june 30, 2010
the debut floored by floor album is all done and ready for release on september twentyeight - yatta!
may 30, 2010
just out now! gimmie gimmie gimmie: reinterpreting black flag is a six-song tribute to black flag where I played bass on both the "six pack" and "in the jailhouse now" tracks. trippy thing is black flag never covered "in the jailhouse now" (I think jimmie rodgers wrote it, webb pierce had the biggest hit w/it) but kieth morris here is singing part of it. this was a righteous proj to be part of. k did some singing like patsy too! big respect to drummerman evan taylor who put this together and had me aboard.
april 26, 2010
april first: happy bday, d. boon!
also on april one was the opening of my first-ever exibition called eye-gifts from pedro which are some of the shots I take at the crack of dawn of my town and it's at the track 16 gallery in santa monica, ca. it continues showing 'til may 16th.
last week was the start of iggy and the stooges touring for 2010 - crimony, what a rush! very emotional for me, playing ronnie's bass line but I try my best. my words-eye view of me working bass for them is up here on the hoot page now.
march 29, 2010
thollem mcdonas (piano) has invited me to join him, john dieterich (guitar) and tim barnes (drums/percussion) in as-of-yet-unamed proj to record an improvised album together in austin, tx at the end of august of this year and then do some gigs! whoa...
february 25, 2010
on the third of this month I was a guest on bass at a recording in long beach, ca w/a new proj started by tabor allen (drums/vocals) and danny miller (guitar/vocals) of the late great widow babies (aaarrrgggghhhh, the band has broken up!) called rare grooves that has resulted in the rare grooves seven inch which is now out on sounds are active. danny and tabor are very cool people and label boss chris schlarb even played lead guitar on one of the tunes!
available now is "channels" by the island - which are compositions by steve howe (of the band schooner from montreal, canada - not from the yes band in england) combined w/bass from me at his request. trippy stuff! thanks for having me aboard, steve.
january 28, 2010
belated happy new year greets to all the peeps! no polar bear swim for me in my pedro town cuz I was in tokyo recording second brother's sister's daughter album - this time we brought aboard yuka honda to make it a five piece! yes, I know "where's the first album?" you're probably wondering but that's still being mixed by mister shimmy and of course we all don't want any pressure put on him. he has all my respect.
december 29, 2009
from the end of last month to the beginning of this month I was in italy to do six gigs and record an album for il sogno del marinaio which is an new band I have w/italian musicans stefano pilia and andrea belfi who are really happening cats. we had a great time - you can read the our little diary here.
november 27, 2009
earlier this month at the planeta terra festival in sao paulo, brazil iggy & the stooges did their first gig in their "raw power" incarnation - the first time w/out ron asheton on guitar. it was a very emotional gig for me. it was for james williamson the first time in many MANY years that he was playing again w/ig, scotty and steve. there's gonna be a bunch of gigs for us next year starting in april. I try my hardest to work bass the best I can for these men I respect so much.
august 30, 2009
halfway through a four day adventure at gok sound here in the kichijoji part of tokyo, japan w/ mr jim o'rourke for duo album proj called "no red light flashing" we're just now cooking up the beginnings for. he wants me to later flow spiel when I get back to my pedro town (I'm on a two week trip here) and even some mandolin (!) but here now I'm just working bass, doing the duece w/him while he's on piano, drums and even bass also (kind of dos-like... a little!). I think this is the first time I went into a studio for something like this w/nothing prepared - did that on purpose cuz it's the nature of this proj. mr jim's teaching me how to "layer things up" as it were, he's set to add all kinds of things later. big BIG respect to him.
july 31, 2009
the third and final day of recording at n.y. hed studio in the lower east side of manhattan, ny for the debut album of a new band I'm part of called floored by four featuring nels cline on guitar, yuka honda on keyboards, dougie bowne on drums and myself on bass (really?!) and spiel. I wrote a song for each of us and then we ended up doing a fifth one based on a beat of dougie's - he's mixing it up right now for a release as soon as we can do it on chimera records. everyone came together and kicked out quite a collaboration in the moment... it's a trip.
