Thirteen years ago, when Watershed was signed to Epic Records, the trio's first offering to that most major of labels was a live album recorded at the Newport Music Hall, when the band was young, naïve and desperate to make it.

Releasing a live debut was a risky venture for unknown rockers hailing from the Midwest, even ones crisscrossing the country from Austin to Boston with 200 dates a year. They were wary, but their manager, David Sonenberg, pushed it.

Previously, he had worked with the Spin Doctors, whose offbeat live entrance found a niche and helped to catapult the quirky dudes into MTV, summer-song stardom. Watershed's album didn't need to sell well, Sonenberg assured them; it was just a promotional item to give fans each night during their frenzied road schedule.

So Three Chords and a Cloud of Dust Live was released, no one got the gridiron reference, it tanked, and three star-struck kids from Ohio got wise the hard way about big labels.

"The one thing we learned from record companies is that the records always have to sell," said bassist and singer Joe Oestreich.

Unfortunately for Watershed—then a group known only for a mediocre live record—the first studio release also bombed and Epic decided not to pick up the band's option. The trio found itself buried and forgotten. A string of high-profile radio gigs was re-gifted to a bunch of Australian prodigies named Silverchair.

Struggling to save their career, they toured, worked with different labels and producers and even braved rabid crowds during a stint opening for Insane Clown Posse. Eventually, the band signed to Idol Records, an indie imprint that has released records by Sponge, GBH and Flickerstick.

Since their first Idol release in 2002, this city's hardest-working band has thrived.

They're great musicians. They're even better friends. On the right night, you can catch Oestreich, Colin Gawel, Dave Masica and Mark Borror, the guitarist added in 2002, for pennies at the Newport or the LC—and then get drunk with them afterward.

Watershed has become the rare bunch able, after 20 years, to have a genuinely good time producing pop-rock ballads that sell well enough and move crowds. It's fitting, then, that more than a lifetime since their Epic days, the band is releasing Three Chords and a Cloud of Dust II.

Captured the night before last year's Ohio State-Michigan game—maybe the biggest, loudest, longest night in Columbus history—the live record contains a single 45-minute set the 1,800 rowdies in the sold-out Newport crowd knew by heart.

"We felt that while we were doing 14 months of touring, now's the time to get stuff down," said singer and guitarist Gawel about recording the homestretch of a 2006 leg.

We didn't even listen to that live stuff until spring, and we were like, 'Wow, this is pretty f---ing good.'"

The band has played some epic, throbbing, beer-swilling shows around town, and this clearly is among the best. Outsiders don't understand, the band said, but football and rock 'n' roll always go hand in hand.

"That was a good night to play," said Masica, the drummer. "The crowd was jacked."

Even for those who don't bleed Buckeye colors, the album works both as a hometown spotlight of
Watershed's crushing live show and a kiss-off to countless executives more concerned with bottom lines than bass lines.

Included are memorable tracks like "Slowly Then Suddenly" and "Black Concert T-Shirt," as well as more recent hits "5th of July" and "Suckerpunch."

"Erv, our label head, agreed to put it out before he even heard it," said Oestreich, laughing the gleeful laugh of a man who's made it in spite of a thousand doubters. "From song one to 13, it's like, 'Wow, this is one great, tight, cohesive set.'"

August 2007