“I love pop music,” says Watts. “Just because you’re making music that’s catchy or has a lot of hooks, it doesn’t mean you have to be like, ‘I love you, you love me.’ You’re going to use your voice and say something; you might as well say something interesting. If you’re trying to get someone’s attention, you might as well do something with it.”
Another Step in the Dark has been a labour of love for the Melbourne based singer/songwriter. The record marks a clean slate for Watts, who has stepped out on his own path to follow untapped ideas into new musical territory.
“I listen to a lot of different stuff,” he says. “When I had [former band] Alex Watts & The Foreign Tongue, I felt a bit limited to what we could do musically in the rock and roll format we started off with. I outgrew it a little. Doing this one with just my name, completely free to do whatever I want, it was cool to be able to say, ‘We’re going to do this in a Rolling Stones type of way, or we’re going to do this as a Memphis soul type of thing,’ without trying to ape anything too closely.”
Loosely based around the idea of a song cycle, Watts first came up with the narrative idea several years ago. Through its ten artfully crafted songs, the album follows the arc of a relationship along stages of courtship and betrayal, all the way through to murderous revenge.
“The story itself is kind of obscure,” he says. “Pop music should be fun. You shouldn’t have to be concentrating too hard to be able to enjoy it. But I like the idea of being able to tell a bigger story over the course of 40 minutes, while still having these three-minute songs that are fine on their own.”
Backed by a heavy hitting ten-piece band, Watts will perform the album in full at his upcoming launch. Rounding out the experience comes specifically created artwork from some of the city’s finest creatives, who have visually interpreted his music to stunning effect.
“I had the idea years ago that I could get a lot of artists involved and add a visual component,” he says. “With the music, I was producing it all and had very set controls over it all. With the visuals I just said, ‘Here’s the themes and lyrical imagery. Go nuts and show me when you’re done.’ It was really cool waiting and seeing what came back. They’re all in different styles; there’s paintings and prints and photography.”
Post launch, Watts and his band will be aiming to hit the stage as much as possible. After investing his heart and soul into bringing his vision to life, he’s keener than ever to release it into the world.
“It’s something I’ve been talking about and thinking about every day for the last year and a half,” he says. “I’m really glad I didn’t cut corners to try and make things faster or less expensive along the way. I found ways to get things done to the quality I wanted. Even on a personal level, it’s satisfying. I’m really happy with the final product. It’s not like I had a great idea and I sort of did it — I did it.”
BY JAMES DI FABRIZIO
