Interviews

WATCH ME RISE confront their own decade of setbacks on emotionally charged debut album

9 mins read
Watch Me Rise, by Bryan Reinsch
Watch Me Rise, by Bryan Reinsch

Frankfurt’s Watch Me Rise have never been one to follow the easy route. After years of DIY persistence, lineup shifts, and a steady buildup through singles, EPs, and support slots for acts like Enter Shikari and Birds In Row, the German post-hardcore outfit is finally dropping their debut full-length, A Decade Full of Setbacks and Mistakes, on April 25 via Uncle M/Oh Lumiere and Blood Blast Distribution.

It’s a concise 29-minute release, but there’s no shortage of emotional weight packed into its ten tracks—an album born out of grief, uncertainty, personal recovery, and a refusal to conform.

Starting in 2018 with their first EP Of Anxious Minds And Sleepless Nights, Watch Me Rise carved a place for themselves in Germany’s underground, building a sound inspired by bands like La Dispute, Defeater, and Touché Amore but not fully defined by them. What began in Frankfurt now stretches between Berlin and Hamburg, and the album makes that expanded perspective obvious—pushing genre lines while grounding itself in raw human experience.

Watch Me Rise, by Bryan Reinsch
Watch Me Rise, by Maximilian Schrauder 

The process behind A Decade Full of Setbacks and Mistakes started in late 2023. For bassist Flo, it was less of a sprint than a gradual unraveling of emotional highs and lows, echoing throughout the writing. Josh, the band’s vocalist, has always approached lyrics as a form of personal therapy, explaining: “I find it difficult to write about impersonal or superficial topics… songwriting is a process of self-reflection, while performing live allows me to process everything in a different way.” That duality—private and public, reflection and catharsis—runs through the record like a thread.

The first glimpse into the album came in the form of “(for) Friede”, a personal tribute to Josh’s late grandmother. “We want to show people out there that they are not alone,” adds drummer Sven, pointing to the band’s deeper mission to make space for emotional honesty, especially around mental health.

Musically, the record is wide-ranging. “Calico,” written by guitarist Shmagi during therapy, hits their melodic hardcore roots. “MARAD” plays with indie rock and shoegaze textures under a punk chassis. “Solace Grace” barely passes the one-minute mark but bursts with kinetic urgency. Songs like “Resign” and “Indigo” slow the tempo down, letting the vocals breathe as guitars wash over like slow-moving storms. Album closer “In Red” finds resolution in reverb-heavy tremolo lines, landing somewhere between melancholy and hope.

Watch Me Rise, by Bryan Reinsch
Watch Me Rise, by Bryan Reinsch

The band is made up of musicians from different corners of the heavy music map. Sven’s background leans punk and post-punk, while Lukas comes from hard rock and post-hardcore, and Shmagi from indie. Josh brings an emo and screamo influence to the vocals, while Flo holds it all together with a melodic hardcore sensibility on bass. “Our music has always thrived on a wide variety of influences,” the band explains, pointing out that their drummer’s style is built around simplicity, while the melodic structures come largely from indie roots.

Even so, the sound isn’t Frankenstein’d together. Rhythm and emotion are closely linked throughout, but not in a way that feels over-rehearsed or too thought-out. As Lukas puts it, “Right from the first note on, it’s all emotions.” For MARAD in particular, the band allowed rhythm and feeling to stretch and settle over time, while other songs came together more spontaneously. Everyone brings their own fragment, and if it resonates, it stays.

The band’s Spotify playlist offers a peek into those influences—from obvious genre connections to more surprising left turns. Among the unexpected nods: Lukas admits AC/DC was part of his foundation, while Josh name-checks both Billie Eilish and MGK as low-key inspirations. Flo’s love of lo-fi and Shmagi’s 2000s alt rock leanings round out a surprisingly eclectic mix beneath the band’s emotionally raw core.