june 30, 2009
I've got a busy summer and fall for recording coming up... one thing coming up quick is me recording (bass for one tune, spiel for another) here in pedro for an album called "1979" which has a different lineup of current musicans somehow connected w/the present san pedro scene for each of the ten songs on it - these ten songs being the covers of those on a cassette tape made during practice by the reactionaries in 1979 which I think was the only recording ever made of the band. wow, thiry years ago... (by the way, twentyfiver year anniversary of "double nickels on the dime" is next month) - three of the four recationaries went on to become the final lineup for the minutemen... this was the first band I ever made songs for - of the ten tunes I wrote all the music (via the bass) and seven of the lyrics... boy, just a little embarrassing but I am grateful to craig ibarra for getting all this together in honor of that band cuz much respect to martin tamburovich, george hurley and d. boon for letting me play w/them then. I know we had more songs but I can't remember them now - so important to record things, people! I know there was one about orange county... damn, my memory (or lack of it) - sorry! you can read about the making of this album here now though.
may 25, 2009
alright, got raul and tom back safe from the "prac'n the 3rd opera" tour 2009 and they did so good both doing the gigs and recording the drum and guitar parts for my upcoming "hyphenated-man" album (the third opera). I can't ever thank them enough, what righteous, RIGHTEOUS cats they are. much respect. big thank yous go out also to all the gig-goers whe let us play our hearts out for them - it's much MUCH appreciated.
april 17, 2009
tour is underway - my first mike watt u.s. one in four and half years!
mike watt + the missingmen (w/tom watson on guitar and raul morales on drums) do the "prac'n the 3rd opera" tour 2009 and it starts today - here's the gigs:
april 17 tucson, az - plush
april 18 albuquerque, nm - launchpad
april 20 dallas, tx - granada theater
april 21 houston, tx - rudyard's
april 22 baton rouge, la - spanish moon
april 23 tallahassee, fl - the moon
april 24 jacksonville beach, fl - freebird live
april 25 charleston, sc - the music farm
april 26 asheville, sc - the orange peel
april 27 carrboro, nc - cat's cradle
april 29 charlotte, nc - neighborhood theatre
april 30 richmond, va - the national
may 1 lancaster, pa - chameleon club
may 2 baltimore, md - ottobar
may 6 cambridge, ma - t.t. the bear's
may 7 hoboken, nj - maxwell's
may 8 new york, ny - the mercury lounge
may 9 philadelphia, pa - north star bar
may 10 pittsburgh, pa - club cafe
may 11 cleveland heights, oh - grog shop
may 12 detroit, mi - shelter
may 13 grand rapids, mi - billy's lounge
may 14 chicago, il - schubas tavern
may 15 minneapolis, mn - 7th street entry
may 16 omaha, ne - the waiting room
may 18 denver, co - larimer lounge
may 19 salt lake city, ut - bar deluxe
may 20 boise, id - neurolux
may 21 portland, or - doug fir lounge
may 22 seattle, wa - crocodile cafe
may 23 bellingham, wa - the nightlight
may 24 quincy, wa - the gorge amphitheatre
may 3, 4 and 5 have no gigs cuz on those three days we record my third opera, "hyphenated-man" in brooklyn, ny at studio g w/bass brother tony maimone at the knobs!
read the tour diary!
march 26, 2009
last night flea, kira and myself were all on bass - bass and nothing but bass to record a version of "drippy eye" by black moth super rainbow. me and flea kind of layed down the background for kira to overdub many basses in what flea later called a "kirastra" (as in "orchestra"). man, did we have fun w/this one! mister tom asked us to do a song for record of people doing versions of his stuff. much respect to him.
february 27, 2009
three sessions and nine songs later, the los punkinhedz proj has manifested intself into a recording mode after being only a live experience for keyboard money mark, drummerman john wicks and myself on bass (surprised?) where we would throw down improvised jams for gigs. we've also expanded the three-way to include my best friend raymond pettibon on singing and lyric writing. I brought bass line parts into money mark's frogtown studio and then he helped pile them into song forms, me and wicky-wicky would wack out the rhythm track w/raymond after putting on the singing, doing this one at a time - not "assembly line" style. it is most interesting proj! money mark is overdubbing is keyboard parts now. this story still developing...
