A moment with Watershed

What’s the meaning behind your album’s name?

Whilst all the mayhem of the world is going on around us on a daily basis, one needs to find the time to reflect and enjoy the world and simply take the time out to watch the rain. The song Watch the Rain is a social commentary of our current everyday lives.

Who wrote the songs?

Craig Hinds is the chief writer, but there is a lot of co-writing on the album which is what the band enjoy. More creative minds and ideas are better than one.

What inspired the lyrics?

Everyday life, love, heartache and stuff!

What influences the country sound in the album?

Country seems to be in our blood. If one goes back to our earlier albums, it’s quite prevalent. I’m a big fan of co-writing and over the years have spent lots of time in Nashville, NYC and LA working on new material with different writers. The band are great musicians, so it’s really cool to experiment with different sounds and instruments, etc., in studio. Good stories and a good clean sound is always what we are after!

We hear ukuleles in this album. What else was different about this album from your previous albums?

Yes - mandolins, ukuleles, electric pianos, that’s our vibe.

It was really a pressure-less album to record and that made it really cool. We pretty much all went into the studio and laid down the songs. From there, we went and did a few overdubs, but the essence of the album was done really quickly. This gives it that fresh sound.

What are some of the advantages, as well as challenges, in the present SA music scene that didn’t exist when your first album came out in 2000?

Its wide open now. There is a ‘hit’ around every corner and one can become instantly famous because of youtube, etc. The hard part is trying to find loyalty and fans that love and get to 'know’ your music. The turn over of music is so quick nowadays that people move to the next song and band before the song they’re currently listening to has even settled in their heads. This makes it really difficult. I predict songs are going to start getting shorter and shorter.

Who are you currently listening to?

One Republic, old Counting Crows and Matchbox 20 albums.

What are Watershed’s plans for the future?

We have a lot of touring planned for the next few months. Our website is our show diary and we also chat about shows on our social media pages. We don’t want to leave it too long before our next album, so we’ll probably plan another new release sometime in 2017.

Find out more about Watershed via Facebook or their website.