The Black Watch | Artist
The Black Watch is an American Indie Rock band formed 1987 in Santa Barbara, California, by singer, guitarist and primary songwriter John Andrew Fredrick, who is the band's only constant member. Fredrick, who is also a novelist, formed the band after earning his Ph.D. in English from University of California, Santa Barbara. After recording the 1988 debut album St. Valentine and releasing it on Eskimo, Fredrick's own label, violinist J'Anna Jacoby joined the group and the two of them formed the nucleus of the band until she left the group in 2003. The Black Watch has recorded and toured consistently throughout its history except for a brief period in 1997 when the band broke up. During this hiatus, Fredrick wrote The King of Good Intentions, a semi-autobiographical novel about an indie rock band. The band recorded a CD of the same title intended as a companion piece to the novel, although the planned publication of the novel was cancelled when the publisher folded. In 2008, guitarist and singer Steven Schayer, formerly of the Los Angeles band Clay Idols, and New Zealand band The Chills, joined the band. That same year Fredrick wrote and published a book of fiction, The Knucklehead Chronicles. In 2013, Fredrick's novel The King of Good Intentions was finally published, and soon after, its sequel. In 2018 the band signed with Atom Records, having released up to that point fifteen albums on ten different record labels. In 2019, the band issued compilations of their early vinyl-only releases, The Vinyl Years, and a career-spanning best-of 31 Years of Obscurity: the Best of the black watch 1988-2019. From their discography of 23 studio albums, the latest being 2024's Weird Rooms, standout albums include Flowering (1991), Jiggery-Pokery (2002), The Hypnotizing Sea (2005), Icing the Snow Queen (2008), and Highs and Lows (2015). The Black Watch is a prime example of a fine Indie band which, despite a string of excellent albums, has gone under the radar due to lack of exposure by small independent record company representation. Trouser Press magazine has noted that, despite so many great reviews, it is "astonishing" that The Black Watch has only garnered a following "the size of a kitchen sponge". In 2017 Fredrick published two further books: Your Caius Aquilla, and Fucking Innocent: The Early Films of Wes Anderson, both on Rare Bird Books. Violinist J'Anna Jacoby now plays in Rod Stewart's backing band.
Artist Website : facebook.com/theblackwatchmusic
Featured Albums: The Black Watch
Related Artists: The Chills, J'Anna Jacoby
