 While in Seattle, he played in a number of Seattle bands of wildly varying genres, including a stint with Wayne Horvitz and the neo-soul band, Maktub.In 1996, Watts became the front man for soul, rock, and hip hop group Maktub.While recording and touring circa 1996–2000 with Wayne Horvitz 4+1 Ensemble as a keyboardist, Watts was forced to downsize his effects pedal from a Roland Space Echo tape delay to a Line 6 DL4 delay modeler, a smaller device that makes it easy to travel.