WATERS is the band featuring Van Pierszalowski formally of the group Port O’ Brien.We talked about writing music in Norway and doing a bit of fishing in Alaska. The band is just about to hit the road for two months with Delta spirit.

NT: What was the main reason for starting WATERS, your previous band seemed to be gaining quite a bit of momentum.

VP: I really needed to do something new. I wanted a project where I could really bring the new songs I had been working on to the full potential and Port O’Brien wasn’t the best fit.

NT: Have your fans warmed up to the new songs?

VP: The support has been really amazing. We played our first show ever at this festival in Germany, and the people there were just so enthusiastic. I was really nervous about starting a new project, but the support from everyone has been super helpful.

NT: I understand you spent a nice amount of time in Norway, why there and what kind of impact did it have on you?

VP: During one of the last tours with Port O’Brien, I met a girl in Oslo and fell in love, so I started spending most of my time there. It turned out to be such a great place to get focused and work on the new songs. I didn’t have a job or many friends there, so I had a lot of time on my own to just work.

NT: Your latest album ‘Out In The Light’ is definitely a bit more raw then previous recordings, was this the type of album you wanted to make from the beginning?

VP:As soon as I started to write these songs, I knew I wanted it to sound dirtier than anything I’d done previously.

NT: Do you get lots of pleasure being out on the Sea with a fishing rod in your hands?

VP: Well, I do get a lot of pleasure (and pain) out of working on dad’s commercial fishing boat in Alaska, but thats done with a big net and hydraulics, so no rods and reels. I really do miss going up there every year.

NT: I noticed on your blog, you had quite the shiner from a gig in Milan.What happened? That pic makes you look pretty tough, LOL.

VP: During our last song, “For the One,” I was thrashing around and my own guitar came up and got me good above the eye. And of course, I’m just so fucking tough. So tough that I immediately wanted my drummer to take a picture of my black eye and put it on Tumblr. TOUGH.

NT: Is San Francisco home for you guys for a while? Are you enjoying the music scene there?

VP: It is! And I’m so excited about it. My girlfriend and I have an awesome apartment on Potrero Hill with a beautiful roof view. I really love living in the city. It’s been years since I’ve had a proper place of my own, and every time I have to enter my zip code at gas pumps, I am proud to not enter my parent’s house address.

NT: What five records would you take with you to the Island?

VP:

Modest Mouse “The Moon and Antarctica,”
Nick Drake “Pink Moon,”
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy “Master & Everyone,”
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,
Nirvana “In Utero.”

http://www.myspace.com/thisiswaters
http://www.facebook.com/waterswaters
http://soundcloud.com/gaga-digi/waters-take-me-out-to-the