Not Everything Is “Hopeless & Restless” In This Broken World – A Review Of The Watersdeep Single And Video

When bands or musicians reach out to me personally and ask me to listen to their music, I’m always honored and humbled and a little shocked.  Who am I? I’m not special.  I’m just someone who loves all kinds of music and wants to share that awesome music with as many people as I can reach.  Writing about bands and music for The Sound 228 is one of the ways I can do that. 

Recently, I received a message from a band called Watersdeep asking me to check out their latest song, “Hopeless & Restless”.  I did right away and I was hooked!  I’m so glad they reached out to me. Listening to their song and watching the music video for it, I knew right away that this band had something special, and I asked them if I could write about them.

Watersdeep is a post-hardcore band based in the northern Virginia/DC/Maryland area.  Band members include:  Gabe Jaar (lead vocals); Tanner Campos (rhythm guitar/backup vocals); Brandon Jones (lead guitar); Ize Ryan (bass/backup vocals; and Rohan Enamandra (drums). 

Technically, the project was started in 2016, by Gabe and his college friend John. They were still in school, and at the time it was just a fun little acoustic cover thing. They weren’t really getting booked for shows, and they didn’t have much original music.  When John left not long after the project started, Gabe kept it as a solo thing for a while.  2018 was the year it officially became a band, when Gabe found his first group of bandmates.  Rohan was one of them. They started playing shows and put out an EP that first year.

The band has been through a lot of lineup changes over the years.  The current lineup consists of friends who met each other through the music scene.  Tanner is from Rohan’s old band Oryssa.  Ize was their friend in the scene that they met playing shows with his other band, Not My Vice.  Bandon and Rohan were both in another project called Third Era.

I asked about the band name Watersdeep, and Gabe told me the story.  “A lot of people think our band name has to do with Dungeons And Dragons because in the game, there’s a place called Watersdeep.  I’m sorry to disappoint everyone, but unfortunately, none of us really play D&D, even though I keep telling myself one day I’ll get into it.”

Gabe explained that when he was in college, he had a radio show he hosted with his friend Justin.  Since nobody would book him to perform at the time, his “live” shows were on his own radio show.  Justin’s partner, Rachel, suggested the name “The Waters Deep” because they would always cover “Drown” by Bring Me The Horizon since they didn’t have much original material.

“I’ve thought about rebranding over the years,” Gabe said.  “But the name Watersdeep has always resonated with me and my bandmates.  It relates so well to the topics we write about as a band, regarding depression, mental health struggles, and so on.”

Prior to Hopeless & Restless, the band’s last music was an EP called Fading Lights in 2023. They’ve been working behind the scenes on a lot of music since then, but wanted to wait for the right moment to release new music again.

The song-writing process for Watersdeep has become more collaborative over the years, and the approach varies from song to song.  Gabe and Rohan primarily write a lot of the instrumentals, and Tanner has recently been contributing also.  Each band member usually has creative freedom to do what he wants with his own parts, which gives everyone a sense of ownership.  Gabe writes most of the lyrics, but will definitely get help sometimes from Rohan or Ize when he’s feeling stumped.  Rohan and Tanner handle producing, mixing and mastering, and so on for the band.  Gabe says they are both super talented at what they do.

My interpretation of “Hopeless & Restless” is that it’s about someone battling internal demons and wanting to move on from things that have happened in the past.  Gabe shared his thoughts with me.  “That’s pretty spot on! I’d love to elaborate on the meaning behind the song. ‘Hopeless & Restless’ is a song about realizing how broken the world is and how everyone around us is struggling more than we realize. Everybody has their own internal demons that they are fighting, and many of us feel that the future is very bleak. The song is about coming together with like-minded people who share your struggles and building a better future together.”

Despite the deeper meaning behind “Hopeless & Restless”, the track is actually very upbeat, with some heavier, metalcore-style hard vocals and a breakdown incorporated.  I love the guitar riff that precedes the verses. The tempo changes throughout the song keep the listeners on their toes, especially when it speeds up in the second verse. It almost gives the song a bit of a pop punk vibe. Gabe has a tremendous vocal range, and Ize adds some powerful screams. 

The music video is fun and shows how energetic and fun Watersdeep is. It honestly makes me really want to see them perform someday soon!  The video reflects the positivity that emanates from this band, which gives hope that even if you’re having a rough time, there is always something better around the corner and a reason to be happy.  The video was brought to life by the extremely talented Brendan McGlathery of Preta Path Productions.  The band has been friends with him for a couple years now, seeing him at shows and working together on smaller projects.  Gabe shared with me his thoughts on the video.  He said he originally had the idea to do a white background, but he loved how Brendan added some red and a bit of blue to make the video pop even more.

There will be more music and videos coming for Watersdeep, so please stay tuned to all of their social media sites.  You can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

WRITTEN BY: Annie Schlottman PHOTO CREDIT: Brendan McGlathery/Preta Path Productions