january 31, 2009
ron asheton - a beautiful man, musical pioneer and dear friend has passed away and I miss him very much. it's real hard for me to say what's way inside me so here's four excerpts of words from walt whitman's "leaves of grass" that resonate some of the big love and respect I have forever for him:
the yankee clipper is under her three
skysails . . . . she cuts the sparkle and scud,
my eyes settle the land . . . . I bend at her prow
or shout joyously from the deck.
the boatmen and clamdiggers arose early and
stopped for me,
I tucked my trowser-ends in my boots and went
and had a good time,
you should have been with us that day round
the chowder-kettle...
great is the quality of truth in man,
the quality of truth in man supports itself
through all changes,
it is inevitably in the man . . . . he and it are
in love, and never leave each other...
o truth of the earth! o truth of things! I am
determined to press the whole way toward you,
sound your voice! I scale mountains or dive in the
sea after you...
...I cannot define my life . . yet it is so.
I swear I see now that every thing has an
eternal soul!
the trees have, rooted in the ground . . . . the
weeds of the sea have . . . . the animals.
I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!
that the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous
float is for it, and the cohering is for it,
and all preparation is for it . . and identity is for
it . . and life and death are for it.
...if you want me again look for me under
your bootsoles.
you will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
but I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
and filter and fibre your blood.
failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
missing me one place search another,
I stop some where waiting for you
december 27, 2008
we did it - brother's sister's daughter recorded their first album on december 21/22 in tokyo, japan - yatta!!! nels flew in the day before my 51st birthday (december 20) and we had a blowout gig the next night to celebrate it, a mini-festival called "we jam econo 08" - it was his first time ever in that land. now ms yuko is recording the poems for the album and soon after mister shimmy will mix it. you can imagine how happy we all are.
november 2, 2008
last night I received the bass blayer magazine lifetime achievement award from flea at the key club in west hollywood, ca after he gave a little spiel w/some very VERY kind words for me. much MUCH respect to him and I am very grateful for much kindness from both him and bass player magazine people like bill leigh, chris jisi and brian fox (plus greg olwell in the older days) who have be just the best to me by letting folks know about my journey through life via the righteous musical classroom of bass.
september 30, 2008
ok, just got back safe to my pedro town, all the 2008 touring for the stooges is now done - read the tour diary here. lots of recording/mixing and local so cal gigs to do now...
august 31, 2008
it's been front-hoot-page-news since it happened but now I'm moving it here to the news page. on the morning of august 4, 2008 the stooges got all their music stuff stole outside the embassy suites hotel at 208 saint antoine ouest in montreal, quebec, canada. the rental truck everything was in was found the next day empty except for two mic stands. my 1963 gibson eb-3 (known as "the little bass") got took but I'm philosophical about it... I loved her much but maybe she had to go and I have to learn to let her go - like it was maybe somehow symbolic in my life. I'm really sad for scotty and ron loosing all their stuff, knobman rik too. it's very fortunate steve had his sax in his room w/him cuz that's the one he used on the "fun house" album. a very righteous thing that happened a couple days after the theft was a very generous man named andy driving up from his constableville, ny town and giving me his 1969 gibson eb-3 bass and what could be more kind than that? much MUCH respect to him and now I'm working the andy bass w/all my heart.
july 31, 2008
since the end of may I've been on the road w/the stooges and this will continue 'till october first - read the tour spiel I chimp here. after more than five years, it's still such a mindblow for me playing w/these cats - much respect!
last week in amsterdam, via my old buddy and euro bookerman carlos, I was invited by liesbeth who does gigs and records as solex to come by and record. she had made up forty loops for me to improvise and work my bass to so I went at it, one after the other. it was scary at first cuz I wanted to do good for her but I got a little calmer and by the end she said she dug it and had "like three albums worth" of stuff to use. she's great people and I'm very grateful for her kindness.
june 30, 2008
during june 10 - 12 I was in brighton, england (in between stooges gigs) to record as much bass from me and drums from my friend sam dook for an album's worth for our new proj cuz. I also got to paddle a kayak there - the first time in an ocean other than pacific!
then a day after bloomsday (yeah, the stooges played dublin, ireland on bloomsday!), myself and steve mackay (stooges sax man) recorded an album's worth of stuff w/our friends estel in their town. by the way, the five songs we did w/them last september are coming out in august.
