Waterlaso & Sufjan Stevens Songs’ Featured In The Film "The Matter With Clark"
We're excited that two Waterlaso songs are featured in the new film "The Matter With Clark" along side some other great artists including Sufjan Stevens! The trailer and the link to the film's myspace page are posted below, as well as a behind the scenes clip that uses a third Waterlaso song!
http://www.myspace.com/thematterwithclark
Clark Thomas (Jamie Layden) is a college student who has his life and dreams ahead of him. His world is set until a major accident changes his life and is forced to go through what most coming of age men are not asked to. Clark's world is turned upside-down with this tragedy and the fate of he and his sister, Reagan (Gracie Gordon), lies in his hands. When it seems nothing is left, a turn of events and astronomical occurrences allows Clark to regain his hope, and a new realization is reached. Through this significant change, the new friends he meets, and the challenges he faces comes "the matter with Clark", a dramedy that is sure to capture your hearts.
Santa Monica Mirror Vol. 9, Issue 17 October 4 - 10, 2007
From Life & Arts: Artist Spotlight Waterlaso
Liz Ohanesian, Mirror Contributing Writer
Waterlaso began in Sedona, Arizona as a simple means for Michael Cameron to pass the time. He was young and "obsessed" with the four-track recording systems that fueled the popularity of lo-fi home recordings in the late 1990s.
"There's just not much to do when you basically live out in the forest," he says.
Cameron worked diligently on the project, and the music he made became a reflection of his surroundings, a combination of the indie rock and new wave CD's in his collection and the "mystical vortexes" of Sedona.
"It's a huge new wave, soft rock, new age thing," he says of his sonic creations.
Eventually, Cameron moved to Phoenix for college and, after finishing school, relocated to his current hometown of Los Angeles. All the while, Waterlaso stuck with him, resulting in three releases featuring songs with such quirky titles as "My Ex-Wife's Failed Boxing Career," "Your Mother Knows Us As Boywhores," and "You've Made It Miserable To Be Poor." Somewhere along the way, though, Waterlaso transformed from Cameron and his four-track to a full-fledged rock band.
"I always struggled with putting together a lineup that sounded good," Cameron confesses. A little over a year ago, the pieces fell into place. He first joined forces with keyboardist Josh Winter, a friend with whom he had played in other bands. Drummer Keith Krey came in through a Craigslist ad, and, after a previous bassist left, Cameron brought his co-worker Armando Madrid into the fold. Cameron calls Madrid and Krey his "Andy and Mike," a favorable comparison to the rhythm section of legendary British band the Smiths, and adds that Waterlaso's music has changed immensely since leaving his bedroom for nightclub stages. He cites "Boxing Career," which appeared on debut album What Have You Done To Deserve Everything You've Ever Wanted, as a prime example of the change, noting that it has grown from a minimally-produced pop song to a "majestic" piece.
"With the album, everything is very much like between Hall and Oates, Wham!, and '80s David Bowie-type stuff," he says. "Live, I think we kind of go for it a little bit more. I guess we're the soft rock version of heavy metal live."
Although he is no longer working alone, Cameron remains "very inspired by people who can make literally a masterpiece on a four-track cassette recorder" and hopes to retain the simplicity of his previous production despite the growing complexity of the songs' arrangements. And, even though Cameron has been stationed in LA for more than five years, Sedona still plays a major role in Waterlaso's sound, particularly in some of the more Fleetwood Mac-inspired tunes like "Inconsistent Magic [Constant Release]."
"A lot of that has influenced the music, being slightly new age myself," he says. "It's hard to live somewhere for 10 years and not have it rub off on you."
Waterlaso plays Rusty's Surf Ranch on October 6. ________________________________________________________________________________
Review Posted At: http://ectomag.com/index.php?Itemid=13&option=com_content Wednesday, 19 September 2007 Review By Sameerah Blue
Waterlaso
Made Crooked: By Mountain Fighting
Unsigned
Rating 5.0
Waterlaso is a band that is somewhere in between happy sweet pop sunshine and tender sadness. Your Mother Knows Us as Boy Whores is a song that feels like you've just bitten into sparkling happiness carrying great bass lines and an disco/ synthpop inspried hook, but it turns out to be bitter fruit when you taste the bitter acid lyrics dancing against your tongue. They're Ganging Up to Kill Me may be the most fun you will ever have listening to a song about murder its that catchy. Waterlaso is a fun danceable band that you will have loads of fun with especially if you're a fan of synthpop and abstract lyrics. I also hear a tale that these guys put on one hell of a show. so if you're in LA check them out sometime. check out their myspace page www.myspace.com/waterlaso for show dates. ___________________________________________________________________________
Open Mic, February 8, 2006 · Waterlaso's philosophy behind his music is that "classic pop is an art, and the clever but insightful single can not only change your life, but provide words to live by."
