Trip to London precedes release of vinyl album by Bristol’s Rikki Aaron

The group Rikki Aaron is comprised of Dave Watson, left, and Stan O'Donnell. The single cut in the 1980s has brought attention to Watson, who wrote the song and performs along with O'Donnell. Image from Cordial Recordings shopping website.

Posted By: David Fortier May 6, 2019

By David Fortier

Sitting in a recording studio in London last month, Bristol native Dave Watson is recording a London rendition of the title song from his new album, “Say What’s On Your Mind,” when the session is interrupted for a photo shoot, giving Watson a moment to pause and, simply, take in the moment.

His thoughts? 

“I can’t believe I am over in a different country simply because I am a songwriter and I sing,” he said. “This is just so great.” 

It is one of the best moments of his trip to London, where he met his record producer, worked a couple of days in the studio and got to visit some of London’s famous sites, including Buckingham Palace, London Bridge and Parliament. 

At 60 years old, Watson, one half of the band Rikki Aaron, has had a few other great moments, one which involved Wilson Pickett (more about that in a minute).

As good as the Wilson Pickett moment was, this London trip is at the top. After all, it is in London where people have been buying up his music, and it is in London where the record label Cordial Recordings is releasing his album in the middle of this month.

What makes this all even better for Watson is that he is accomplishing this with another Bristol native, Stan O’Donnell, the one who introduced him to the music business back when Watson was in high school.

O’Donnell is the other half of Rikki Aaron.

A music success himself, O’Donnell had a series of bands, the most successful, Motown Review, which attracted a large following, in the 70s and 80s. That was the band Watson was with when he had that great moment featuring Wilson Pickett (more in a moment).  

O’Donnell’s band opened for such acts as the Temptations, the Four Tops, Tower of Power, the Chi-lites, the Marvelettes and the Fabulous Rhinestones. It was during this time that Watson started writing the songs that appear on the new album. 

“I wrote all this music all those years ago,” Watson said, “and now it’s becoming popular and all that stuff, so this is my chance to include Stanley in. Not only that, he’s the one who got the phone call from Roual asking questions about me so he did the favor to make sure I found out about it.” 

Roual is Roual Galloway, the producer and owner of the London label, Cordial Recordings, who through O’Donnell contacted Watson. Singles of Watson’s song, “Say What’s On Your Mind,” had been selling for upwards of $600. They continue to sell for $300 to $400.

O’Donnell and Watson cut the original singles in the 80s with the assistance of John Cyr, another Bristol guy, who brokered much of the deal between Watson and Galloway. 

“We are music partners,” Watson, who writes all the music for the band, said about his relationship with O’Donnell, who like Watson plays music and provides vocals for the new album. “Say What’s On Your Mind,” which will be released in London on vinyl. It will also be available in part or as a CD via iTunes. 

Watson and O’Donnell are products of the Bristol schools. O’Donnell is a couple of years ahead of Watson. Incidentally, Watson and I attended grade school at Mary A. Callen School, junior high at Memorial Boulevard and high school at Bristol Central from which we graduated in 1976.  

Watson was not only a classmate of mine, but all three of us were neighbors, having grown up off Lake Ave. in Zbikowski Park. Watson and I played Little League baseball for the Forestville Dodgers, under Watson’s dad, the late Robert “Bob” S. Watson Sr. 

It was at BCHS that Watson started trying his hand writing his own songs, but it was something his band teacher, Mr. Kelly, said that got him to think about himself as a songwriter. 

Rather than attending his study hall, Watson said, he often skipped and wound up in the auditorium where he tinkered on the piano. 

“I was playing the very first song I wrote which was ‘For the Love of Music,’’’ Watson said. He liked tinkering on the piano, coming up with cords and such, when Kelly surprised him. 

“He was standing there the whole time,” Watson said about Kelly. “When I finished, he came up and said, ‘Is that your song?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’  He goes, ‘You want to sell it?’ He said, ‘I’ll buy it from you.’ He is the one who inspired me to be a song writer just by saying that to me.” 

“For the Love of Music” is one of the songs on the album, along with two others Watson considers favorites, “Will You” and “Brighter Days,” both of which he wrote years ago.

His favorite, “Will You,” was written a few years after graduating BCHS. 

“Stan always said, ‘Dave, you’ve got to do that song, ‘Will You,'” Watson said, quoting O’Donnell. “‘It’s a great song.’”  

“Brighter Days” is the other one that he resurrected for the album. About it, Watson recounted, “Stanley has always said, ‘Dude, you gotta finish that song.’’’ 

O’Donnell, Watson said, has always believed they would be hits. 

Watson, who now lives in Florida, worked with O’Donnell and Cyr via the Internet, sending digital tracks that could be mastered in Cyr’s Bristol studio, Cyreous Music Studios.  

Watson said that he has always been writing songs, while holding down other jobs to support his family. 

“All these songs were written strictly from the heart, and on my own time, and in my own time,” he said. He said he thinks it is this quality, that he was writing for himself, that gives the songs their unique and lasting appeal. 

For those who need a name for his music, Watson said, “It’s soul, but it’s soul with progressive jazz cords, so I would have to say, well, therefore it’s progressive soul.” 

Either way, he said he likes his music to have a good beat for dancing. 

“I always wanted cords so that people would say that sounds really nice,” Watson said, “and then go, ‘Wow, I can’t believe he complimented it with that.’” 

At the same time, he said, he likes a dance beat and sensible lyrics that make for a good sensible song, by bringing all those pieces together. 

And that Wilson Pickett moment? 

It occurred at Lake Compounce, when he was playing with O’Donnell’s Motown Review, on the small stage, and Pickett showed up at the main venue, but without his band which got lost.

“We were playing on the small stage over near the water,” Watson said. 

The word went out to bring Motown Review over to the big stage. 

“When we were walking through that crowd and they were looking at us like, ‘Who the hell are these guys,’ and of course half the people knew who we were and other half didn’t. 

“We walk in back of the stage where Wilson Pickett was and he’s like, ‘You guys are saving my ass. Thank you so much. Use my dressing room. There’s food in there.’” 

“I’m like , ‘Oh my god,’” Watson said, “and so that’s what I mean by I’ve had moments where I have just stopped and I’m like, ‘Dude, take this in, take it in.’”

Aside from “Say What’s On Your Mind,” “For the Love of Music,” “Brighter Days” and “Will You,” the album includes “Save the World–Part 1 and 2,” “Hey Girl,” “The Dream,” “Will You,” “Gigi,” “I’m a Young Man,” and “Think Fast.”

The album will be available mid-May. Anyone interested in receiving a signed copy can contact Watson, via his email account,davidwolotson7@gmail.com. Otherwise, the music will be available from the Cordial Recordings website http://5767.co.uk/ and via iTunes.  

For more about Cordial Recordings, check their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cordialrecordings/. 

Updated 05 07 2019: A few words were left out in the Wilson Pickett story. “…Pickett showed up at the main venue, but without which got lost” was changed to “…Pickett showed up at the main venue, but without his band his which got lost.”