An Interview w/ The Watson Twins

I was fortunate enough to see you open up for Billy Bragg at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA this past October. What was it like to tour with him?
That tour was truly an amazing experience. Billy is such a wonderful performer, and his talent rivals personality. That tour was called the Presidential Campaign Tour, named by Mr.Bragg. We hit undecided states in multiple cities and the message was evident. Time to take back our country, take pride and focus on our communities, I can dig that.

I noticed the excellent cover of "Just Like Heaven" on Fire Songs. The past year has seen two Cure tribute albums, including one on American Laundromat Records -- a label you did a Neil Young tribute album with. Do you think there is a Cure resurgence going on right now?
I'm not sure, good question. That cover came to us a couple years ago during a year end "Top Songs of all Time" and hearing it on the radio just took me back. I thought, "What a great song!" we have to cover it. The response from audiences at the live show just confirmed that we needed to record it because everyone else was feeling the same way we did.



Have you begun working on the follow-up to Fire Songs? On a similar vein, does the fact that you are identical twins change the songwriting process? Do you find that you are often on the same wavelength, or do you butt heads more often?
We are writing and brainstorming on the next record. When we get back from the tour we are on with Ben Kweller we'll start on pre-production and be in the studio by the beginning of the summer. We are usually on the same page with direction and have just started collaborating more on the song writing, usually we write separately. And, as for butting heads... we are sisters and best friends a lil' "friendly fire" happens occasionally.

We know you both as musicians, but do you have other creative outlets outside of the realm of music?
Cooking and art. Chandra makes amazing shadow boxes and I do jewelry. We both try and find time to exercise our creativity in different venues. I think it's important to keep that wheel turning whether it's in music or in the kitchen. We both are foodies and being creative with meals can be an amazing outlet too.

Lastly, I see that you have a Twitter account that you update quite frequently. Do you find it an effective tool to communicate with your fans? Oh yeah, and did you really have dinner with the Obama's?
We just started with the "Tweeting", so I'm not sure just yet. I have a fun time doing it, and I think it lets a lil' window into the world of touring. How each day is a different city and a different adventure. I'd like to be able to answer the question about dinner at the White House.... but that is CLASSIFIED information.

myspace.com/thewatsontwins »

Name: Alex
Date posted: March 23, 2009 - 08:36 pm
Message:

'Tweeting,' huh? Nice.