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by Dave Kirby
So why did the guy sound so exhausted when we caught up to him after a Santa Monica soundcheck last week?
"We just finished up an East Coast tour, and it was a lot of work. Basically, we played 16 shows in 13 days, did almost a week of two shows a day. I mean, it was great, and we had a blast, but man I donšt know, I think I like doing the tour thing on the West Coast better. Therešs more driving, but it seems a little less hurried, I guess."
The D.C. to Boston corridor is still relatively untried territory for Wattšs bandwell, this band anyway, since he originally hails from Boston, where he and his old outfit Shockra struggled against the big city music machine for a few years before ditching and moving out west. Boston was one of the towns The Motet played this past spring, so it was a little like coming home. A little.
"We actually did manage to play a gig to a mostly Shockra crowd in Boston one night. That was cool, seeing some old friends. Plus, therešs a fair amount of Boulder people we have who have moved back east, so I think thatšs helped a little in setting the groundwork for us in places like Boston and New York.
"Burlington was weird. We played to five people on a Monday night. It was a post-Widespread show, and I guess everyone was too burnt to make it. You can never tell about Monday nights."
Fair enough. But Watts admits to benefiting from a relatively new phenomenon in the working band businesscoasting on the extremes of instant buzz and high-commitment community support that the Internet seems to provide for free, or next to free. The old paradigms of bands struggling against the limitations of their own environment are wearing away, Watts says. While the band itself is based in Boulder, and they have their hometown crowd more or less in pocket, they no longer need the clout of a big city venue gig or industry proximity to grow their national exposure.
"That was more or less why I wanted to leave Boston. It was sort of small fish, big pond type of thing. It can be so hard to make it in a huge city like Boston or New York or D.C., mostly because therešs just so much stuff going on, and you find yourself having to do outrageous things just to get noticed. By coming out to Colorado, we had a chance to build up a crowd in Boulder, improve and grow the band, and word of mouth really spread through the whole jamband Internet thing.
"But we had to get established first, get a good crowd going. It just seemed like we couldnšt do that with Shockra when we were in Boston. Now, you donšt have to be in a big city. Once you have your gig and your crowd, the Net can really help spread the word quickly."
As far as near future plans go, Watts and Company return to the Peoplešs Republic for a Boulder Theater gig with Samba Dende and Natural Kingdom this Saturday night, and a New Yearšs gig up at Michigan Mikešs new place in Nederland. Past that, Watts has a few ideas.
"Wešre talking about doing a live album. Seems like, at the merch table at every gig, people are always going, Wherešs the live album?š I guess figuring that we must have one, or telling us that, if we donšt, we should. So, wešve been talking about it, and wešll probably get some spring gigs committed to tape and put something together.
"And, Išve also been thinking about trying to put together a straight-ahead jazz thing in Boulder. Man, there are so many good players around... seems like projects get started and fizzle out almost immediately. Išd like to try to get something going.
"I love playing straight jazz. I spend so much time playing in front of dance floors with people grooving away, I sometimes forget how I also love playing for an audience thatšs just sitting, listening. Thatšs cool, too."
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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Dave Watts is in a pretty good place with his band right now. The Motet have got about as much road work as they can handle. Strong followings in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest have guaranteed a slump-proof touring year, and their seductive blend of funk and new school jazz has earned them opening gig invites for a variety of different stages, with a fair shot at a variety of different audiences.
