Thursday, September 5, 2013

Called “a national treasure” by L.A. Weekly, The Black Watch follows-up “Led Zeppelin Five” with “The End of When,” plus “Best Of” CD.

Produced in a “Scotch-fueled frenzy,” video for indie-pop veteran’s “Meg” single now streaming via USA Today; Album arrives Sept. 10th.

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The Black Watch (clockwise from upper left):

John Andrew Fredrick, Steven Schayer, Rick Woodard, Chris Rackard. Photos by Steve Keros.

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 See the video for “Meg” by The Black Watch via USA Today

Hear “Meg” by The Black Watch via The A.V. Club

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“Meg” is the first single and video from The End of When by The Black Watch!






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“L.A. has not produced a band as capable of both My Bloody Valentine miasma and Nick Drake quietness.” — Andy Gill, Gang of Four

Referred to as “a national treasure” by the L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles-based veteran indie-pop band The Black Watch formed in the late 1980’s and has released “17-and-counting CDs of remarkable consistency” in that time, according to the paper.  With all of that work and time behind The Black Watch frontman/songwriter John Andrew Frederick, he might have decided by now to spend a bit more time playing ping-pong or with his set of official Andy Partridge toy soldiers.  Not so.

Following up 2011’s brilliantly-titled Led Zeppelin Five, The Black Watch returns on September 10th with a new release The End of When, packaged with a second CD collecting some of the band’s best and brightest tunes from its catalog.  The lead single and video from the new album is “Meg,” which Frederick describes as “revolving around the singer’s appreciation of a woman’s uniqueness and beauty and how he goes all ‘ice cream inside’ when he thinks of her looking at him ‘green-eyed-shyly’ through ‘imperfect bangs.’”

The track recently premiered via The Onion’s A.V. Club and the now the video for the song has made its debut via USA Today.  The animated clip, co-created by band member Steven Schayer, was produced under duress.  As Schayer explains, “We'd previously gone through a truly hideous and soul-demolishing experience paying someone to do a video that was unusable. In a Scotch-fueled frenzy, I decided to do it myself and drew a caricature of John playing guitar.  It sort of snowballed from there.”

Of the production process Schayer says, “We arranged all of the cutouts on different surfaces (tabletops, pillows, guitars) and created this admittedly, but unapologetically low-tech stop animation. I doubt either of us expected it would be as much work as it was.  But, anyway. That's how it's done, kids!”

The End of When is the first release for Austin’s Pop Culture Press Records, an offshoot of the well-respected indie zine of the same name. Members of The Black Watch are available for interviews.  Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information, guest list needs, etc.

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The Black Watch
The End of When
(Pop Culture Press, Sept. 10th)


Disc 1 (The End of When)

01. I Don't Feel The Same
02. Meg (STREAM | DOWNLOAD | MP3 | VIDEO)
03. Hardly Nothing Never Ending
04. Oh Oh
05. Sum
06. Always Honey
07. The End of When
08. Of Lovely Surprises
09. The Spare Side
10. A Pleasing Dream / That's You and Me All Over
11. Unlistening

Disc 2 (Best Of)

01. How Much About Love
02. Emily, Are You Sleeping?
03. Like In The Movies
04. Kinda Sorta
05. On Another Plane (Scott Campbell Remix)
06. Come Inside
07. Quasi Stellar Radio Source
08. Williamsburg
09. Innercity Garden
10. All These Shivers
11. Tear The Sky
12. The Wrong People
13. Caroline
14. Christopher Smart
15. Whatever You Need
16. The Tennis Playing Poet Roethke Said

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The Black Watch Links


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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion


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