The Charlie Watts Riots

The members of Capital Region guitar-pop band the Charlie Watts Riots don’t agree on all their musical tastes—though they do share an appreciation for snazzy suits. But bassist Mike Pauley, guitarist Seth Powell and drummer Joe Putrock can cite one primary influence that brought the Charlie Watts Riots together in 2008: a love for rock and roll bands that bring a rush of combustible energy to the stage when they play. Clips from the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus concert film, when the Who started out performing “A Quick One While He’s Away” as an acoustic ditty and ended it with an instrument-bashing, sweat-flying frenzy… a Matthew Sweet gig in Albany when Television’s guitar maestro Richard Lloyd wailed on his guitar strings with a spoon… an A.M.-era Wilco gig at former rock club Saratoga Winners when Jeff Tweedy and his band were on fire…. Those were formative moments that brought Pauley, Powell, Putrock and guitarist Brendan Pendergast (who’s since departed the band) together after realizing they shared an appreciation for the onstage alchemy wrought by energetic rock and roll. For the previous decade, each had been a key player in some of the Capital Region’s most noteworthy pop-rock bands (Bloom, Lughead, the Wait, the Vodkasonics, Coal Palace Kings). It’s an energy the band strives to recreate today, and their debut album “Long Story Short” contains a dozen original power-pop tunes that balance high-octane rock with the sweetness of carefully crafted pop. Recorded in 2010 at Powell’s Soundcheck Republic studios, the album landed in regular rotation on independent radio station EXT 97.7 and earned the band “best of the year” mentions from Albany’s alt-weekly Metroland to premier Capital Region arts blog Nippertown. With a batch of new songs already filling out the band’s set-list, the Charlie Watts Riots plan to start recording their next album in the summer of 2011. In the meantime, they’ll continue lighting up the stage where ever they play with the fervent conviction that true rock and roll never goes out of style. And even if it does, it will be back again soon. Loud rock-n-roll music for the masses.