Kevin Bronson on October 18th, 2011

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Hey, retro rockers, Nick Waterhouse’s Wayback Machine works better than yours does. Waterhouse is a the Huntington Beach-reared, San Francisco-educated 25-year-old whose early songs make time stand still – or at least, that period of time in the late 1950s and early ’60s when soul and sweat and sweetness seemed to congeal on every 7-inch slab of wax that end up on the record players of the lovelorn and footloose. When we first saw Waterhouse opening last spring for Hanni El Khatib – whom he has now joined on the Innovative Leisure imprint – it was obvious he could do more than just dress the part: More bandleader than frontman, he was poised beyond his years piloting his collective of horn players, backup singers and rhythm section through their paces. His vintage sound is rougher round the edges than the Daptones, less preening than Mayer Hawthorne and not as pop-catchy as Fitz & the Tantrums, but Waterhouse is only getting started, as the press release says, “moving forward into the past.” Dick Thompson’s video for “I Can Only Give You Everything” (the B-side to “Is That Clear”) gives you an idea.