Up
for auction a RARE! “The Black Watch” Group Signed CD Insert. Signers
are; John Andrew Fredrick, J'Anna
Jacoby & Randy Leasure.
The Black Watch is an American
independent rock band from Santa Barbara, California,
United States, whose only constant member has been singer, guitarist, and
primary songwriter, John Andrew Fredrick. Through their thirty years in the recording
industry, the group has affiliated with at least ten different record labels. Fredrick
formed the band in 1987 after earning his Ph.D. in English from University of
California, Santa Barbara. After recording St. Valentine and
releasing it on eskimo, Fredrick's own label, violinist J'Anna Jacoby joined the group and the two of
them formed the nucleus of the band until she left the group in 2003. The Black
Watch has recorded and toured consistently throughout its history except for a
brief period in 1997 when the band broke up. During this hiatus, Fredrick
wrote The King of Good Intentions, a semi-autobiographical novel about
an indie rock band. The band recorded a CD of the same title
intended as a companion piece to the novel, although the planned publication of
the novel was cancelled when the publisher folded. In 2008, guitarist and
singer Steven Schayer (formerly of the Los Angeles band Clay Idols, and New
Zealand band The Chills) joined, and Fredrick wrote and
published a book of fiction, The Knucklehead Chronicles.
In 2013, The band released The End of When on Pop Culture Press Records. Fredrick's novel The King of Good
Intentions was finally published, and soon after, its sequel, and the
band issued Sugarplum Fairy, Sugarplum Fairy (largely recorded
by Fredrick without the band) and Highs and Lows in 2015. The
band signed with Atom Records to release Witches!, and the digital
EP Paper Boats. In 2019, the band issued a compilation of
their early vinyl-only releases, The Vinyl Years, a
career-spanning best-of 31 Years of Obscurity: the Best of the black
watch 1988-2019, as well as another studio recording, Magic
Johnson.