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PHOTO COURTESY OF BAND

SHOWTIME. Tacoma band focuspoint will perform live at 9 p. m. Aug. 30 at the Showbox in Seattle.

Tacoma-grown band to make Showbox debut

By Clare Jensen

The band focuspoint started playing together back when they attended high school at Stadium High in Tacoma. That’s back when they called themselves Face Plant, and when front man Chris Watson proudly received an “FP” tattoo on his left arm.

Because a Texan band already had the rights to Face Plant, the band had to come up with an alternative alias, one that would still allow Watson to bear his “FP” ink.

focuspoint was born, and now, more than seven years after its high school inception, the group of twenty-something working men is about to make their biggest public appearance.

The group, consisting of Watson (guitar/vocals), Paolo Mottola (bass), Jeremy Olson (guitar/vocals) and drummer Danny Woodward, has done its fair share of touring small venues up and down the Puget Sound area. Their biggest shows to-date were a Stadium High assembly at the Temple Theatre, and one attempt to fill the Stadium Bowl.

On Aug. 30, the band will play their first show at Seattle’s Showbox SODO, a venue where many a musical legend has graced the stage.

“I don’t know how many Tacoma bands are rolling through that kind of venue, but we’re really stoked about it,” Mottola wrote in an email before their original Showbox booking date in July. “I don’t know if this qualifies as ‘we made it,’ but it’s a big milestone for us.”

Booking such a venue has come with its share of headaches for the band as well. Their original date in late July was switched to August before it was switched back to July. Then, shortly after a recent Hell’s Kitchen performance, Woodward broke his ankle in a motorcycle accident, leaving the band far out of reach of their plans to take Seattle by storm.

That is, until the part-man-part-machine made an exceptionally speedy recovery. Woodward is ready to get back at the drum kit, which, for the record, does not include a double bass pedal.

That’s cheating, according to Woodward. And Mottola wouldn’t be caught dead with a pick in hand, either.

But don’t assume that this angst-heavy, dark alternative rock band is in any way pretentious snobs. focuspoint is a band of close, longtime friends, who laugh at each other and themselves in the most genuine way.

“For us it’s just like, we’re all friends… playing music is how we socialize,” Mottola said.

“Ultimately, if you don’t like the people you’re playing with,” you’re not going to last.

And while focuspoint hasn’t necessarily reached world-renowned fame (although they are technically international rockers, due to a handful of Canadian and Australian fans), word of mouth has served them well, and they have certainly proven their staying power.

Check out local rockers focuspoint live 9 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Showbox  SODO in Seattle, with Society Says, Your Divine Tragedy and Dyslexic 66. Get tickets in advance via Ticketmaster, or pay $10 at the door.

For more info on the band, visit www.myspace.com/focuspointmusic.

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