Q: How Did WATERS Form?

Interview: WATERS Floats on Stage at the 9:30 Club
Neon lights and twisting vines of bright, plastic flowers decked the stage in the moments before
WATERS entrance.
The band bounced on stage, with all but lead singer Van Pierszalowski sporting bright green tank
tops to mirror the lighting, their infectious energy immediately apparent. They tossed flowers
into the crowd and dove into their opening song.
WATERS shared the 9:30 Club stage this past Sunday with bands CRUISR and MisterWives,
whom they opened for. This particular show concluded their two-month long tour, and that
bittersweet knowledge was apparent in their performances.
Each act brought a unique energy to the stage, keeping the audience engaged throughout the
night. Their music encouraged the audience to leave any worries or stress at the door; there was
no space for negativity once the pounding bass and electric notes of the keyboard filled the room.
CRUISR kicked off the affair, firing jokes between songs and fostering a sense of anticipation
for what was to come. WATERS followed, keeping up the excitement with an eclectic array of
dance moves and visible passion for their music. MisterWives was last to take the stage, never
letting the upbeat environment falter.
The concert culminated with MisterWives encore, creating a dance party in which the band was
joined onstage by both CRUISR and WATERS. Not a single person in the venue was still. The
entire night felt like being at a party with your closest friends, and no one was ready to see it end.
Fucking awesome, said 18-year-old Austin Schmitt of Virginian when asked about WATERS
stage presence. Theyre amazing. Their energy is really positive and the vibe that you get when
you see them is really good.
Schmitt continued, [Their music] is just so happy. You cant sit there and not move when youre
listening to it. You have to move.
Later that night, the Bloc had a chance to sit down with WATERS lead singer Van Pierszalowski
to talk about D.C., live music and whats next for WATERS.
Q: How did WATERS form?
WATERS formed after my old band, Port OBrien, broke up in, I want to say 2011. I was living
in Norway for a little while, and I started writing songs for a new album that wasnt Port OBrien
and came up with the name WATERS, and put together a band for that record, and we toured for
a few years. None of the people that are in WATERS now were in that band; it was Norwegians,
actually. They kind of got stuck in Norway, and then after a while I moved back to San Francisco
and put together this band.
Q: How did you come up with the name WATERS?
Well, my dad is a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska, so I spent a lot of my childhood

growing up there and working on his boat. Port OBrien was my first band, and that was, like,
that was named after a very specific cannery in Alaska. But I wanted the new band to kind of still
reflect that since its such a big part of my life, but I wanted it to kind of be incredibly more
broad and more general, because I always knew that I wanted WATERS to be, like, always
evolving and changing. So I just felt like WATERS was good.
Some problems with Google-ability early on, but I think its okay now.
Q: Your newest album, Whats Real, just came out earlier this year. What were some of
your biggest musical influences while writing and recording it?
I wanted to make a record that would kind of strike a similar chord in people to the records that
I grew up with really loving and that made me want to play music. I never really used those as
influences before and what I mean by that are the first couple Weezer records, first couple
Greenday records, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cranberries. Still with the little bit of indie
rock that I had always used for influence before, like early Modest Mouse, Pavement, The Spill
and all of that early Pacific Northwest indie rock stuff. Kind of like combining those two
worlds.
Q: What sort of responses did you hope to evoke from people, both with the music itself
and with your live performances?
I mean, you always hope that people can react in a pretty visceral way and in an emotional way.
I know when I was growing up, those records that first hit me were so impactful. And its hard to
remember specific feelings, more so just a sense of, like, awakening to the world. I think music
does that to people. I know it did that to me. Its the first thing I ever experienced where you
have like these its kind of like a spiritual experience, listening to music, and I was raised in a
very atheist family, and, you know, I still am, but music to me was the first thing that ever really
struck me in a spiritual sense.
I mean, not that I have these huge things for people listening to our music. I just like the idea of
feeling anything. People listening to our music and feeling things whatever they want to feel,
theres no specific feelings. Just whatever you get out of it.
Q: You guys have been on tour for a pretty long time at this point. Whats your favorite
part about playing live shows?
On this tour, I really liked the last part of the set we do our song Mom and Dads, and we
get to theres like a little guitar solo break, Sara throws out flowers a lot of the time, and then
we play Wrecking Ball, and everyone sings along. Its this great communal moment, and then
Dr. Blum and Mr. Wrights come on and play horns, and its just like every song theres
something new. I always look forward to that part of the set.
Q: Any pre-show rituals?
We do a lot of exercising, actually.
Q: Is that where the 90s workout jacket came from?