Lyrically, there’s no pullback. The band doesn’t self-censor, even when things get uncomfortable. “This band and the lyrics are the biggest outlet I have,” Josh says. “I try to be as open and direct when it comes to lyrics, even if it is hard from time to time.” But that openness is also carefully crafted—each word chosen not just for emotion, but for meaning, especially given that English is a second language for all members.

Watch Me Rise, by Bryan Reinsch
Watch Me Rise, by Maximilian Schrauder 

What’s clear is that Watch Me Rise have remained stubbornly true to themselves, even when outside expectations tried to steer them otherwise. They’ve grown their fanbase organically, and they’ve resisted the push for industry shortcuts. “Nobody works as hard as yourself on something you love that much,” Josh says. And that love—for the music, for the process, for each other—is what continues to fuel them.

As for where they come from, the band doesn’t see Frankfurt as a scene-defining city. Josh notes that it shaped him more as a person than as a musician, while Lukas never gave much thought to fitting into a scene in the first place. For them, it’s less about being outsiders and more about following the path that feels honest.

The album itself takes on questions of identity, generational burnout, and the constant struggle to figure out how to keep going without losing yourself. Shmagi calls it “an ode to the overthinker generation,” a phrase that lands squarely in the emotional core of the release. Even the album title—A Decade Full of Setbacks and Mistakes—isn’t just poetic. As Josh shared, there was a real point in 2020 when the band nearly ended after losing two members. “Luckily we found Lukas and Flo,” he says. “It just fit right from the first session.”

As they gear up to support Sperling on tour in March 2025 and prepare for festival dates at Mighty Sounds and Farewell Youth Fest, A Decade Full of Setbacks and Mistakes marks both a new chapter and a reflection of everything that got them here.

The full interview below dives into the band’s history, how they write, what they fight against, and what they still haven’t figured out how to say—covering their thoughts on grief, rhythm, DIY survival, guilty pleasures, and why love and happiness remain the hardest things to write about.

 

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Looking back at the phrase “a decade full of setbacks and mistakes”—was there ever a moment where one of those mistakes nearly killed the band before it even really began?

Josh: I think the only real moment was 2020 before Flo and Lukas joined and Sven and I didn’t really know If we will and can go on with the Band or not cause we lost two members at once.. Luckily we found Lukas and Flo and it just fit right from the first session.

Your lyrics seem deeply personal but are also written to move a crowd. Do you ever catch yourselves censoring something because it feels too raw to share—or do you lean into that discomfort?

Shmagi: As none of us are native English speakers and language is a skill we had to learn and develop, I think it’s more about choosing the right words to express ourselves in a foreign language rather than censoring anything that comes to our mind. If anything, I for one have always been more comfortable expressing myself in a foreign language, something that is detached from my innate being, so whatever you hear is whatever we want to say.

Josh: I always try to express myself as well as I can even though I am not a native speaker. I usually try to leave lyrics quite open so people can relate to it but there was never a point where I felt the need to censor anything. This band and the lyrics are the biggest outlet I have and I try to be as open and direct when it comes to lyrics even if it is hard from time to time.

There’s a lot of talk about connection between rhythm and emotion in your songwriting. Is that something you consciously build during writing sessions, or does it just show up uninvited?

Lukas: Right from the first note on it’s all emotions. We never plan on rhythms in the first place. It just shows up and if we don’t like it we try to adjust it.

Shmagi: The songwriting in our collective is a very organic, dynamic process. Usually we know within the first couple of minutes if we want to pursue a certain idea, beat, rhythm, emotion or not. It has happened that we’ve allowed rhythm and emotion to settle and build over a certain period of times, MARAD is the perfect example of that, but usually this marriage of rhythm and emotion comes organically.

Flo: It just happens. Usually it all starts with a little snippet that one of us brings in. Everyone contributes and, ideally, it turns into something that everyone can relate to. Directing a song in one specific way is something we’re not good at (fortunately).

