Mike Watt
I don’t believe in God, but I believe in Mike Watt. This is not to say he’s some kind of divine being to whom we should all get on our knees and bow down. He’s just a dude from San Pedro. I believe in him because he is punk. He changed the way songs are written, and he changed the way the bass is played by breaking boundaries set in place by smaller-minded folks. For this, his face should be next to the word “punk” in every dictionary on the planet.
For those who need a quick history lesson, Mike Watt started the punk band The Minutemen 30 years ago and kept thumping his bass in fIREHOSE. Then, he went on to make solo records and play in so many bands that it’s impossible to print them all. To save space, I’ll name the one he’s been with the last five years, The Stooges, and the one he’s touring with now, The Missingmen.
This tour is the first time Watt hits the road with a band of his own since joining The Stooges in 2004. While traveling the coast playing shows, he will also record his third punk rock opera, Hyphenated Man, in Brooklyn. It’s a step back to the past for Watt who wrote much of The Minutemen’s 44-track classic Double Nickels on the Dime. He’s always been a Minuteman, but now he’s bringing back the short song—this opera’s got 30 short tunes.
“It was hard for me to listen to Minutemen years after D. Boon got killed, but I had to listen to watch [the documentary We Jam Econo] and stuff,” says Watt. “I was checkin’ it, it’s like, ‘Whoa! These songs are no filler—pretty econo. Tiny little songs. So that gave me the idea for this third opera.”
Watt’s solo album Ball-Hug or Tugboat and the two operas that followed it were epic, especially in comparison to the simplicity of The Minutemen or fIREHOSE. Ball-Hug or Tugboat featured the help of many of Watt’s friends including Thurston Moore, Henry Rollins and Eddie Vedder. The operas were filled with great big rock songs with bellowing choruses that told stories. With the new opera echoing The Minutemen, the songs will probably speed up and find Watt howling words in his stream-of-consciousness style. And since he’s one of the most influential and unique bass players alive, you can always expect great things from the low end as well.
When he pulls his Ford Econoline into Brooklyn, he’ll be recording with band mates Tom Watson and Raul Morales at Williamsburg’s Studio G. He planned it in the middle of the tour, figuring there’s no better way to practice than in front of people. He’s also psyched to record with the Studio G boss Tony Maimone, the former bass player of Pere Ubu—a band Watt cites as a big influence on him and D. Boon after seeing them in 1977.
When it comes to The Minutemen, you can find plenty of interpretations. My theory is that they are the only band to have more input than output in their songs. Watt, Boon and Hurley jammed many different ideas into every song, but the end result is a snippet that’s over before you can really dig into it. This doesn’t mean the songs are lesser achievements than other bands with longer songs. You can find elements of jazz, funk, country and classic rock in a Minutemen song; the point is made and then it’s on to the next one. It’s econo.
If that’s where Watt is at with Hyphenated Man, we should expect great things. No floundering around. He cuts out all the bullshit and gets to the point. And like The Minutemen, he’s still full of ideas. He’s got his input level to the max. Some of the songs are even interpretations of the little creatures from Bosch paintings.
“It’s different than the other two operas. There’s no real beginning, middle or end,” he says laughing to himself. “It’s kind of all middle. I figured that was OK since I'm middle aged.”
> Mike Watt & The Missing Men
May 7 at Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St. (at N. 11th St.), Hoboken, 201-798-0406; 9, $10. Also May 8 at Mercury Lounge.
For those who need a quick history lesson, Mike Watt started the punk band The Minutemen 30 years ago and kept thumping his bass in fIREHOSE. Then, he went on to make solo records and play in so many bands that it’s impossible to print them all. To save space, I’ll name the one he’s been with the last five years, The Stooges, and the one he’s touring with now, The Missingmen.
This tour is the first time Watt hits the road with a band of his own since joining The Stooges in 2004. While traveling the coast playing shows, he will also record his third punk rock opera, Hyphenated Man, in Brooklyn. It’s a step back to the past for Watt who wrote much of The Minutemen’s 44-track classic Double Nickels on the Dime. He’s always been a Minuteman, but now he’s bringing back the short song—this opera’s got 30 short tunes.
“It was hard for me to listen to Minutemen years after D. Boon got killed, but I had to listen to watch [the documentary We Jam Econo] and stuff,” says Watt. “I was checkin’ it, it’s like, ‘Whoa! These songs are no filler—pretty econo. Tiny little songs. So that gave me the idea for this third opera.”
Watt’s solo album Ball-Hug or Tugboat and the two operas that followed it were epic, especially in comparison to the simplicity of The Minutemen or fIREHOSE. Ball-Hug or Tugboat featured the help of many of Watt’s friends including Thurston Moore, Henry Rollins and Eddie Vedder. The operas were filled with great big rock songs with bellowing choruses that told stories. With the new opera echoing The Minutemen, the songs will probably speed up and find Watt howling words in his stream-of-consciousness style. And since he’s one of the most influential and unique bass players alive, you can always expect great things from the low end as well.
When he pulls his Ford Econoline into Brooklyn, he’ll be recording with band mates Tom Watson and Raul Morales at Williamsburg’s Studio G. He planned it in the middle of the tour, figuring there’s no better way to practice than in front of people. He’s also psyched to record with the Studio G boss Tony Maimone, the former bass player of Pere Ubu—a band Watt cites as a big influence on him and D. Boon after seeing them in 1977.
When it comes to The Minutemen, you can find plenty of interpretations. My theory is that they are the only band to have more input than output in their songs. Watt, Boon and Hurley jammed many different ideas into every song, but the end result is a snippet that’s over before you can really dig into it. This doesn’t mean the songs are lesser achievements than other bands with longer songs. You can find elements of jazz, funk, country and classic rock in a Minutemen song; the point is made and then it’s on to the next one. It’s econo.
If that’s where Watt is at with Hyphenated Man, we should expect great things. No floundering around. He cuts out all the bullshit and gets to the point. And like The Minutemen, he’s still full of ideas. He’s got his input level to the max. Some of the songs are even interpretations of the little creatures from Bosch paintings.
“It’s different than the other two operas. There’s no real beginning, middle or end,” he says laughing to himself. “It’s kind of all middle. I figured that was OK since I'm middle aged.”
> Mike Watt & The Missing Men
May 7 at Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St. (at N. 11th St.), Hoboken, 201-798-0406; 9, $10. Also May 8 at Mercury Lounge.
