Stephen Watt
Interview: 30.01.14
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
by Gordon Johnstone
The last year and a half has been exceptionally busy for Stephen Watt. Not quite satisfied with being published every single month of 2013, or his seemingly endless calendar of spoken work events, he also found time to meet with The Grind in late January to talk about his work, the spoken word scene, and the influences that shape his unique and beguiling poetry.
Watt’s inexorable ascension through the ranks of British poetry began in 2010 when he overcame 5,000 other competitors to dominate the Poetry Rivals Slam competition in Peterborough, leading to him winning a publishing contract with Bonacia Ltd and the publication of his book Spit in 2012. Spit is a remarkable collection of poetry. Accessible without pandering to cliches, yet also anarchic in its use of language and rhythm. The entire collection feels like a powerful statement of intent from a poet who clearly has a lot to say and knows exactly how he wants to say it. The poem that won the competition, ‘Rubik’, is a beautiful testament to the complexities of love and, when read aloud, the rhythm slips and twists in perfect synchronicity with the narrative. Rubik has recently been filmed and made into a short video (click here to view), the first of what is hoped to be many ventures into the realm of video production. On the process of making the video, Watt commented "We were wandering around in the dark with an inflatable sheep and a camcorder. This would never wash with the police...".
Watt is also a regular on the spoken word circuit around Scotland; a blossoming and fascinating scene. “It can be a nerve wracking experience”, Watt explains, “I definitely see myself as more of a writer than a performer, but it’s great for getting an immediate reaction to your work. You can leave those events absolutely buzzing. You can have bad nights as well though. If you’re faced with complete silence you try and convince yourself ‘they’re just listening’, but you won’t know until you finish”.
The Grind published three of Watt’s poems in our first issue and were lucky enough to have him perform at the journal’s launch night in December 2013. Watt had the audience enraptured with his recitals of ‘The Saltings’ and ‘He Lived in a Halfway House’. While he may have been faced with deafening silence that night, it was most certainly because nobody wanted to miss a single word. While we like to think the launch night was a relative success, Watt has also had his less comfortable moments on stage. “Once I ended up reciting my poem ‘Sex Shop’ in front of a group of pensioners. I thought about doing something different, but at a certain point you just have to embrace it”.
When asked about his influences and style Watt comes back again and again to John Cooper Clark (the incredibly influential English punk poet, and, sadly, voice of McCain oven chips), a man he clearly admires greatly. He also cites concrete poetry and visually arresting works as influences on his own. “I usually work with characters, blending different aspects of people to create something new”, Watt says of his writing style, “I’m very drawn to post-industrial scenes. I don’t know if it is melancholy or nostalgia…”
His poetry does smack of suburban wastelands. The nostalgic, yet highly contemporary, ‘The Saltings’ espouses this style; “I screw the lid back on the vodka bottle/ The metal bridge hangs overhead, keeping vigil/ over the dead buried in the Clyde”. While not lacking in a certain kind of whimsy, Watt's perspective is more often than not grounded in a social realism that errs on the darker side of life.
Music clearly plays a large part in the styling and construction of Watt’s poetry, not only in the rhythm and lyricism of his writing, but also the ethos and vigour with which he approaches his subjects. He describes himself as a ‘back to front punk’; while many go through a punk phase during their turbulent adolescence, Watt began with a love of reggae which evolved into a deep appreciation and understanding of the punk mindset. On the subject of punk literature and its often overlooked place in contemporary writing, Watt closed our interview with this:
“Aggressive, punk poems seem to be less popular than other kinds. I consider punk literature allows writers to be as free as they feel inclined to be - whether that means crude language, political opinion, untidy metre, doodles in the margins of each poem, etc. It is the DIY ethic which Patti Smith, Seething Wells, Ian Dury, etc all inspired fellow writers and performers to welcome into their craft.
I've never attended a poetry workshop because I feel far more comfortable that my style of writing will reflect who I am rather than the expected formats and rules taught by so-called lecturers and professors. Sonnets and villanelles by Shakespeare and Wilde of course have their place in poetry, but so do the rambling wrecks, the Frank Gallaghers and Rab C Nesbitts, of this world.
Perhaps schools would benefit by being a little more open-minded when it comes to their selection of poets being used to inspire young minds. Perhaps it's time to take the safety pin out the grenade and stick it into a nose”
Fuck yeah.
Stephen Watt is performing at Rally & Broad at the Tron theatre on Wednesday 30th of April and at Even Festival between the 12th and 15th of June.