Kind of, yeah. This is, [gestures to his jacket] man, I love this thing. This is actually an insane
story.
We played in New York a couple nights ago, and the next morning it was, like, trying to get out
in Brooklyn with this rig is tough. And there were cars honking at us and everything, and we
were trying to load in the van all our luggage, and my whole bag my huge suitcase of all my
clothes was just left. Left on the sidewalk, and I didnt realize until like five hours later, and I
called my friend like, Go outside and see if its there! and its not there, its gone.
I actually have no clothes. I just happened to be wearing this. And thats why Im wearing a
MisterWives shirt, they gave it to me, I just happened to be wearing these pants. And my parents
were in town so Im wearing some of my dads boxers.
Q: Its a minimalist life.
Seriously, it is though, all my clothes are gone! We played a headlining show in D.C. last night,
and I told the crowd, I was like, if any of you guys have any extra clothes Someone threw
me a flannel. Its pretty nice. A little too big, but, hey, Ill take it.
Q: Whats something else embarrassing or interesting thats happened on tour?
Hm, let me think about that for a moment. We had one night off in Milwaukee, super random,
you know, you dont get too many nights off, but we had one in Milwaukee. It was right before
this long string of like seven shows in seven days, and were were like, alright, lets rest up and
take it easy. Which I always do; I cant really party too much on tour because of my voice.
But we were just at the hotel, we went down to the hotel bar, and one thing led to another and we
all ended up getting so wasted and high. These random people next to us kept buying us drinks,
and there was like a singer-songwriter playing 90s songs, and then Sara went up there and
started singing with him. And it was like Im gonna leave out some of the other details but
it was insane.
And then we got to the next show with MisterWives, and they thought wed be all rested up after
our day off, but we just looked worse than we ever had. But, it was actually incredibly fun. It was
one of the most fun shows. Or, not shows, but days off.
Q: So, this is your second night here in D.C., but you guys have performed here in the past.
Do you have a favorite D.C. venue?
[The 9:30 Club] is. This is our favorite venue in the country; we say that every time were here.
A lot of bands say that, its 100 percent true. Because everyone who works at 9:30 and, you
know, you tour around the country and you see 9:30 shirts and hats everywhere, its famous
among the band community because everyone that works here is incredible. The sound guys,
the hospitality, the production manager, stage manager, theyre all incredibly good at their jobs.
Its incredibly professionally run, everyones super nice, and thorough, and it sounds great. Its
just the perfect blueprint for a rock and roll club. Perfect size, great sound. I mean, I dont know
as a fan if you have that similar experience, but from the bands perspective its, like, it really is
the best venue that Ive ever played.
Q: Last night, you guys were at DC9. I know thats a smaller venue does the size of the
venue ever influence the way you play a show?
Honestly, that show last night at DC9 was maybe the most fun show of the tour. At least top
three. Because, it was a headline show, sold out, and it was just, like this is awesome, getting
to play with a bigger band, but so many people have never heard you. So youre trying to win
them over, but at DC9 everyone was there for us. Theyre all singing along and rocking out, and
it was small and sweaty and kind of sloppy and fun. Thats like what rock and roll is about to me.
We were all so jacked up about it, actually. We all got here and were like, Oh, man, last night
was so awesome. So that was really cool, one of the most fun nights.
Q: What do you do to kill time when you arent performing?
Im a gambler, I like to gamble. I bet on baseball games, I bet on politics even. I have $200
down on Marco Rubio winning the GOP candidate nomination, just to make it a little more
interesting. I try to go to casinos when I can. I dont have a well, I probably do have a
gambling problem, but its fine, its really fine. I go in with a certain amount of money, and then
thats it.
Q: Any big wins?
Yeah, Ive done well on this tour! Last time we were in Detroit, there was a casino across the
street somehow. And I went over with 100 bucks I play Blackjack doubled my money in
like 15 minutes and got the hell out of there.
Q: Whats it been like sharing the stage with MisterWives?
Its been awesome. When we found out we got the tour we were so pumped, and wed never
met them. Then we played a couple festivals with them in the summer, we played BFD
and Outside Lands in San Francisco, we did Austin City Limits, and we just met them a few
times and it was such a good vibe. Its been incredible, theyre the nicest folks ever, their whole
crew is so nice. And Mandys such an inspiration to watch every night. Theyre amazing.
Q: This is sadly the last night of the tour. Any fun plans to celebrate?
Well, we all wore MisterWives shirts on stage, and MisterWives gave us a nice card and a bottle
of champagne. And we got them a cake vegan cake because a couple of them are vegan. Then
were going to go up on stage with them for their last song. Maybe well do like a photoshoot at
the end or something.
Everyones feeling a little emotional. Its like going to camp. I never went to camp but what I
imagine that feeling like.
Q: And finally, whats next for WATERS now that the tour is over?
First, a very long drive. And then a small headline West Coast tour in February, just in like
California and Phoenix and those places. Well start writing a lot, as soon as we get back in the
studio in March or so.

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Interview: WATERS Floats on Stage at the 9:30 Club

Well, my dad is a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska, so I spent a lot of my childhood

Q: Is that where the 90s workout jacket came from?

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