John Watts is from a family of singers. He progressed through school
and college bands inspired equally by the late 60s Trojan catalogue and
great maverick artists, from Alex Harvey to Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart
to Tom Waits and the ‘Hunky Dory’David Bowie. Watts moved to the point
where punk, art-wave and reggae crossed over. With college friend Steve
Skolnik and rhythm section Steve Liddle and Dave Graham, Watts landed a
record deal as Fischer-Z with United Artists in 1978 alongside the
Buzzcocks and the Stranglers.
Fischer-Z appeared in the art school
new wave to be categorised as the UK’s answer to Talking Heads,
Television and the New York writer/musician crossover artists. They
achieved a strong cult status in the UK, then translated their eclectic
mix of reggae and high energy cerebral pop songs into large record sales
all over continental Europe and chart success as far abroad as
Australia.
Watts has amassed a considerable body of creative
work since. His quality song-writing has evolved steadily against a
variety of musical colours. It has encompassed written word, poetry and
humour as easily as rap-scape, rare groove and indie guitar influences,
all with a characteristic singing and written ‘voice’. His last album,
‘Ether Music & Film’, was a combination of music album and
accompanying road movie applying the principles of spontaneous live
music-making to the recording process.
This year’s new double
album and poetry book ‘Real Life Is Good Enough’, represents a fresh new
era for John; a return to more organic music-making, humorous writing
and presenting his new work live on an extensive concert tour in a
two-piece format with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Walker. A
flexible website now allows the fans to keep up with all John’s eclectic
activities.
