There is a glut of new quality psychedelia bands oozing out of every corner of the UK.
In a way, there’s almost too much: the sound of bowl cuts nodding along to the blur of an effects pedal can lose its charm after a while. The Watchmakers, though, seem to cut through the noise with a release of some fine tunes to date. The Manchester outfit’s live shows are a blur of vintage psychedelia and a very modern belief, the unhinged charm of the Brian Jonestown Massacre matched against the songcraft of Temples.
Debut digital single ‘Kiss The Sun’ is out this week via Loaded Soul Records, and it’s a blissed out introduction.
KARMA ALL DAYER ~ PART 3 ~ TEMPLE OF BOOM ~ 2 STAGES ~ SATURDAY 25TH JULY.
~Psych Stage~
THE CULT OF DOM KELLER
The Watchmakers
Psyence
The Black Delta Movement
The Mushroom Club
Formes
The Blackrays
Wild Birds of Britain
ALT stage
FEHM
Fawn Spots
Abjects
Antelopes
Manchester Psychedelica Band The Watchmakers are playing at Cosmosis – Alternative Festival Of Psychedelic Music and Arts 2 weeks today on Saturday 14th March. From time to time, this is a band to recommend that deserves to be brought to your attention. No record labels, PR companies, bands or band’s management will ever have made these recommendations. It is simply one music fan putting their taste on the line in the hope of sharing good music.
The Watchmakers, a psych rock ‘n’ roll 4 piece with a penchant for good clobber – Rich Maitland on vox, Ian Maitland on drums, Adam Lewis on guitar & Andy Lewis on bass. from Salford, Manchester.
We’ve all been bashing out noise on instruments but as a band together its pretty new. We kicked off with things at a night with Clint Boon last November and its on an upwards spiral from there.
Are there any obvious influences in their music?
I suppose it depends on the extent of your musical knowledge as to what you’d call obvious. The first demo, Before Questions Became, I think you can hear traces of The Beatles, Chemical Brothers, Amorphous Androgynous, and the Stone Roses to name a few, but the band try and take on inspiration from across the board.They are not purveyors of the traditional ‘verse-chorus-verse-chorus’ type songs and I think that comes from inspiration with listening to unconventional bands like the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Spiritualized/Spacemen 3 and Can and David Axelrod.
Announcing their arrival back in winter/2012 with the tripped-out groove of ‘Before Questions Became’ The Watchmakers stand today as one of the leading groups within Manchester’s growing psych rock movement. More a shared love of classic psychedelia by a handful of groups than an industry endorsed ‘scene’. Its the bands releases such as 2013’s Waves, Illumination, and last summers excellent ‘Carpe Diem’ which has started to attract attention from both the press and music fans outside and beyond of the city.
They will be releasing a special limited edition mint green cassette tape on Blak Hand Records on Dec 1st.
Available is the EP “To Be Part Of You” which turned out as we haven’t played it live in a long time but Adam our guitarist did an unbelievable job in producing that and getting the sound he did onto that track
Listen to the lead track “To Be A Part Of You” here
Manchesters The Watchmakers, are Keeping it tuned to the psych channel, The Watchmakers are a band we’ve enjoyed following over the last year or so. As the NME said about them back in June “The Watchmakers are on a mission to put the strut back into psych…”. Equal parts Revolver and Space Ritual, enjoy their brain melting ‘Illumination’ video below,
The Watchmakers are a 4 piece band from Manchester with a psychedelic rock and roll feel, Combining the sounds of classic 60’s psychedelia with the likes of The Verve, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Primal Scream, they have created a unique blend of psychedelic laced rock ‘n’ roll that has been shrouded in mystery over the last 18 months. Their self-produced demos “Before Questions Became” and “Waves” have earned the band much critical praise with BBC Introducing in Manchester and has led to seasoned music lovers and music industry insiders clamouring for more material.
Having sold out two self-promoted psychedelic happenings in Manchester in 2013 as well as playing with the likes of The Pretty Things, Jacco Gardner, Dark Bells and Exit Calm, the band performed at a BBC Showcase in February 2014 and were recommended as “one’s to watch” by BBC 6music.“Imagine if Noel Gallagher’s solo record had actually been willing to cut loose and explore its boundaries, and you might be arriving somewhere near to their sound” . With quotes like “One of the juiciest psych-rock delights you could pluck from the music playing fields of the UK right now” and “The visceral charge of BRMC and the psychedelic adventure of Primal Scream”
“Paint It Black/Tomorrow Never Knows meets Kasabian, with an added swagger and an energy all of its own. It’s a real dark, twisted, psychedelic rocker with a groove to move the listener”
Combining the sounds of classic 60’s psychedelia with the likes of The Verve, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Primal Scream – Manchester based 4-piece The Watchmakers have created a unique blend of psychedelic laced rock ‘n’ roll that has been shrouded in mystery over the last 18 months. Their self-produced demos Before Questions Became and Waves have earned the band much critical praise.
The Fat Angel Sings 