Fischer Z

John Watts is from a family of singers. A distant cousin was Teddy Brown, a famous pre-war music-hall entertainer. He progressed through school and college bands inspired equally by the late 60s Trojan catalogue and great maverick artists, from Alex Harvey to Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart to Tom Waits and the 'Hunky Dory' David Bowie. Watts and his mates moved via the Marley of the mid 70s to the point where punk, art-wave and reggae crossed over. With college friend Steve Skolnik and rhythm section Steve Liddle and Dave Graham, Watts landed a record deal as Fischer-Z with United Artists in 1978 alongside the Buzzcocks and the Stranglers.

Fischer-Z appeared in the art school new wave to be categorised as the UK's answer to Talking Heads, Television and the New York writer/musician crossover artists. They achieved a strong cult status in the UK, then translated their eclectic mix of reggae and high energy cerebral pop songs into large record sales all over continental Europe and chart success as far abroad as Australia.

Watts has amassed a considerable body of creative work since. His quality song-writing has evolved steadily against a variety of musical colours. It has encompassed written word, poetry and humour as easily as rap-scape, rare groove and indie guitar influences, all with a characteristic singing and written 'voice'. His new album, 'Ether Music & Film', is the most challenging record-making project of his career so far. The combination of music album and accompanying road movie fulfils one of John's career-long ambitions: to apply the principles of spontaneous live music-making to the recording process and come up with his own art in a most unusual form.

www.fischer-z.com