Parked outside the sold out Mike Watt show at The Bottom of the Hill is a white super duty 350 Econoline van bearing the dashboard detritus of a touring band. Over a few hours, the crowd gains critical mass, mostly men, heavy on the flannel and leather, all waiting to see the legendary Mike Watt, bassist for the San Pedro punk trio The Minutemen. Sometime around 10:30 p.m. a bespectacled mountain man lurches out of the van. He is still wearing the green neon eye shades from his van nap and looks like a recently roused bear. Mike Watt, affable punk godfather and sheepish showman hollers a few lines with opening band Electric Chair Repair Co. before lumbering back to the sanctuary of his van for a few more zzzs.
Just before midnight, Watt takes the stage. At 53, he limps and wears a knee brace, he carries a backpack on stage and like a man preparing to chop down a tree, Watt carefully assembles himself to the strains of John Coltrane. He takes off his glasses, rolls up his shirt sleeves, hocks a giant loogie stage right and at last assumes the wide leg power stance that has perhaps attributed to his bum knee. With little fanfare, he slaps out the first biting bassline on his Gibson.
The Minuteman's sound is best described as "avant garage." Watt's other band, fIREHOSE and his solo album, Contemplating the Engine Room have all been marked by a DIY genuine article feel, limited production songs for the stage. Despite the ADHD brevity of his songs, some actually clocking in at under a minute, Mike Watt's music has an almost prog rock feel, his lyrics more intellectually inclined than the typical screaming three cord head banger. Watt now brings us a punk opera in Hyphenated-Man, inspired by the Wizard of Oz and the work of the 17th Century Dutch Painter Hieronymus Bosch, each song a description of a character in a Bosch painting and according to Watt, also about being a man. With titles like "Hollowed Out-Man", "Confused Parts-Man" and "Cherry-Head-Lover-Man," Watt's masculinity is bleak but virile. Tonight, Hyphenated-man is played start to finish.
He wrote the guitar parts for Hyphenated-Man on his old Minuteman band mate D. Boon's Telecaster. Friends interviewed for the 2003 Minutemen documentary, We Jam Econo described Watt and D. Boon, best friends since age thirteen, as evil twins that spoke their own language. And just like their creative relationship, Watt's new songs maintain the same democratic, guitar-bass push and pull. D. Boon died tragically in a car accident in 1985, but tonight, playing as the Missingmen, Watt's songsmithing creates the same communal call and response dynamic between himself and guitarist Tom Watson; neither running away with the tune. Watt is the heartbeat and his voice, another layer of growling bass. Like a sea captain, he gleefully belts out lyrics as he steers. Never one to take himself too seriously, he smirks to let you know when he's told a joke. The album's tempo shifts from manic to mystically downbeat. In the gaps, the crowd struggles for silence, half hushed, straining to hear some sage advice from Old Man Punk. "The lesson ain't ever less than the lesson never lessens." The lull then launches into hammers.
The music is gratifying and thoughtful, and while his craft is honed, the general feeling is a far cry from the youthful rage of old. During the encore, Watt proudly announces that he has managed to keep the same strings on his bass throughout the blistering 51 shows over the 52 day tour. But the jovial blaspheme still exists now joined with the wisdom of a life lived on the road. A distilling. Watt has inspired countless musicians, Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Beastie Boys, Flea many of whom guest on his album Ball Hog or Tugboat?. He lives with total dedication to his art, even if it means power napping in the van outside gig. At the end of the show, Watt puts his glasses back on and dangling his legs off the side of the stage, holds court. This tour is no aberrant call out of retirement for Watt, he is set to hit the road with Iggy and the Stooges next month. Watt stop? Never.
No comments:
Post a Comment