About this Event

BlackWaters present: Jarred Up

with BlackWaters

plus Sophie and The Giants / Bedroom / Boredom



Tickets: http://www.theboileroom.net/listings/events/1-dec-16-blackwaters-present-jarred-up-the-boileroom/



Music for a jarred up generation.



At 26 Guildford Park Ave‬, three lads are sat on the sofa getting into a discussion about hopes, dreams and escaping the middle aged mundanity of this part of Surrey. Their fourth mate James Watkins is missing. He lives separately three doors down, and is presently banging on a drumkit. “James is a moody bastard,” says Max, vocalist. The living room is home to their ramshackle, sweat-on-the-walls after-hours gigs. Last time they had one in here, they crammed forty people into a space fit for ten. There was a long line of many more kids chancing it outside the front door. Prior to that they played a Fresher's gig at their college for 250 people. They stage-dived then it was all-back-to-ours. “250 people were waiting outside the door of our house,” says David. “We had them crammed in our garden, our front room… the police came and threatened to charge us with stuff…”



Blackwaters are a fourpiece from the depths of nothingness. And yet despite their murky background, they've turned aggro, pent-up frustration and total utter boredom into rampant, shouty, spit-fuelled, BO-inducing, agitated punk rock'n'roll. Why? Because there's fuck all else to do around here. Guitarist David is the alleged “Baby Spice” of the group, which means he's the one with all the Instagram followers. Ollie – long-haired – plays bass, and barely speaks. Max immediately has an air of geezer – think Moff from 'Human Traffic'. “I'm from Essex unfortunately,” he says. Their first big single 'So Far Out' was written on this sofa. “It was for some coursework I had to do,” says Ollie. Now at the collective age of 18, the lads are finishing up their final year at music college in Guildford – they fast-tracked it. Like most students, they're last-minute crammers. Which means that 'So Far Out' was written the day before Ollie's hand-in. “It's a feisty song!” says Max.



The energy of the song is ten-fold when they play it live. BlackWaters are a statement band, but they're not overtly political in their lyrics. Rather they'd like to be subversive by allowing their peers to break free and channel all their rage and apathy into their fire-starting anthems. Max explains. “'So Far Out' is about how restricted we are when it comes to having a say in things. We can't control anything that happens outside our friendship group really. No one can.” David chimes in. “We're in a boring as fuck town. That's our generation. There's no inspiration, we've got no platform to say anything on. Our age restricts what we can and can't do. If I was born a few days later I'd be able to vote on a decision that will change my life. I'm talking about the Brexit by the way…”



'So Far Out' was produced by Carl Barat [The Libertines] and written almost as a reaction to Brexit, a decision that will impact the lives of these four lads long after their ancestors are gone.“The general message is: Fuck it all!” laughs Max. “Just go and have a good time and write some awesome tunes.” Via their first song 'Jarred-Up Generation' the foursome built a solid reputation as the band in Guilford. “We owe a lot to Guildford,” says Max. They've played every pub, every house party. “We've played for a lot of old dancing men, we had to do that. There are a helluva lot of bands here but we're the only ones who have generated a scene and have a message.” Outside of Guildford, too, there are too many indie landfill bands with zero purpose. BlackWaters can't help but have “flourishes” of politics in everything they do – it's just how they feel every day. The music goes beyond radio and magazines. It's about community, blurring the lines between crowd and band. They love getting people up onstage. “No barrier!” says Max.





“We've been sitting in this living room for two years,” says Max. “With very minimal money. We wanna do the band so that means we can't get proper jobs. There's not a lot to do in Guilford. It's time to escape monotony. We're gonna get out.”



The BOILEROOM

13 Stoke Fields

Guildford

Surrey

GU1 4LS

01483 440022

www.theboileroom.net