The Watershed family is heartbroken to learn that our friend Troy C. Kliesch passed away last week.
If you saw Watershed in concert from 1995-2000, then you saw us with Troy behind the mixing board, trying to make us sound as good as Frampton Comes Alive! If the result failed to reach that sonic standard, the fault lies with the band, not with the front-of-house man.
Troy was a world-class sound engineer and an integral part of our touring family. He was passionate about sound and approached his craft from the perspective of an artist. He's the reason Watershed still fires our guitar amplifiers across the stage rather than toward the audience. As Troy taught us, side-washing the amps keeps the guitars out of the vocal mics and allows the PA to evenly spread the sound throughout the room.
Troy preferred his rock harder than Watershed, except for when he was tuning a room to the sound of a Mariah Carey or Madonna CD. His hard-rock tastes - along with a premium set of skills - took him out of our orbit and onto the rest of his career; touring arenas and festivals with bands like Corrosion of Conformity, Down, and Superjoint Ritual. Troy is the person who somehow talked Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope from the Insane Clown Posse into letting Watershed open for them for several weeks. He's also the guy who christened the sleeping space in our first van "The Gungi Loft," after his hero, the legendary soundman Gordon "Gungi" Paterson. We'll always remember Troy for his comic timing and his ability to crack us up with inside-the-van jokes like "Yeah, I've done some driving around with cats" and "I'm tired of it."
Troy was a character. We're lucky we got to spend so much time with him. We learned a lot from him. Our sympathies to his son and the rest of his family. May he rest in peace in the great Gungi loft in the sky.
Troy backstage at the Orbit Room before Watershed opens the show for the Insane Clown Posse
Troy, Joe Oestreich, Herb Schupp , Colin Gawel and Biggie enjoying the hospitality of Smithereens great drummer Dennis Diken.
Joe, Dave Masica, Troy, Colin and Biggie enjoying the view of Lake Superior before a gig in Marquette Michigan.
Bonus Photo below: Colin, Troy, Biggie, Joe, Andy “Hammer’ Hindman, Herb and Ira Elliot (Nada Surf) sneaking in some beach time before a show in Charleston, SC. opening for the Smithereens
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