Patrick Watson

Patrick was born in the California desert in 1979, but was essentially raised in the small town of Hudson, Quebec, just west of Montreal. The youngest in a family full of professional pilots, Patrick was the eccentric black sheep from early on, with his musical career beginning at age seven singing in local churches. He grew up studying classical and jazz piano performance, arrangement, and composition. Simultaneously scruffy and handsome, Patrick is in some ways your classic, piano-playing charmer with a twinkle in his eye. But he’s also a serious craftsman with big ambition despite his cabaret charisma. He’ll happily play goalie for a game of pick-up hockey, but when he’s at the piano singing (which is most of the time) there are few artists that can match his sense of dedication (or the impact of his voice).

By the time he was 16, Patrick was attending high school in Montreal, and playing in the high-octane ska group, Gangster Politics. Never one to be satisfied by one musical genre, Patrick abandoned ska by the time he had finished school. He began focusing on engineering his own music with almost fanatical attention to details, incorporating genres and styles from contemporary classical to modern electronica, at once both pop-oriented and improvisational.

Watson’s music has been visually inspired and cinematic from the start. In 2001 he released Waterproof9—an experimental suite meant to accompany the underwater photography of long-time visual collaborator, Brigitte Henry (who also worked on the stunning art direction of Close to Paradise). In the first of a series of theatrical stunts that have come to be one of the touchstones of Watson’s young career, the award-winning photography book/CD was launched during a midnight performance at Cinema L’Amour in Montreal, the theatre in which Harry Houdini was rumoured to have received the injury that would lead to his death. Since then Watson performances have rarely been without wild projections and optical illusions, often incorporating large props (like fitting a band in a giant bubble) and film of all kinds.

Patrick traveled to Vietnam alone on a whim following September 11th. By the time he returned to Montreal, the seeds had been planted for the formation of the four-piece band that would go on to create Close to Paradise. Bringing together Simon Angell on guitar (whom Patrick had known from his Gangster Politics days), Russian-born Mishka Stein on bass, and Robbie Kuster on drums (who’s since been courted by countless bands), “Patrick Watson” suddenly took on a sound bigger than just haunting vocals and dreamy piano. Just Another Ordinary Day was released in 2003, and stands as a kind of snapshot of an important band in formation.

The buzz on the band’s live shows and unofficial residency at Café Sarajevo lead to performances with huge international acts and rising Canadian stars alike. Between 2004 and early 2005 the band performed with the likes of James Brown and Philip Glass, as well as Feist, the Dears and the Stills.

Following a breakthrough performance at the Pop Montreal Festival in 2005, the band became the catalyst for the formation of Secret City Records. They entered the studio in late 2005, and Close to Paradise was released in fall 2006.

www.patrickwatson.net