Waterlaso, aka Michael Cameron, is a Los Angeles-based musician who records his pop songs in his home. Likewise, according to Waterlaso, everything heard on his album was recorded in one take – done to "capture (his) true excitement for what (he) does."
"The true masters like Bowie, The Smiths, Phil Spector and Talking Heads were able to produce music that is instantly catchy, that's not only a soundtrack to your party but can also heal during your darkest moments," Waterlaso says.
As Waterlaso strives to provide a unique soundtrack to listeners' lives, his pop songs have an immediate reminder of the tech-happy, complex pop of the early '80s. Waterlaso also takes influence from the Talking Heads, New Order and My Bloody Valentine.
The featured track on Made Crooked: By Mountain Fighting is "You've Made It Miserable To Be Poor."
Waterlaso Featured On http://djrossstar.buzznet.com We're The 4th Band Featured Here, He Has Some Very Nice Things To Say About Waterlaso And "The Teenager Who Won't Sleep With Me"
Waterlaso Answers Ten Random Questions: By: Liz Ohanesian
Waterlaso makes lo-fi electronic pop.
Don't groan. We aren't talking about pounding out Pavement covers with the Human Voice feature on that Casio you got for Christmas in 1984. Instead, Waterlaso creates the intimate sound of late night bedroom dancing by juxtaposing the thump of strobelit dancefloors with soft, lilting vocals and silvery guitars filtered through a homegrown studio. In an age where even demos can sound ready for Top 40 radio, Waterlaso's debut album, What Have You Ever Done To Deserve Everything You've Ever Wanted (2002), is a refreshing change. It is a sound that thrives in an environment free from the glassy sheen of modern pop.
Michael Cameron, the twenty-five-year-old mind behind Waterlaso, wrote his first song at the age of seven, something he describes as "a slight variation between 'Axel F' and the theme from 'Cheers.'" Years later, 1999 to be precise, he began work on what would become What Have You Ever...Wanted. In addition, he has DJed at the Phoenix-based indie club Panic and at the Garage in Los Angeles, shortly before that club morphed into The Little Temple, put together the zine New Generation Press (yes, like Suede's song) and authored the short story collection Fixxodent & Forget.
Cameron is about ready to self-release his second effort under the Waterlaso moniker, The Out of Africa Sunset EP. While we at The People's Dance Party could sit here and type about what we think are his influences and how this EP is the best thing since the last EP we heard, we prefer to avoid this scenario. Instead, we emailed ten completely random questions to Waterlaso and awaited ten completely random responses.
Why do you live in Los Angeles?
I've always wanted to live here, I came here for the first time on my birthday when I was 7 and I loved it. I still have really fond memories of being here then. Like driving by the fountains in Century City at night listening to Double's "Captain of Her Heart" on the radio. I love driving through the city at night. To this day I turn on the smooth jazz station when I'm by there, it's still one of my favorite things. I like that so much goes on here. I need to always feel like something's happening or I can't sleep, so when I become unconscious other people take over for me. I also just knew I was supposed to come here and I didn't question it. I've met so many great people since I've been here, it's unlike anywhere else in the world. I also love seeing live music, which you can do anywhere, but not like you can here. Everyone plays here at sometime or another, so if you have slightly obscure taste you need to be in a city like this.
It's 3:00 a.m. and you can't sleep. What do you do?
