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http://patrickwatson.net
http://patrick-watson.net
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Patrick Watson and The Wooden Arms playing Travelling Salesman with a stunning and spastic end-solo by the brilliant and talented Simon Angell. Once again Patrick Watson was nominated on the Polaris Music Prize shortlist after winning for his fabulous 2007 album, Closer to Paradise. Shot on June 18, 2009 at Salle Jean-Desperez in Gatineau, QC.

Thank you Olivier and Matt.
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Patrick Watson is a musical mad scientist. Hes an internationally acclaimed singer, composer, songwriter, and producer. Patrick Watson is also the name of this mad genius band, fleshed-out like Frankenstein by Robbie Kuster, Mishka Stein, and Simon Angell.

Both the man and his monster have received international acclaim since the September 2006 release of Close to Paradise in Canada. The first-ever release on Secret City Records (based out of the bands native Montreal), Close to Paradise propelled Patrick Watson quickly into stardom; it went gold in Canada, and won numerous awards, including Canadas prestigious Polaris Prize. The album saw international release in September 2007, and the band hasnt looked back, selling over 100,000 copies worldwide. Since then Patrick Watsons fanbase seems to have grown exponentially, with the live show now commanding huge audiences across the world, from Paris, to Reykjavik, Amsterdam, London, New York, and of course, Montreal, where Watson and most of the band still resides.

Despite the internationally demanding schedule, Watson himself also found time to contribute to Cinematic Orchestras 2007 album, Ma Fleur, and to compose scores and songs for a number of films—something he has always had a passion for. It should come as no surprise then, that the bands music is often described as cinematic and wildly eclectic. In fact, this aspect of their sound can be traced back to Watsons earliest musical days. While he was honing his angelic voice at age seven singing in local churches on the West Island of Montreal, he also grew up studying classical and jazz piano performance, arrangement, and composition. His first recording project was an experimental suite of music set to a series of photographs by Quebec artist, Brigitte Henry. To this day you can still hear a composers ear behind even the bands most accessible pop songs.

Watson met guitarist Simon Angell in their hometown of Hudson, Quebec while they were barely teenagers, and the two have collaborated ever since—Angells soundscapes and noise-influences having developed into the perfect complement to Watsons colourful melodic compositions and gut-wrenching falsetto. Then, while studying music at Vanier College in the late-nineties, Patrick had met Ukrainian-born Mishka Stein, and Swiss/British Columbia ex-pat Robbie Kuster, who were increasingly invited to fill out his rhythm section when performing live shows (with Angell having long-since become a permanent fixture). Though still Watsons project, an informal residency at the legendary Café Sarajevo and an eerie live chemistry between the four musicians quickly led to more group writing and a growing word-of-mouth fanbase.

Just Another Ordinary Day was self-released in 2003 as a result, and stands as a kind of snapshot of a band in formation, highlighting the bands penchant for dreamy soundscapes (echoing Sigur Ros, Bjork and Radiohead), with Watsons voice as the centerpiece. Through 2004 and 2005 buzz on the bands live shows lead to performances with an impressively diverse group of artists, from Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, to Feist. In the summer of 2006, they even invited on a European tour with the late James Brown, a fitting last leg to the first chapter of their story. Close to Paradise was released immediately after, in September 2006.

Patrick Watson and his bandmates spent most of the latter half of 2008 in Montreal recording the follow-up to Close to Paradise—Wooden Arms, which will be released in spring 2009.