sarahjsnider's review
4.0
I've only heard one Watershed song, and that was yesterday, on YouTube. I wasn't following guitar rock in the 1990s, so maybe that's how I missed them. "A ballsier Gin Blossoms" is an apt description, based on what I heard, and that's just not my thing.
That said. Very good book, maybe a little overly writerly at times. The depictions of male friendships and the closeness of band members was its greatest strength. And who can resist a peek inside the world of rock and roll? And isn't next-best-thing-to-greatness more fascinating than greatness itself?
I have to say, the person who created the Kindle file really half-assed it. No chapter markings, and I had to read all the footnotes in one pass at the end. (Why did the author use so many footnotes?)
That said. Very good book, maybe a little overly writerly at times. The depictions of male friendships and the closeness of band members was its greatest strength. And who can resist a peek inside the world of rock and roll? And isn't next-best-thing-to-greatness more fascinating than greatness itself?
I have to say, the person who created the Kindle file really half-assed it. No chapter markings, and I had to read all the footnotes in one pass at the end. (Why did the author use so many footnotes?)
natet's review
2.0
A memoir by the bassist of a Midwestern rock band that you've never heard of. In the right hands, this could have been a darkly humorous, insightful book, but the author isn't quite able to objectively look at his past, analyze his motives, and relay them to the reader. The first and last quarters of the book are filled with a sort of "I'm in a band, and yet I'm not living a life of rock and roll excess - how could that be?!" myopia that I get from a lot of rockers (is it possible an entire generation took Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" at face value?)
The middle section of the book, however, is worth the price of admission. It's a brutally honest look at a band that almost got their big break during the signing alt-rock frenzy of the 90's. Almost got their big break, and then their big break fell through. Then it ALMOST happened again, and then it fell through again. And then it ALMOST happened again, and...you can guess how it goes. You end up rooting for his band and admiring their pugnacious determination. Oestreich is frank and doesn't sugarcoat the workings of the business.
For anyone with an interest in the music business (or anyone who ever heard a Midwestern alt-rock band on the radio in the 1990's - they almost all make cameos), most of this book will be a great read.
The middle section of the book, however, is worth the price of admission. It's a brutally honest look at a band that almost got their big break during the signing alt-rock frenzy of the 90's. Almost got their big break, and then their big break fell through. Then it ALMOST happened again, and then it fell through again. And then it ALMOST happened again, and...you can guess how it goes. You end up rooting for his band and admiring their pugnacious determination. Oestreich is frank and doesn't sugarcoat the workings of the business.
For anyone with an interest in the music business (or anyone who ever heard a Midwestern alt-rock band on the radio in the 1990's - they almost all make cameos), most of this book will be a great read.
willwrite4chocolate's review
5.0
Ever wonder what life in a rock n' roll band is really like? I'm not talking about your won-the-rock-n-roll-lottery type band, but the average band. Now spin that out over twenty years. There you have Watershed, the band that wouldn't die. Oestreich's memoir of his adventures in Watershed beginning in 8th grade (Oestrich is now a college professor) lays it bare. It's a fun read as real as it gets. And yes, I'm proud to say I know Colin, Oestreich's bandmate, and that I write at Colin's Coffee, the little coffeehouse that wouldn't die, just around the corner from my home. Notwithstanding my bias, the book is well-written and fun. The band may be a Hitless Wonder, but Oestreich has a hit with this memoir.
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