It's pretty regular that I can't sleep at 3am or even at 8am. If I'm not working on music or writing, then I'm probably watching movies I've seen 1000 times again. I love the movie Morvern Callar, I'll put it in a couple times a week. I have DVDs of Galaxie 500 and Suede that I've been watching a lot lately too. Heavenly Creatures is also another standard. I've seen it so many times I can no longer count. I used to live in a building that would let me BBQ at all hours of the night out by the swimming pool. So I would have my own private BBQ party at 2:45am and go swimming afterward. I couldn't have music outside that late, but those were some of the best times I've even spent alone. The pool had really nice showering facilities too.
What is the most disturbingly fanboy thing you have ever done?
I really worship Momus. His lyrics and experimentation with pop music are a huge inspiration for me. I finally got to see him play last year at Spaceland. I really wanted Momus to have a copy of my album, but I just didn't know what to say, so I just stood there for a while until the singer from the Seahorse Liberation Army saw I was waiting to meet him and took me up and introduced me. It was really nice to get to tell him how important his music was to me, and when he saw my album cover he appeared to be really impressed by the picture I took for it. It's a great memory for me. Aside from that, a few friends and I have driven by Morrissey's house a couple times in the middle of the night and plotted how I can get a picture of him checking his mail. But that's not strange though, I think everyone wants to see what he looks like getting his mail.
What is your favorite book and why?
I love Being There [Jersy Kosinski], The Little Prince [Antoine de Saint-Exupery] or David Sedaris' Naked. All three of those really changed my life and affected my creative process. I've written a short novel and those books have changed the way I approach humor, sadness and helped me to see how to accomplish a refined overall tone to my lyrics and novel. If I had to choose just one I would take the The Little Prince, it is so effective, I remember I cried my way through the last pages or so the first and second time I read it. It does everything that people promised me that Harry Potter would, but it's ten times better.
What do you fear?
I guess time, and the possibility of not living as fully as I would have liked. I think the movie Troll looks really scary, I've not seen it yet, but I think that's because I fear the box. I'll just have to break down and see it. I hear I would like it. I'm scared of 4 more years of what having Bush in office might do, but I think more people dislike him then approve of what he's doing. If people are persistent until the election I think he'll be taken out of office. Not being able to control my though process is also a huge fear of mine, but I'm pretty motivated by fear, so it keeps me up and working!
What is your first musical memory?
Probably hearing Lionel Ritchie or "Let's Hear It For The Boy" by Deniece Williams on the radio. I have memories of seeing Culture Club on TV very early too, possibly the first image of musicians I ever had. My dad made me watch a lot of Elvis specials on TV when I was really young too, and I still remember old-Elvis from those programs very vividly giving his all beyond what his body could really take at that point. It was really moving even then.
Have you ever or do you ever feel like a scenester?
Haha, yeah sometimes I do. For a long time I was out at the clubs most nights of the week and I even used to DJ quite a bit then. I was putting out my own electronic/indie zine and going to any show that looked half way decent. I think it was to make up for being such a recluse for so many years living in northern AZ, all I did was record music. So when I moved to Phoenix and then LA, I really started making up for lost time. I still feel like I want to go to every show that comes through, but I've been so busy recording and writing for quite a while now I've not been out as much as I would like.
What goes through your mind when you are dancing?
It's always different and random, but it's definitely specific to when I'm dancing. I guess I think about the lyrics mostly to get in touch with the drama of the song, and my favorite videos. I try not to think about my dancing, because if you put too much thought into it or are too self-conscious about it, it turns out bad.
Which song are you most proud to call your own and why?
I really love the concept and lyrics behind "Pyramid Lion." I like the relationship of the characters and their love for each other. I also love "The Out Of Africa Sunset," which is about comodification of nature and love and snapping from not being able to play a role that is advertised by our culture-- and it's a fun dance song! But it's really hard to choose, because each song is such a tiny part of expressing something. I love what an entire album communicates, when you can pick up on one statement from each song and see how it fits in with your idea of the album's concept it's very powerful.
What is the ugliest aspect of living in the city?
I think that waste is one of the ugliest things there is, just having something to have it, not because you really want it or need it is truly pointless. It's great to buy stuff, but if it's not something that you're going to value in someway or is going to be useful to you, it's pointless to have. There is a lot of waste here, in the form of literal garbage and people who seem to not value the things they have. They are shoved up against people who have very little here. I think what's ugliest about it is the contempt those people seem to have for people who have nothing. But everyone is just trying to be happy, so I understand that's what they're trying to do.
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