may 30, 2008
during may 11 - 13 I was in tokyo, japan to record fiftythree pieces of music to go w/fiftythree spoken word pieces my friend richard meltzer had wrote and recorded for me. spielgusher is the name of this project. mister shimmy was on guitar and ms yuko was on drums/percussion while I did bass, trading improvisations off of motifs each of us would take turns in coming up w/for starting the creation of each piece. we actually ended up w/sixty pieces in three days even though we had planned for four. oh, for the last couple of pieces, mister nago joined us on guitar (all three make up the band mi-gu). I'm very grateful to my most kind friends, it was truly a righteous experience for me (you can hear rough mixes of six of the music pieces here). we're looking for this to be released as soon as we get it all together, music and spiel.
via internet, I've also put bass to some songs folks have flowed me: tobacco ("black yogurt"), the clubber lang gang ("for broken people"), kawaii kedo ("beat it up") and hiroshi-san ("pursuance"). much respect to them, they're all very kind and generous to have me aboard!
april 30, 2008
we did it! me, nels cline and bob lee did the new black gang album but it ain't done yet - just their parts along w/my bass. I still gotta mix it after doing the singing. it's trippy, it's called "my shubun no hi" and it's about autumn so yeah, it's like a "concept" record... but it's not an opera! but you know what? in a way... all the words are about trees! anyway, jimmy messer sure did a great job recording us - much respect to him as well as my guys.
back a couple a weeks while up in san francisco, eric mcfadden had me record four songs and a jam w/him and his trio and then the next day I recorded four tunes across the bay in oakland w/kit and both these sessions were a gas to do - much respect to these cats for having me aboard.
april 1, 2008
happy birthday d. boon! big love always for the man and it's no accident I'm...
starting my black gang album today! it's not an opera but it does have a concept - autumn... my autumn! I know it's spring now but that's how things worked out... anyway, it's w/nels cline (his hurts are better now!) and bob lee in downtown los angeles w/knobman jimmy messer at his studio called the institution. oh yeah, bob lee did a recording diary cuz I was a little to emotional to chimp one after each session - I'll do one when I do the spiel and mix in the fall, after stooges touring whether I'm emotional or not (I will be - this is a heavy album for me!).
february 29, 2008
it's the second anniversary of the day I had the surgery that saved my life from the illness that 'per-near killed me. yes, it was eight years ago but since the day doc hopkins cut on me was a leap day, I only have to revisit it every four yeas. much respect to him for his dedicated work. I was too young to die and still have much to do. grazie dio, grazie mille.
just done w/the brother's sister's daughter "japan tiny tour 2008" and you can read my tour diary here. much gratitude to everyone who made it happen cuz it was much a righteous journey for me.
hey, I got a new funanori tune called "toumei sunday" to work on while on tour and submitted a bass part for it to miss kaori today. I know it'll take much work from me but her music is beautiful and every bit worth it. very exciting for me, I think she wants to make an album!
january 31, 2008
some bad news: nels cline has big neck/arm/hand pains/numbness and so we're gonna push back the black gang recording 'till april now. seems like shit is conspiring against my autumn record but early spring makes some sense to make it - opposite poles! and anyway, nels' healing up is top priority. I'm glad to say I got all my health back even though those bugs tried to make a comeback on me a couple of weeks ago.
good news: I got to record on a bunch of tunes last week w/the the book of knots folks in san francisco for their third album and that was a blast - they are some great cats (including a bass hero of mine, tony maimone).
the brother's sister's daughter "japan tiny tour 2008" kicks off february eighth.
december 20, 2007
I turned fifty years old today, whoa! got to paddle this morning... it was righteous, especially since I've been sick for 'pert-near two weeks and have been unable to get in my kayak or even pedal my bike. also for that reason (being laid out w/the flu), the black gang recording will happen now february 2 - 5 of next year cuz I just wasn't strong enough. I wanted to do it before the solstice cuz it's about autumn (my autumn) but it'll happen in winter now though it's still about autumn (my autumn).
november 11, 2007
aaaarrrgggghhhhhh!!! I try to put up a news trip at least once a month so sorry about october but I was out wailing on a 2,506 mile roll-through of the u.s. in the boat (steering wheel callouses on the palms to match the bass ones on the finger tips!) as soon as I got done w/the gigs I was talking about last month... I did at the last minute get to play halloween though, thanks to thurston inviting me to do a ten minute solo version of the mose allison tune "young man blues" on just bass and singing before he went on w/his solo proj band in visalia, ca. I came upon a pumpkin patch on the way to the venue and carved up the appropriate headgear after finding one fitting for the job - see me working it here. a big thanks from watt to thurst.
