Fanatic Promotion: the black watch announces “The Gospel According To John,” its 15th album in 30 years of music-making. Hear single “Whence” now!

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

the black watch announces “The Gospel According To John,” its 15th album in 30 years of music-making. Hear single “Whence” now!

“Sounds like the holy union of Guided By Voices, The Wedding Present and any number of New Zealand pop heroes.” – Buzzbands.la.

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John Andrew Fredrick of the black watch as photographed by Steve Keros.

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“Whence” is from The Gospel According To John, out April 21^st. Hear “Whence” via Popdose or the links below!

[STREAM]: https://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/the-black-watch-whence

[MP3]: http://www.fanaticpr.com/theblackwatch/theblackwatch-whence.mp3

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the black watch – In The Press

“Should’ve become a household name a long time ago.” — USA Today

“Salutes the great DIY pop canon and trophy hallways of heroes with an illustrious array of pepped up jangle pop.” — Impose

“Clever and extremely catchy songs.” — Popmatters

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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

John Andrew Fredrick, a man that has been making music, writing books, professionally professing about both (that’s what professors do?), and generally being a ceaseless creative entity forever, has threatened to quit releasing music and concentrate on his other careers and hobbies (Dr. Fredrick also holds a Ph.D, plays tennis or ping-pong five days a week, and paints) for years.

But this product of 25 years of Los Angeles living continues to find songs and riffs and lyrics wandering into his head as he’s traversing the city’s traffic to California Lutheran University, forty-five miles north of Los Angeles, where he lectures in the English department.

The latest collection of wandering riffs and lyrics by Fredrick’s band the black watch, the latest in a line so long it’s like the painful reveal of an over-the-hill age (except this number represents an actual accomplishment), is Christened (emphasis on Christ) with a title wholly (holy) befitting Fredrick’s sense of humor and sense of artistic entitlement.

Put the puns away, it’s The Gospel According To John.

The new album, arriving April 21^st, 2017, is the band’s 15^th in 30 years of music-making (leaving out EPs, singles, wax cylinders), a pretty impressive feat, especially for a band that has “put the frosting,” as Fredrick puts it sweet, on its career more than once. The Gospel According To John follows-up 2015’s Highs & Lows, and was recorded over the course of eleven months with Rob Campanella of The Brian Jonestown Massacre producing. Hear the single “Whence” via Popdose now.

On the heels of the release of The Gospel According To John on April 21^st, Fredrick will follow-up four well-received novels with the release of a non-fiction title about Wes Anderson, who Fredrick previously taught a course on at The University of Southern California. Fucking Innocent: The Early Films of Wes Anderson will be released on June 13^th, 2017.

“This book makes film criticism fun,” Fredrick says. “It’s very ‘Lester Bangs goes to the movies.’”

The Gospel According To John, the 15^th full-length album by the black watch arrives on April 21^st, 2017 preceded by the single “Whence,” streaming now. John Andrew Fredrick is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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the black watch

The Gospel According To John

(The Eskimo Record Label)

April 21^st, 2017