Watchtower (band)
| Watchtower | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Progressive metal |
| founding | 1982, 2000 |
| resolution | 1994 |
| Founding members | |
| Jason McMaster (1982–1988 and from 2000) | |
| Billy White (1982-1986) | |
| Rick Colaluca | |
| Doug Keyser | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Jason McMaster (1982–1988 and from 2000) |
guitar |
Ron Jarzombek (from 1986) |
Drums |
Rick Colaluca |
bass |
Doug Keyser |
| former members | |
singing |
Mike Soliz (1988-1989) |
singing |
Alan Tecchio (1989–1990) |
Watchtower is a progressive metal - band from the United States , which is considered a pioneer of the genre. In contrast to the two other pioneering bands Fates Warning and Queensrÿche , however, she only recorded two albums and was therefore only style-defining in the early days of the genre .
history
The band was formed in 1982 by guitarist Billy White and drummer Rick Colaluca with Jason McMaster as vocalist and Doug Keyser as bassist . Their first album, Energetic Disassembly, from 1985 is often referred to as the first progressive metal album ever. Although it was remixed later, the band itself attested the album in retrospect with a very bad sound, even after the same remix, which was partly due to the low-budget character.
Billy White left the band in 1986 to pursue other projects. He was replaced by Ron Jarzombek. The next exit followed in 1988, Jason McMaster left Watchtower in favor of the band Dangerous Toys , where he had already been involved for some time, as he saw a greater perspective for himself there. With their successor Mike Soliz, Watchtower were then represented on the Doomsday 2 sampler of their Noise Records label , which was later to publish Watchtower's second album. Mike Soliz only stayed with the band for a short time and was replaced by Alan Tecchio , the former singer of Hades , who had recently split up , before the recording of the second album .
The second album Control and Resistance was finally released in 1989, and is considered a style-defining work of the genre. In the rhythmically complex passages of these recordings, the music shows a certain affinity to the music of King Crimson . In addition, in contrast to its predecessor, the album was able to come up with a professional production. Despite the media coverage, Alan Tecchio left the band in 1990 due to his frustration that no booking agency wanted to sign Watchtower in the USA for a tour. In 1994 Watchtower broke up.
In 2000 there was a reunion of the band with the cast of Control and Resistance , with the exception of Jason McMaster's re-entry. In the course of this reunification, the record Demonstrations in Chaos was recorded in 2002, which contains only two new songs. However, some songs are first sung by Jason McMaster. An announced album entitled Mathematics and occasional live performances (2004 in San Antonio, Texas and Amstelveen, Netherlands) gave fans hope that the band would continue to exist. In 2010 the band played an acclaimed appearance at the Keep-It-True -Festival in Lauda-Königshofen with Alan Tecchio as singer. After the concert, the band broke up with him.
Ron Jarzombek has already had another instrumental project called Spastic Ink for some time , which released two albums on his own. Alan Tecchio founded Non-Fiction with the former Hades member Dan Lorenzo , both then reformed Hades and recorded albums again under this name. They performed in 2010 at the Bang Your Head Festival in Balingen.
On April 9, 2010 Watchtower released the single "The size of matter" from their planned album Mathematics as a digital version. This was the first release of new material since 1989. This was followed by "M-Theory Overture", "Arguments Against Design" and "Technology Inaction" on October 21, 2015, as part of the upcoming EP Concepts of Math: Book One .
Discography
- 1985: Energetic Disassembly
- 1989: Control and Resistance
- 2002: Demonstrations in Chaos
- 2016: Concepts of Math: Book One