I am recording a new black gang album w/nels cline and bob lee before my fiftieth birtday (this december twentieth, two days before the solstice).
you can now get the first three funanori songs via itunes, itunes uk or emusic.
finally, I am doing that tour in japan, february 8 - 21 of 2008. it's an improvised trip called brother's sister's daughter and will have kramer on fuzz bass and myself on thunderbroom plus samm bennett on drums for the first eleven gigs and yuko araki drumming for the last three. the band lite from tokyo will be on all the gigs w/us, good cats.
september 30, 2007
today me and petra did our version of "floating" - a migu song - cuz they asked us to do it for their upcoming release, whoa, thank you kindly. it's a beautiful song.
stooges touring (very much dug it) has just calmed down for the next while and right after I had some happening hellride and missingmen gigs.
oh, maybe in february I'm part of some gigs in japan for two weeks.
august 31, 2007
people! next week, on september third, I am so happy to tell you the first three funanori songs me and kaori have ever done together are coming out as part of a split cd ep called "a tiny twofer" on transduction records along w/three songs by the tokyo band LITE. my friend raymond pettibon did the cover. thank you kaori and raymond!
july 30, 2007
just back from doing bass w/ the stooges for the fuji rock festival but in the days before it while I was in tokyo, I got a chance to be the bass on two songs w/one of my favorite bands ever mi-gu and it was a total mindblow for me. they're gonna be released ealry next year along w/me and petra haden (as pelicanman) doing a cover of their song "floating" where they're gonna add to the tracks we send them from cali. I also got to do bass on a bunch of things for kyoka so my first time ever recording in japan was very happening and I am very grateful.
june 29, 2007
ok, tour goes all summer w/ the stooges for me but the by the end of september it's time for them to do a break so I'll have time to get w/the new missingmen stuff plus a bunch of more projs... oh yeah, the funanori songs are recorded and just need to be mixed - can't wait to tell you more about that as it happens...
may 27, 2007
folks, summer's coming on and I got lots of gigs w/ the stooges in all kinds of places... just love working the bass and learning from these amazing cats! you can read watt's stooges 2007 tour diary and follow his quest for less clams and more clear thinking. yeah, right!
april 1, 2007
happy birthday to d. boon, he was born on this day in 1958. much love to him.
you can now get michael t. fournier's "double nickels on the dime" on paperback.
it's part of the 33 1/3 series
march 20, 2007
two new records w/watt bass on them:
out today is the master's voice by the unknown instructors on smog veil records.
also now out (actually released two weeks ago) is the weirdness by the stooges on virgin records . I join them on a u.s. tour for it starting april 5th.
oh yeah, I collaborated on a song for the book of knots album called "traineater" - thank you much bass brother tony maimone!
february 28, 2007
I just did a cover of a blue oyster cult song called "burnin' for you" w/nels cline on guitar, chad smith on drums, petra haden on violin + backup singing, money mark nishita on organ and me on bass and spiel. we did it at satellite park w/paul roessler engineering and it's coming out real soon on a compilation called "guilt by association" on engine room recordings.
january 31, 2007
hey, I got yet another something going on! it's called funanori and first word of this proj was here. now kaori knows how to play all kinds of stuff and now she's working on shamisen. actually, she wanted me to know that the okinowa take on the shamisen is called a sanshin and that's what she's gonna use w/this. I pretty much knows only bass so I'm gonna work that. what were gonna try to do is something different than what we're known for but of course it'll bringing both of our histories into one place so it won't be totally foreign to who we are. we're oceans apart but music is good for connects like that. we've been asked by the good folks at transduction records to be one half of a cd ep w/a tokyo band called lite so we're working on that right now. we'll have some music up here soon too. in this case, hearing can say so much more than reading.
oh yeah, the watt bbs is back in action - big thanks from watt to geoff and macdaddy.
