Triptych EP2 Fischer-Z

• 1 A Plea 04:39
• 2 Amoral Vacuum 03:37
• 3 Still On The Train 03:37
• 4 Berta 01:26
• Total Runtime 13:19

Info for Triptych EP2

Many artists automatically become reminiscences once they reach a certain age. Not so John Watts, whose gaze is always forward by nature and who spends his entire career restlessly searching for new forms of expression. Nevertheless, after releasing more than two dozen records, he can't help but look around and - sometimes wondering about his own career - notice: As a songwriter, he has dealt with three thematic blocks with roughly equal weight over the almost 50 years now: Relationships , politics and psychology. Or love, power and people: Love, Power, People.

He already sang about “Marliese” on his successful 1981 album “Red Skies Over Paradise”, which he toured extensively solo over the last two years, commented on the political crises that were current then and now in “Batallions Of Strangers” and “Cruise Missiles” and examined in “Berlin ” or “You’ll Never Find Brian Here” emphasize social and personal connections. This has continued in a similar way on the releases that have appeared since then and the new album, which is logically called “Triptych”, contains songs that illuminate the three thematic areas of his career and will initially appear on three EPs: EP1: Love, EP2 : Power and EP3: People The first EP1, with the singles “Nefertete” and “The Hamburg Beat”, covers the entire spectrum of interpersonal relationships, from the euphoric beginning of love to the tragically self-prophesied end. EP2 tells, among other things, stories of Russian conscripts protesting against the senselessness of the war (“The Plea”), of those affected by Brexit (“Amoral Vacuum”) and of Berta Cáceres, the Honduran human rights activist murdered in 2016 (“Berta”). You can hear from EP3 that John Watts once studied clinical psychology himself. This is about depression (“The Anaesthetist”), about confronting your own lack of self-confidence (“Twighlight Zone”) or about the utopia of being able to reprogram your own brain.

To record the songs, John Watts rented a remote studio in southern France for a week in the summer of 2022 to put the songs written in the previous months on tape. Songs informed by his recent success as a solo artist. Accompanied by some old and new musician friends (including Jamie Bush, drums / Marian Menge, guitars / Steve Forward, bass / Adrien Rodes, keyboards) he wanted to reflect on the essentials in his music and, above all, highlight those elements that characterize his solo performances what made them so successful: John's voice and his unique guitar playing. In this sense, the acoustic guitar became the driving force behind the new recordings, an anchor that gave John and the band the freedom to explore a variety of themes and styles without losing a sense of cohesion and sound. This makes “Triptych” a very special, surprising Fischer-Z album. The long-standing band project of the creative singer, guitarist and poet John Watts has existed since 1976. FISCHER-Z are known for their intelligent and melodic song constructs, very lyrical, yet astutely socially and politically commenting lyrics as well as their precise musicality with sophisticated musical background structures.

Fischer-Z

John Watts
entered the pop music scene in the 1970s, having initially studied psychology at an experimental facility that operated without the use of medication or physical restraints. "I worked shifts there from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and would jump straight into the van afterwards to play a gig in Derby. I spent the whole day dealing with raving psychopaths, so a punk audience couldn't scare me. When you’re standing in Wolverhampton in front of a few snotty 17-year-olds threatening to stub a cigarette out on your leg, you just think: 'Go ahead!'"

Fischer-Z was formed in 1976 at Brunel University, alongside John’s friend and keyboardist Steve Skolnik. John’s political songwriting and boundless energy led to the band being signed by United Artists in 1978—joining contemporaries such as The Stranglers and the Buzzcocks. Their debut album, *Word Salad*, was released in 1979 and became an instant post-punk hit: the single "The Worker" was played on *Top of the Pops*, while "Remember Russia" was championed by John Peel. 1980 saw the release of "So Long"—the band’s most successful single and one of the very first music videos ever aired on MTV—marking Fischer-Z’s breakthrough onto major stages worldwide. In 1981, they released *Red Skies Over Paradise*, which remains their most successful album to date and featured the singles "Marliese" and "Berlin."

To date, John has released 23 albums, sold two million records, and performed more than 3,000 concerts across Europe, the USA, and Canada. His recordings have featured contributions from artists such as Peter Gabriel, Steve Cropper, and the horn section from Dexys Midnight Runners. Fischer-Z shared the stage with James Brown in East Berlin before an audience of 167,000, toured with The Police and Dire Straits, and performed alongside Bob Marley on his final European tour. In recent years, Watts has also made a name for himself as a multimedia artist, poet, and playwright, creating a diverse and distinctive body of work characterized by energy, warmth, and humanity. With the 2025 project PUNKT!, he brings together his talents in music, words, and imagery.

This album contains no booklet.