''McLaren Furnace Room'' is the first major label album by Canadian band, The Watchmen. Originally released by SUMO Productions in Canada in 1992 (with the help of

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

), the release impressed

Canada who signed the band and released the album in 1993 on a much wider scale. The title of the album refers to the basement of the McLaren Hotel that served as the band's rehearsal studio. The album was certified Gold in Canada by the

Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

on March 6, 1996. Known as a tireless touring band, they reportedly played 150 shows a year across Canada from 1987 to 1991. A show in Toronto at the

Horseshoe Tavern The Horseshoe Tavern (known as ''The Horseshoe'', ''The 'Shoe'', The 'Toronto Tavern' and The 'Triple T' to Toronto locals) is a concert venue at 370 Queen Street West (northeast corner of Queen at Spadina) in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and ...

in 1991 caught the attention of producer

Chris Wardman Chris Wardman is a Canadian music producer, musician and songwriter. Wardman was a founding member of Blue Peter, and was their lead guitarist and main contributing songwriter. Wardman was also a member of Breeding Ground in the late 1980s. Wardma ...

's girlfriend. She promised to put Wardman in touch with the band. Wardman eventually made it out to one of their shows and promised them a production commitment.

Jake Gold Jake Gold (born April 4, 1958) is an American-born Canadian music manager. He was a judge on the ''Canadian Idol'' television program. In addition to ''Idol'' participants, he has managed Canadian artists The Tragically Hip, The Watchmen, The C ...

's The Management Trust signed them to a management deal and his music production outfit SUMO Productions. Using their clout with MCA Records, SUMO was able to release the band's debut ''McLaren Furnace Room'' in 1992. The band then signed directly to MCA Records Canada. At that time in the band's history, the principal songwriter was guitarist

Joey Serlin Joey Serlin (born 1970) is a Canadian rock guitarist and songwriter. He was a member of The Watchmen, a Canadian alternative rock band active in the 1990s. Following that band's breakup, he worked with ''Canadian Idol'' winners Ryan Malcolm an ...

. A video for the lead single "Cracked" was filmed and released in 1992 while a video for the second single "Run & Hide" was released in 1993. Both videos saw modest play on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

Track listing

All songs and lyrics written by Joey Serlin except for "Cracked" with music written by The Watchmen, and "Sleep", with lyrics by Danny Greaves and music by The Watchmen.

Album credits

Personnel

Sammy Kohn Sammy is a nickname, frequently for people named Samuel, and also an English spelling of the Arabic name Sami. People Music *Sammy Adams (born 1987), American rapper and songwriter *Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), American songwriter *Sammy Davis Jr. (1 ...

- Drums * Pete Loewen - Bass & Vocals *

- Guitars & Vocals * Danny Greaves - Vocals & Mouth Organ

Additional personnel

*Jason Sniderman - Mellotron on "Must To Be Free" *Lazyman lefty - Congas *Kroo-b - Piano *Chris Wardman - Dragon Noises

Production

*Chris Wardman - Producer, Mixer *Earl Torno - Mixer, Engineer *Eric Apps - Engineer, Assistant Engineer *Mike Gurarie - Assistant Engineer *Recorded & Mixed at Winfield Sound, Toronto *Mastered by Howie Wienberg at Masterdisk, New York

References

;Citations ;Sources * Liner notes from The Watchmen: ''McLaren Furnace Room''.
The Watchmen BioThe Watchmen - VideosCRIA Searchable Database
{{Authority control 1992 albums The Watchmen (band) albums