‍This summer, Watershed will release a special 15th anniversary edition of bassist/singer Joe Oestreich’s cult-classic memoir Hitless Wonder and a 26-track, “Best of” double-vinyl. In combination, the book and the album tell the story of the Columbus institution’s four-decade journey through rock and roll’s trenches. Watershed will support the twin releases with an eight-city tour through the Midwest (dates and venues below).

Originally published in 2012 but out of print since 2016, Hitless Wonder received critical acclaim from NPR, Mix Magazine, The Washington Post, Publisher’s Weekly, and many other outlets.  The special anniversary edition includes a new afterword by Oestreich, a new foreword by The Ringer’s Rob Harvilla (host of the 60 Songs that Explain the 90s podcast and the book by the same name), and new photos and artwork. The book launch will take place Thursday, July 30, at Used Kids Records in Columbus, featuring a reading and book signing by Oestreich and a panel moderated by Harvilla. The event is free and open to the public. Afterward, the paperback, ebook, and audiobook (narrated by legendary WWCD DJ Brian Phillips) will be available everywhere.  

Serving as a soundtrack to the book, the double-disc collection, Hitless Wonder: The Definitive Cuts, 1990-2025 (ColumbusBlood Records) features songs that stretch from the band’s early days recording with Willie Phoenix, to staples from their brief stint on a major label, to tracks that garnered radio airplay and appeared in TV shows like MTV’s Laguna Beach and A&E’s Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Tucked into the package will be a 45 single featuring two brand new songs recorded in 2025 and 2026 with the band’s longtime producer Tim Patalan. “We knew it was time to do a retrospective album,” singer/guitarist Colin Gawel says, “but only on the condition that we also put out more new music.” The album will be available at Used Kids Records and other Columbus stores, via mail order at watershedcentral.com, and on all streaming services.

In support of the book and album, the band will perform in the following cities:

• 7/30 – Columbus, OH. Used Kids Records
  (reading and panel moderated by Rob Harvilla)

• 7/31 – Columbus, OH. Natalie’s Grandview

• 8/1 – Appleton, WI. Mile of Music Festival

• 8/2 – Appleton, WI. Mile of Music Festival

• 8/3 – Milwaukee, WI. Irving Place Records
  (reading and instore performance)

• 8/4 – Madison, WI. Gamma Ray Bar

• 8/5 – Rockford, IL. Mary’s Place

• 8/6 – Minneapolis, MN. Underground Music Venue
  (with special guest: Brynn ARENS from Flipp)

• 8/7 – Toledo, OH. Ottawa Tavern

• 8/8 – Cleveland, OH. The Treelawn Social Club

Formed in 1985 by Colin Gawel (vocals and guitar), Joe Oestreich (vocals and bass), and Herb Schupp (drums) while they were still in high school, Watershed signed with Epic Records in the early nineties. After the release of a live EP and a studio album (1995’s Twister), Epic dropped the band. Many artists would have broken up at that moment, but Watershed—owing to equal parts optimism and stubbornness—found a new drummer (Dave Masica) and kept plowing forward, producing their best work, including the albums TheMore it Hurts, The More it Works;Fifth of July; and their most recent studio effort, 2024’s Blow it Up Before it Breaks. Thanks to significant airplay on WWCD, tracks from these albums cemented the band’s place in the annals of Ohio music.

Watershed’s journey from rock’s minor leagues to the majors and back—and their refusal to call it quits—is the subject of Hitless Wonder, which Donald Ray Pollock called “the best and most honest memoir about the thwarted desire for rock stardom that you will ever read.” Oestreich has published three additional nonfiction books, including Lines of Scrimmage (w/Scott Pleasant), Partisans, and Waiting to Derail (w/Thomas O’Keefe, about Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown). He’s currently working on his debut novel, Southbound, while teaching at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. 

For his part, Gawel has been relentlessly performing as both a solo artist and with his backing band The League Bowlers. He also founded the band Why Isn’t Cheap Trick in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? while another of his projects, Willie Phoenix Tribute Machine, led to the city of Columbus naming a street Willie Phoenix Way, after the legendary Columbus rocker. He also runs a website called Pencilstorm and works seven days a week at his small shop, Colin’s Coffee.