Columbus Alive
At some point you have to wonder what the hell is up with national radio when guys who rock as hard as Colin Gawel (guitar/vocals), Joe Oestreich (bass/vocals) and Dave Mason (drums) are still traveling a road to success paved with Held stone instead of slate. A band that rocks as hard as Watershed lingering in the shadow of bands like the Goo-Goo Dolls?!

Once signed to Epic Records, the Columbus trio put out two records and toured with the likes of Cheap Trick, Ben Folds Five and the Smithereens. Then their A&R rep was fired and Watershed was quickly dropped. Gawel admits they were replaced by Aussie 16-year-olds Silverchair. Ouch. Later they toured for the release Star Vehicle and made a mark with college radio and a damn strange tour paired up with the Insane Clown Posse.

Now, Watershed's new release, The More It Hurts, The More It Works, invites itself into your car with a 12-song journey through the Midwest rock passion the band has vividly encompassed year after year and up and down the states. Recorded in Michigan with producer Tim Patalan (who's helped out groups like Sponge and Hoarse from the same region), Watershed has definitely put out music worthy of your money. As the band press thingy says: The hype is gone, the gimmick is in the songs.

For those musicians hung up on Cheap Trick, The Clash, Kiss and The Replacements, please take off your leather pants, wipe away the eye make-up, break up with your weather-worn women and stop embarrassing yourselves because they do it better than you. Watershed is pretty much the only band around anymore that views those rock idols with blinking wonder and still sounds completely unique and fresh.

Toting their trademarked energy, Watershed plans to bring it all out for the CD release party. Even the man in the corner of the room is not safe. These musicians may still be the metaphorical wallflower in full bloom after their many trips on the road, but hopefully this new disc will take them from their pot on the wall to the middle of the waltz. (Ryan Horns)

The Other Paper - Columbus, OH
So What if Power Pop Is Dead? Not for Watershed
by: Kevin Elliott

First it was Howlin' Maggie, who tested our tepid scene with last year's comeback album, Hyde. Now we welcome the return of yet another Columbus institution: Watershed, with its comeback (of sorts), The More it Hurts, The More it Works.

You may not believe it now, but at one point in the '90s, major labels were sniffing around the Midwest for hardworking, earnest bands with sensitive,soulful songsmiths. Watershed was picked up by Epic during the post-grunge boom days (Columbia scooped up Howlin' Maggie), then subsequently spat back out once the trio's particular brand of alternative rock was no longer a marketable product. Suddenly, legitimate bands became an endangered species.

As Watershed singer/guitarist Colin Gawel now says, "The hype is gone. The gimmick is in the songs."

So, seven years later, the boys in Watershed feel the urge to continue what they started and dismiss popular opinion. The studio-glazed guitars and sugary melodies that dominate the new record make for a perfect companion piece to those fruitful times, but The More it Hurts unwinds more like a hit list, venting the band's struggles with seven years of lovers and ex-lovers, friends and foes - not to mention a sketchy music industry.

Nowhere is that more evident than the fist-pumping lead-off track, Black Concert T-Shirt. Among the crunchy punk chord changes and crystalline production, Gawel sings a sarcastically infectious refrain: "We wear all the latest clothes/ We see all the coolest shows/ Bouncers at the nightclubs let us in/ Wouldn't take one day back to live it again."

These guys are survivors. So what if power pop is dead? Watershed doesn't seem to care. Gawel and bassist Joe Oestreich have an undeniable knack for Grafting near-perfect pop songs, and here it's apparent they've been saving them up for a rainy day album. Fluctuating between Cheap Trick "In Technicolor" power chords and the Replacement's dusty melancholy, The More it Hurts is packed with a shining streak of sing-a-long anthems.

Wallflower Child wins the prize for "most likely to succeed," complete with toy piano, tambourine, acoustic rifling and a subtle phased guitar. It's got "radio friendly" written all over it. This is not another Weezer clone-this is talented songwriting. In fact, many . moments on the record might make you imagine a Top 40 factory lives in your town.

Suckerpunch is pure Midwestern grit and grind (with a catchy chorus), Over too Soon is adult alternative (with a catchier chorus), and Just for Show sounds like the opening credits to a punk John Hughes film. That's a compliment.

The only complaint one could make here is the occasional drift into achy-breaky lyrics. This band has been in and out of love more often than Richard Marx. Oh yeah, and the cover of Born to Run. That misstep concludes an otherwise triumphant return from Watershed-why do bands insist on commit-. ting to tape obligatory covers of their favorite songs?

Save 'em for the live show.

point31.com
Point 5.

Five words for all five points: Too great to pass up. Watershed is the most; I repeat most satisfactory time I have had while listening to a CD so far this year. From start to finish is all a blur because once the CD is in - you might as well lock up the CD player - this is one of those CD¹s that can be listened to over and over and over and - well you get the point. Imagine a band you like - throw them out the window, because Watershed is going to take their spot. Push your head up against the speakers to listen to how perfect this CD is in every way. Loud, fun, rock and roll at it¹s best and unlike anything else you have ever heard before - unless of course you have heard Watershed - in which case you know exactly what it is I am talking about.

The Other Paper - "Can't Be Myself" single review
In a just, sensible society, Watershed's Can't be Myself would be this summer's monster radio hit, a pure blast of romantic ennui that barely avoids ripping off Green Day and transcends those boneheads in the process. Anyone convinced that manic pop punk (or Watershed, for that matter) had no life left will get their head spun Exorcist-style. It's awesome. (Rob Harvilla)