are watching a commercial for laundry detergent,
the live audience is still screaming their praise. After
Danny's brief chat segment with Mike Bullard, The
Watchmen hop into a waiting van and race off to the
ultra-glam MuchMusic Video Awards, where - surrounded
by shrieking fans and television cameras - they'll be
presented with the award for New Technology. It's an
evening fit for rock stars.
New Technologies
The whole New
Technology thing is
truly Ken's baby.
When he first joined
the band, Ken
admits, he "didn't
even know what the
World Wide Web
was." He bought
some books, "got
really into it, and I
explained to
everybody what it
was"; they agreed to put some money into the idea. "We got
together some photos, I wrote all the text, and we had a
website."
After a few incarnations of a relatively generic site, "I finally
said to the guys, 'Look, I want to get everybody involved. I
don't want it to just be another Watchmen website,'" he
added. "'I want it to be more.'" Using his background at the
now-long-defunct Canadian rock mag Impact as inspiration,
he developed WAG, a full online magazine overflowing with
essays, articles and book reviews by the band.
While The Watchmen were working on Silent Radar, they
approached Toronto-based Digital Renaissance to create a
special website accessible only by those who have the CD.
While a traditional CD-ROM only allows the viewer to see a
static, finite amount of material, CD-Active allows the
programmer to continually change the "private" site's
contents.
Ever-expanding Horizons
Because all four Watchmen are eager to explore new areas
of music, they have unusual ideas percolating about what
fans might see in the future.
"Rock opera," Danny says with conviction. "The Watchmen
should do a rock opera."
Joey, on the other hand, thinks "a concept album would be
really cool. It hasn't been done in a long time, it would be a
ballsy move to attempt it, and I think we could do it."
Maybe an album of Watchmen rarities, Sammy suggests.
"We could probably fill at least a double-CD with stuff that
we've recorded but haven't released." He adds that he
wants people do discover the other dimensions of the
band's music.
Whatever they decide, three things are certain: It'll be a
group decision; their fans will be thrilled; and these
anti-rock-stars will continue their climb to hard-earned
success.