Official WATCHTOWER Feature-Length Documentary Is In The Works
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On a recent episode of the "Talk Louder" podcast, hosted by veteran music journalist "Metal Dave" Glessner and lifelong hard rock/metal vocalist Jason McMaster, Jason spoke about the current status of the reunited legendary Texas progressive metal band WATCHTOWER. McMaster confirmed that a feature-length WATCHTOWER documentary is on the way, currently in-production from Blue Balloon Studios and PennyRock Productions. The tentatively titled "Energetic Resistance: Decoding The Story Of Watchtower", the film is being produced by McMaster and Ray Seggern, and it is being directed by J. Budro Partida, an Emmy Award-winning video producer and award-winning filmmaker from Austin, Texas who has worked professionally in television and media production since 1997. Partida's spectrum of work includes award-winning films and music videos, television commercials, multiple television series, and the Emmy Award-winning late night TV series "Austin After Hours". His short documentary "Sunset At Dry Creek" won "Best Short Documentary" at Austin Indie Fest (2023),"Best Documentary" at The Longhorn Film Festival (2022) and "Best Short Documentary" at the Grand New York Film Awards (2022).
Regarding how the idea for the WATCHTOWER documentary came about, Jason said: "The impact the band has had in the extreme music world, I'll just say, obviously it's going on half a century now. And I just think that it feels really good to come to grips with that idea.
"When Ray Seggern came to me with the idea originally, I was making a weird face," McMaster admitted. "I was, like, 'You wanna do what? It felt impostrous. I was just, like, 'Wait, what?' But it's been brought to my attention by my peers that, 'No, dude. The impact is huge. This needs to happen.'
"I think that anyone who likes extreme music, extreme metal, prog metal, Texas metal, all of our friends, our peers that have championed the band their entire existence, and these are people who are in California and Florida and Europe and New York and whatever… I think that it's there's some reach. And this is all related to the little mini tour we just did.
"When people first heard WATCHTOWER, they remember it," Jason explained. "They remember the first time they heard it, because they were, like, 'What the fuck is this?' That's what everyone's reaction is to when they hear it. And they either fall in love or they have no idea what planet they're on for that moment."
Perhaps previewing some of the things that will be covered in the WATCHTOWER documentary, Jason said: "I remember the band released [its second album, 1989's] 'Control [And Resistance]' and then they did some shows in Europe and then Ron's fingers needed surgery, and that was that for a minute. And all of these trials and tribulations and all of this mucky-muck going on the whole time almost keeping you guys from being a band at all. All of this is tied into what would be an interesting storyline. And the fact that we're all still here and friendly. You can't say that about a lot of people and a lot of bands and a lot of artists. You just can't."
WATCHTOWER played its first reunion concert with McMaster on September 8, 2023 at Fitzgerald's Bar & Live Music Venue in San Antonio, Texas. This marked the progressive metal legends' first appearance with McMaster since the band's performances at Germany's Bang Your Head!!! festival in 2000 and Holland's Headway Festival in 2004.
McMaster co-founded WATCHTOWER in 1982 and appeared on the band's 1985 debut album "Energetic Disassembly" before leaving three years later to focus on sleaze rockers DANGEROUS TOYS. Jason was replaced in WATCHTOWER by Tecchio (formerly of HADES),who sang on group's second and most recent studio album, 1989's "Control And Resistance". A reunion with McMaster followed in 1999 and lasted for several years, only for Jason to leave again. Tecchio returned for new material intended for WATCHTOWER's since-scrapped third album "Mathematics" that resulted in the 2016 EP "Concepts Of Math: Book One".
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
