| A watched man never boils
PREVIEW
THE WATCHMEN with By Divine Right
Saturday, December 15
Mac Hall Ballroom (U of C)
Discussions about musical taste are futile, like trying to prove or disprove the existence of God. Eventually, it comes down to you believe what you believe, you like what you like, and in neither case does your opinion influence whatever reality might thread its way through the universe.
During a conversation in September, when Winnipeg’s The Watchmen played a special Calgary gig accessible only to fans who showed up with a copy of the band's new album, Slomotion, guitarist Joey Serlin disagreed that the album title is a good description of the band’s career. And even when he’s disagreeing with you in a passionate debate about music, Serlin remains gentle and, well, agreeable – a rare trait.
"For me the album from start to finish has depth all the way through, and this band has always been about having a strong album. We’ve always been an album band as opposed to singles, and that’s not to say that we don’t like singles…. We love melodies and we love hooks and we like to just turn people on, but that said, we don’t always approach songs like that."
And as to whether or not Slomotion – a double album that contains a new set of songs on one disc called Fast Forward and a retrospective on another called Rewind, is fair or poor, God or Godless, Serlin knows where to find the answer – the rap sessions that the band holds with its fans
"We’re signing hundreds of copies of CDs, and that is the reaction I base myself on – talking to the fans. They love it, and it is a pretty different sound for us, and I just love the fact that our fans allow us to step outside what’s expected. And that’s the reaction that I’m getting – they love it, cover to cover."
Yeah, you can usually get a pretty straight opinion from people who want to get in your pants. But the fans accept the band’s shift in sound that was forced by the departure of drummer Sammy Kohn, which opened the door to an injection of technology in the music.
"We’ve always been interested in electronic music, and it just took a while for it to be integrated into our music. The reason it sounds different is because we were kind of bored with how we were doing this in the past. We were bored with our instrumentation, and how we're approaching recording."
So the shift in sound was a good move, because if even the band’s bored by what it’s doing.... Hmmm, so what do you think about solipsism, anyway? |
