We don’t want to name names or point fingers, but some people occasionally label Watford as a cookie cutter club. The fact that the sterile confines of Vicarage Road look like a big box store from the outside does not help. But the truth is, if this season’s Liverpool play Heavy Metal Football, then Walter Mazzarri’s Watford is at least Rock N’ Roll. Only Liverpool, Arsenal and City have scored more goals through five games than Watford’s 10.
But The Hornets’ rock ethos extends off the pitch beyond Étienne Capoue, Troy Deeney and even Harry the Hornet (we see you working, Harry). The club’s most famous fan is the Rocket Man himself, Elton John. One of Watford’s biggest fans on these shores is an English guitarist who now makes his home down the Jersey Shore. Ian Perkins is the guitar player for Brian Fallon and The Crowes, one of JW’s favorite bands. He’s also one of the gents behind Asbury Park FC clothing line. In honor of Watford’s back-to-back wins, including last week’s 3-1 thumping of Manchester United, we asked Ian how a musician copes with the ups and downs of Premier League fandom on the road. We wanted to know his Three Best Football Stories from The Road. His No. 1 is below. Numbers two and three (Three is Jay DeMerit-themed!) are available HERE. Rock Stars. When it comes to football … they’re just like us.
Ian Writes: Easily my favourite recent memories of watching Watford on tour have been the last two weeks. After finishing a European tour up at Reading/Leeds festival and being so close to Vicarage Road for the Arsenal game, not going was nearly as heartbreaking as the result. I got to stay home with family for a week or so, but it lined up with the international break so no Hornets for me.
We then flew back to the West Coast to start our U.S. tour, and after a shaky start to the season, Watford were back with an away game at West Ham’s new stadium. Anyone who follows the Premier League on the West Coast knows the drill. Waking up at 6 a.m. and watching your team lose is no way to start the day, so when Watford were 2-0 down my day was already over. Then the goals start flowing, we win 4-2 and I’m walking around like I own LA.
Two days later we play the Late Late Show with James Corden. We know he’s a huge Hammers fan so our friends at Fender manage to find a Steve Harris signature bass for us to give him. It has a huge West Ham badge on the front and he looks genuinely happy when we hand it over to him, calling his mate into the room to show it off. His face then changes as he says, “We were awful at the weekend though!” That was all I needed to hear, the perfect setup that any underdog football fan dreams of. I replied, “Yeah, I know. I’m a Watford fan. We were just too good.”
Thoughts soon turned to the next game, Manchester United at home. I spend the whole day before telling everyone who will listen how we are going to get beaten but I’ll still wake up at 5:30 a.m. to see my boys play some of the world’s best players. Hopefully we can get one goal and make a good game of it. Six a.m. rolls around and I’m awake in my new home shirt, drinking coffee and hoping for the best. As the game starts, we are driving from Texas to Oklahoma, so I’m relying on tour bus WiFi. But right after kickoff we hit a huge storm and the signal drops. Thankfully I have a good support network. There’s so few Watford fans that we all know each other. I have family at the game giving me updates, the NYC Hornets are sending me videos. Then Capoue scores and my phone goes mental. We pull out of the storm during half time and regain signal so I can watch my boys put on an epic display, winning 3-1, with Deeney smashing home a penalty in injury time and everyone knows it’s beyond United. I’ll be talking about this game for the rest of the season and maybe, just maybe, it will take the place of my Liverpool story from when we beat them last season. Watford fans have never had it so good.
