JSU Live Review




Andy Watts
The Ivy House, Stuart Road, London
20th October 2004

Forthcoming LP : A World Of Hearts Right Here






We somehow managed to find it, The Ivy House, in the middle of south London. Andy Watts (ex-frontman/guitarist of Mozer and before that ex-drummer of the Seahorses) took to the stage after two other acts, a folky duo on the mandello and flute that in a parallel universe could have been a folky-Evanessance and a girl on a guitar who played a single song which seemed to go on for ages and sounded like what I imagine cats hear, beckoning them towards the light, when they are on the way out of this life.

The remedy, Andy Watts and a guitar. This was the first time I had seen him live since his time with the Seahorses, but after hearing a lot of his work with Mozer, I was keen to see what he had installed this evening. He opened with the debut Mozer EP title-track 'Believe', an upbeat number, sounded great here in this acoustic setting.

Next during a track Andy introduced as "being about mums and dads", the sound system suffered a technical hitch and left Andy singing almost acapella at one stage, though he remained note perfect, pausing only to offer the sound-guy some technical advise, "Twat it!"

'Broken Bones' was the next tune which featured the recurring lyrics "Time changed nothing" and some clever finger-picking (on the guitar) throughout, which gave the song extra depth. Andy introduced the next song as having "too many chords" but he played it perfectly anyway. After a couple of other songs, one introduced as "about tolerance, compassion and kitchen software and sharpened knives", Andy was joined on stage by a flutist for one track; he exchanged this for an accordion for title-track of Andy's forthcoming LP 'A World Of Hearts Right Here'. He finished the set with 'Mr. Good News' which we had previously played when in Mozer for a 6Music interview (first heard by most on JSU).

Throughout his set of 9 songs, Andy gave a perfect performance (both vocally and on guitar) giving much anticipation towards his debut album, which will hopefully be available soon. Anyone who knows Andy Watts only as the drummer in the Seahorses will be surprised and rightly so as Andy is an acceptional accomplished singer, guitarist and songwriter.




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