Ron Jarzombek: prog sphere interview

Nick: Hey Ron! Let’s start the interview by discussing one of your latest releases, a brand new album of music by Watchtower called Mathematics. In April you released The Size of Matter, are the first bits of music since your 1989 album Control and Resistance. How do you feel about it and the band in general, considering you’ve announced that you’re in need of a new vocalist?

Ron: Yeah, too bad we ran into the vocalist issue this time. Seems like whenever we try to complete Mathematics, we hit a snag, roadblock, or wall. We reworked the material for the third time now (2000, 2004, and now 2010), and I’m just tired of talking about it. It’s REALLY getting old. We need to get the damn thing done sometime, somehow, some way. But we have over an hour of good material sitting around waiting to be recorded and released. If we can just get this vocalist situation worked out, we should be fine.

Nick: WatchTower’s Control and Resistance was your first album with the band, after which the band went on an eleven year hiatus, although you reunited in 2000 to play few concerts. What was it like joining them and what happened after the release of Control and Resistance?

Ron: The main issue was my hand problems, which started during the recording of ‘Control And Resistance’. Alan soon realized that we wouldn’t be doing anything anytime soon without a guitarist, so he moved back to New York. We kept writing while my hand was wasted, but we got lost with our musical direction. When I did start playing again 3 years later, I was in a different musical place than Doug and Rick, so I started Spastic Ink with my brother. WatchTower did continue writing, but without a vocalist, and without a sense of where we were headed musically (plus I couldn’t play much of anything). When we got back together in 2000, that’s when most of the writing for what is currently on Mathematics happened. Then in 2004 the same musical direction continued. As far as the live European festival dates go, it’s always good to get back onstage with those guys. full extensive interview