Buy Spit here
Video for ‘Rubik’
Facebook: StephenWattSpit
Twitter: @StephenWattSpit
Interview: 30.01.14
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
by Gordon Johnstone
The last year and a half has been exceptionally busy for Stephen Watt. Not quite satisfied with being published every single month of 2013, or his seemingly endless calendar of spoken work events, he also found time to meet with The Grind in late January to talk about his work, the spoken word scene, and the influences that shape his unique and beguiling poetry.
Watt’s inexorable ascension through the ranks of British poetry began in 2010 when he overcame 5,000 other competitors to dominate the Poetry Rivals Slam competition in Peterborough, leading to him winning a publishing contract with Bonacia Ltd and the publication of his book Spit in 2012. Spit is a remarkable collection of poetry. Accessible without pandering to cliches, yet also anarchic in its use of language and rhythm. The entire collection feels like a powerful statement of intent from a poet who clearly has a lot to say and knows exactly how he wants to say it. The poem that won the competition, ‘Rubik’, is a beautiful testament to the complexities of love and, when read aloud, the rhythm slips and twists in perfect synchronicity with the narrative. Rubik has recently been filmed and made into a short video (click here to view), the first of what is hoped to be many ventures into the realm of video production. On the process of making the video, Watt commented "We were wandering around in the dark with an inflatable sheep and a camcorder. This would never wash with the police...".
Watt is also a regular on the spoken word circuit around Scotland; a blossoming and fascinating scene. “It can be a nerve wracking experience”, Watt explains, “I definitely see myself as more of a writer than a performer, but it’s great for getting an immediate reaction to your work. You can leave those events absolutely buzzing. You can have bad nights as well though. If you’re faced with complete silence you try and convince yourself ‘they’re just listening’, but you won’t know until you finish”.
The Grind published three of Watt’s poems in our first issue and were lucky enough to have him perform at the journal’s launch night in December 2013. Watt had the audience enraptured with his recitals of ‘The Saltings’ and ‘He Lived in a Halfway House’. While he may have been faced with deafening silence that night, it was most certainly because nobody wanted to miss a single word. While we like to think the launch night was a relative success, Watt has also had his less comfortable moments on stage. “Once I ended up reciting my poem ‘Sex Shop’ in front of a group of pensioners. I thought about doing something different, but at a certain point you just have to embrace it”.
When asked about his influences and style Watt comes back again and again to John Cooper Clark (the incredibly influential English punk poet, and, sadly, voice of McCain oven chips), a man he clearly admires greatly. He also cites concrete poetry and visually arresting works as influences on his own. “I usually work with characters, blending different aspects of people to create something new”, Watt says of his writing style, “I’m very drawn to post-industrial scenes. I don’t know if it is melancholy or nostalgia…”
His poetry does smack of suburban wastelands. The nostalgic, yet highly contemporary, ‘The Saltings’ espouses this style; “I screw the lid back on the vodka bottle/ The metal bridge hangs overhead, keeping vigil/ over the dead buried in the Clyde”. While not lacking in a certain kind of whimsy, Watt's perspective is more often than not grounded in a social realism that errs on the darker side of life.
Music clearly plays a large part in the styling and construction of Watt’s poetry, not only in the rhythm and lyricism of his writing, but also the ethos and vigour with which he approaches his subjects. He describes himself as a ‘back to front punk’; while many go through a punk phase during their turbulent adolescence, Watt began with a love of reggae which evolved into a deep appreciation and understanding of the punk mindset. On the subject of punk literature and its often overlooked place in contemporary writing, Watt closed our interview with this:
“Aggressive, punk poems seem to be less popular than other kinds. I consider punk literature allows writers to be as free as they feel inclined to be - whether that means crude language, political opinion, untidy metre, doodles in the margins of each poem, etc. It is the DIY ethic which Patti Smith, Seething Wells, Ian Dury, etc all inspired fellow writers and performers to welcome into their craft.
I've never attended a poetry workshop because I feel far more comfortable that my style of writing will reflect who I am rather than the expected formats and rules taught by so-called lecturers and professors. Sonnets and villanelles by Shakespeare and Wilde of course have their place in poetry, but so do the rambling wrecks, the Frank Gallaghers and Rab C Nesbitts, of this world.
Perhaps schools would benefit by being a little more open-minded when it comes to their selection of poets being used to inspire young minds. Perhaps it's time to take the safety pin out the grenade and stick it into a nose”
Fuck yeah.
Stephen Watt is performing at Rally & Broad at the Tron theatre on Wednesday 30th of April and at Even Festival between the 12th and 15th of June.
Buy Spit here
Video for ‘Rubik’
Facebook: StephenWattSpit
Twitter: @StephenWattSpit