Brothers Muddy and Danny Watters of The Watters Brothers perform a song in the living room of their home, which was the inspiration for their latest album, Rock and Roll Mansion.
In the Watters brothers’ old Centretown home, typical living room furniture is replaced with rock ’n’ roll posters, guitars, pianos, drums, and recording equipment.
In this bright yellow space, the brother duo Muddy and Danny Watters created their latest album called Rock and Roll Mansion which was released in January.
The name of the CD was inspired by their Lisgar Street home which they nicknamed the Rock and Roll Mansion, after moving to Ottawa six years ago.
“I mean if we didn’t have this place the album probably wouldn’t exist. It is sort of like our home base. You walk in here and you make music,” says Muddy. “I think why we called it that is because we wanted to pay homage to what it is and what we have done here.”
Muddy, 31, and Danny, 28, don’t relax in the space that was designed to be a living room: instead they write and produce music, says Danny.
“If you want to chill, sure you can sit at the drum kit if you want, or the piano bench. It’s a little bigger; it’s kind of like the loveseat in the house,” says Danny.
Making music in their home is nothing new to the brothers. With Muddy on the guitar and Danny on the keyboard and drums, they have recorded and released three albums.
The brothers, who grew up in the Ottawa Valley, started playing music at a young age and experimented with different music genres says Muddy.
Muddy says Rock and Roll Mansion is still retro rock like the previous releases, but with a more contemporary and electronic sound.
The album includes some of their older recordings, such as Hard Working Man and Big Guns.
“We wanted [the release] to be about what we are doing and what the Rock and Roll Mansion is all about. It is kind of what I consider the first real release as the Watters Brothers,” says Muddy.
The Watters Brothers say they were given the opportunity to record Rock and Roll Mansion at a studio in Montreal, but after recording a few songs they decided to return to their home studio because it wasn’t the right vibe.
Danny and Muddy say some of their successes so far include having their tracks played on local radio stations and cash prizes for the last two years in Live 88.5’s “Big Money Shot.”
Lee Wagner, operations manager and director of Canadian talent, organizes the “Big Money Shot.”
He says the panel of judges, who are all professionals in the music industry, decide the winner based on eight categories: technical ability, vocals, song writing, performance, originality, crowd draw, maturity, and radio friendly.
He says the Watters Brothers won money for a number of reasons, including having interesting and unique songs.
“When they first started they sounded a certain way and they kind of changed their sound quite a bit, they’ve taken different directions, but they can always write a good song,” says Wagner. “Last year they really took it up a notch:they’re really quite engaging to watch.”
“I think all they do is sit around and write and play music which is fantastic," Wagner says. "They are in it for the long haul and they live and breathe this stuff.”
The brothers have also performed at Bluesfest and their song Life Is A Gas, featured on Rock and Roll Mansion, won the Canadian Radio Star National Songwriting Competition and was in the top 10 on Virgin Radio Ottawa for two weeks.
The brothers will continue to create and record music in Centretown, but that doesn’t mean they don’t plan on expanding their horizons.
“This summer we are planning to tour, hit the road, just basically promote the album. We applied for a bunch of festivals,” Danny says.
Since the release of Rock and Roll Mansion, Danny says they have already created three new songs and hope to release another album in the fall.
“Keep your ears open because we are going to have a great year this year,” says Danny.
Rock and Roll Mansion is available on iTunes and at Compact Music in Ottawa.