The Watchmen

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The Watchmen
Origin Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Flag of Canada
Genre(s) Alternative Rock
Years active 1988 – 2003
Label(s) MCA
Associated acts Doctor
Members
Daniel Greaves
Joey Serlin
Ken Tizzard
Ryan Ahoff
Former members
Pete Loewen
Sammy Kohn
For other uses, see Watchman.
For the Alan Moore comic book see Watchmen

The Watchmen were a Canadian rock band. They were one of the most commercially successful Canadian alternative rock groups of the early 1990s.

The group was formed in 1988 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by vocalist Daniel Greaves, guitarist Joey Serlin, bassist Pete Loewen and Greaves' first cousin, drummer Sammy Kohn. Serlin was a comic fan and named the group after the DC comic.

The band toured Canada extensively and became a popular live act, largely on the strength of its energetic shows, which invariably featured an a capella performance by Greaves at some point in the set. Greaves often covered songs by Billy Bragg, Simon and Garfunkel, Lyle Lovett, The La's, Tom Waits and others during these solo spots, and fans came to look forward to them as a highlight of each show. On rare occasions, Greaves performed more than one a capella song in a set: at one 1998 performance broadcast live on radio, Greaves entertained the in-person audience during commercial breaks by singing Nicarauguan folk songs in addition to performing Billy Bragg's "Between The Wars."

The band was discovered by producer Chris Wardman while playing at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern. Wardman offered to produce the band, and they released their debut album, McLaren Furnace Room, in 1992. (The album was named for one of the band's rehearsal spaces, the furnace room of the McLaren Hotel in Winnipeg.) The album was released by Wardman's Sumo Productions and distributed by MCA records. The single "Cracked" garnered the band significant airplay on rock stations, but was quickly eclipsed by the anti-spousal abuse anthem "Run and Hide", which became the band's breakthrough hit.

In 1993, Loewen left the band amicably to spend more time with his family. At the urging of Watchmen manager Jake Gold, Newfoundlander Ken Tizzard auditioned and replaced Loewen as the group's new bassist. Members of the Watchmen have commented that Tizzard's recruitment sparked a change in band dynamics and songwriting: before Tizzard joined the group, most the songs were written by Serlin alone; afterwards, the majority of songs were group compositions, with Serlin and Greaves sharing lyric-writing duties.

In October 1993, the band won the annual Discovery To Disc contest held by Toronto's CFNY-FM radio station (better known as 102.1 The Edge). The contest, which aimed to support new Canadian alternative rock artists, awarded the group $100,000 to go towards recording expenses.

The band's second album, In The Trees, was released on MCA records in July 1994. The record was a major success, confirming the band's place in Canadian rock with the hit singles "Boneyard Tree", "All Uncovered" and "Lusitana". The album was certified Platinum in Canada after selling over 100,000 copies.

Their 1996 album Brand New Day was not as well-received by critics or audiences -- "Zoom", "Incarnate" and "Shut Up" were moderately successful singles, but none achieved the kind of success that the band's earlier singles had. Nevertheless, the band launched an extensive tour of Canada and Europe which lasted into 1997.

Following this album, the band left MCA records and was signed to EMI. 1998's Silent Radar was the band's return to commercial success, with the hit singles "Stereo", "Any Day Now", "Brighter Hell" and "Say Something". The album was produced by Adam Kasper in Seattle's Studio Litho (owned by Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam fame), and was released in March 1998. That autumn, the band won a MuchMusic award for best of use new technology, owing to the inclusion of innovative web- and CD-ROM-based features on the Silent Radar CD.

Following the Silent Radar tour, Sammy Kohn amicably left the band to work in the music business. The band had been experimenting with electronic and industrial textures prior to Kohn's departure, and performed tracks with electronic features live during Kohn's final tour with the band. After Kohn's exit, the Watchmen moved sharply towards electronica, using programmed electronic drums on new recordings rather than recruiting a new live drummer.

The Watchmen's 2001 album Slomotion saw the remaining members experimenting with more industrial textures and making use of a drum machine to replace Kohn. The band also packaged the album with a second greatest hits disc. The album was, however, poorly received, with only the single "Absolutely Anytime" gaining any radio airplay. Drummer Ryan Ahoff joined as an auxiliary member for the subsequent tour, and the band performed with a mixture of live drums and programmed drum tracks on its newer, more electronic material.

In November 2003 the band decided to go their separate ways. However, they decided that before they did so, they would perform one last short tour across Canada as a "Thank You" to their fans. The tour was called "The Watchman's Last Road Trip" and included 9 concerts in 6 Canadian cities and 1 American city. Ahoff again joined the band for the tour which also saw a guest appearance by original bassist Pete Loewen during the encore of their last show in their hometown of Winnipeg on December 20, 2003.

The band subsequently broke up. Greaves went on to form Doctor with Rob Higgins, Tizzard joined Thornley, and Serlin appeared on Ryan Malcolm's debut album before forming his own new band, Redline. Greaves and Tizzard occasionally perform together as the electronic duo Audio Playground High + Wide.

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