You’ve mentioned roots in emo, post-hardcore, classic punk—do you ever feel like you’re fighting against being boxed in, or is that tension something you actually enjoy?

Lukas: We have different opinions on that. For me I hate being boxed in. I don’t write music to let it fit in a certain genre. It is just what I feel. But I think some of us clearly see where we come from and where we are part of. It is important when it comes to promotion and all that stuff and I love to be protected from thinking about it.

Shmagi: Where we come from does not have to be the same direction we develop into. I believe all of us embrace our musical backgrounds as they have played monumental role in our individual development, but through our collective self-exploration, we saw that we don’t have to box ourselves in neither of these genres we come from. Yes, it’s this, and it’s that, but our goal is for it to be Watch Me Rise.

Flo: In addition to what Shmagi already wrote: Pigeonholing is actually the antithesis of our way of songwriting, which is emotion-driven and where everyone can express themselves however they like

Your live stats and DIY drive are impressive. With the scene being what it is today, what keeps you choosing the self-managed route instead of chasing label or agency security?

Shmagi: if you want to get something done, you gotta do it yourself.

Josh: Nobody works as hard as yourself on something you love that much. Over the past years we grew a big network with “industry people” that we can ask for help or advice but with us it is a lot of trying, failing and learning with doing a lot in a DIY approach.

You’re clearly a band that’s survived on its own terms. Has there ever been a moment when outside expectations—industry, audience, press—clashed hard with your own vision?

Josh: Over the past years I had to learn to not compare ourselves to any other bands. I think the biggest goal is to stay yourself with the stuff and the way you do it even though anybody else expects you to do it differently. We grew organically with everything we did, streams, social media numbers but most importantly with the shows we played and the amount of people that bought tickets. It shows that big streaming numbers usually do not translate in the amount of tickets you sell. I’m happy how we grew over the last years, cause it was healthy, organic and steady.

If you stripped everything down—no social media, no promo—what would still keep you writing music together?

Lukas: Sharing Emotions, sharing making music. It’s as easy as that.

Shmagi: the will to create.

Flo: Creating a space where you can let your emotions run free

The playlist you shared gives some insight into your influences, but what’s a song or artist you’d never publicly admit shaped your sound… but totally did?

Lukas: Sry for my bandmates but AC/DC it is from my side. At some point we have to share this information.

Shmagi: I think I keep my “guilty pleasures” (even though I entirely embrace them) separated from the music that inspires me to create. I’ve always been a huge fan of 2000s alt, Nickelback to Staind to Three Days Grace but I wouldn’t really say they had a hand in my creative expression.

Flo: I don’t know exactly if and how it affects my sound, but in general I feel Lofi music a lot, for whatever reason

Josh: Not sure If it shaped my way to write lyrics or sing but the two guily pleasures that come to my mind would be mgk and Billie Eilish.

 

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Frankfurt isn’t exactly known as a hotbed for your genre. How has your location shaped your identity—as underdogs, outsiders, or maybe something else?

Lukas: Hard question actually. I never really thought about being an outsider or something. I also never tried being part of a specific scene or something. It just felt right what I did and I luckily met the right people to share it.

Josh: As I life here and I am from here it shaped me a lot more as a human than music wise. I never really thought about the fact that not many bands in our genre come from Frankfurt. I think Frankfurt in general has a very specific “sound” no matter the genre.

 

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10. Finally, pain, anger, healing—it’s all there in your songs. But what’s the emotion you still haven’t figured out how to write about?

Lukas: Love. It’s hard times to love human mankind.

Shmagi: I could only agree but from a different perspective – Love. The hardship of expressing insatiable and overwhelming love towards those who deserve it.

Josh: Happiness.

Karol Kamiński

DIY rock music enthusiast and web-zine publisher from Warsaw, Poland. Supporting DIY ethics, local artists and promoting hardcore punk, rock, post rock and alternative music of all kinds via IDIOTEQ online channels.
Contact via [email protected]

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