december 29, 2006
I had my fortyninth birthday nine days ago and what more of a righteous b-day gift could one get but to have nels cline playing his heart out right next to you at a banyan gig? no greater present have I ever had, much respect to both him and perk (who was on the other side of me) plus also the very generous gig-goers who filled the pad w/much good spirit to light watt up big time!
now on the online front, some problems here in mike watt land: folks have been telling me that the myway.com account for hoot page email contact has been fucked up big time so I now put into effect a hootpage [ a-t ] gmail [ d-o-t ] com one instead and have abandoned the myway.com crap. I apologize for all shit that might've been lost cuz of this... damn, I'm sorry. there's also been problems w/the mike watt bbs and it's been down for a couple of weeks now but my friends geoff and macdaddy are working together to get that back up and running real soon so I'll let you know the new url for the site when it's together. thanks everyone for bearing w/me through these bumps on the internet road.
november 5, 2006
hey folks, a big "happy birthday" to mike watt's hoot page and ain't a trip that it's now ten years old? whoa... man, does time seem like a train forever shoved down the track or what? thanks to everyone who gives the hoot page a look-see to learn about things watt and his wack life from the lunatic himself, trying to get it together enough to make the low flow. love and bass, bass and love... much respect to d. boon.
start your own band, run your own web site!
october 27, 2006
the release of the second album by the unknown instructors, titled "the master's voice" on smog veil records has been pushed back to march, 2007 (content info in the july 29, 2006 news) due to getting things more together for it come forth. "no wine before its time" - I think orson wells said that and I'll let it apply here. in between now and then, a two song 7" 45 rpm single w/one of the tunes on the upcoming album I wrote words for and did the spiel called "in your town w/out you" is coming out on 1968 records.
speaking of writing words and doing spiel, I did just that for one tune on the estel album that came out today. I used my poem "the day I woke up w/cat eys" for their "regardez moi..." song. this is a great band from ireland and me + the secondstring secondmen (w/paul + raul instead of pete + jer) were very fortunate to meet them when we shared the stage together for a dublin gig last year.
september 30, 2006
hey, I've moved! the new pad is only two blocks east of where I just was though so don't worry cuz I'm still in my pedro town.
august 28, 2006
coming up at the end of september are the first ever mike watt + the missingmen gigs, my new trio w/tom watson and raul morales. we've been asked to open three gigs for m. ward and then three weeks worth of shows w/ the red hot chili peppers in europe (plus some gigs our our own on their days off) from november 20 - december 13 of this year but I'm still making time to do the stooges gigs at the all tomorrow's parties gigs that thurston is curating. can't wait to record w/tom and raul, that'll happen next year some time.
july 29, 2006
I just learned that "the master's voice" (the second album by the unknown instructors) will be out october 17 on smog veil records. this is improvised music jammed up in october of 2005 from joe baiza on guitar (also project co-producer), george hurley on drums w/spiels by maumee poet (and project organizer/co-producer) dan mcguire plus david thomas and raymond pettibon. I even do one spiel besides working all the bass.
track list (vocalist in parenthesis):
1. swarm (dan mcguire)
2. in your town without you (mike watt)
3. at the center (dan mcguire)
4. this black hat is rage (david thomas)
5. twing-twang (raymond pettibon)
6. end of the world (dan mcguire)
7. tar baby sees the rising sun (david thomas)
8. machine language (dan mcguire)
9. doghouse riley (david thomas)
10. maggot sludge (dan mcguire)
june 27, 2006
ok, it's now officially out - the double-dvd release of the minutemen documentary "we jam econo" on plexifilm and you can order it here!
may 28, 2006
the watt from pedro show will now be updated much quicker after I get one done due to the fine folks at sightworks making it now possible for me to use ftp to get things happening instead of a cd-r to them via snailmail. for example: the last show (the 103rd one, w/guest yuka honda) was done friday night and then posted the next day at noon... less lag is less of a drag! also available once again is the twfps archive of shows past.
april 25, 2006
the double-dvd release of the minutemen documentary "we jam econo" has been confirmed for june 27, 2006 on plexifilm. there's three hours and fortytwo minutes of extra content besides the ninety minute feature being show in theatres now. you can pre-order now to get it before it hits the shelves.
some other exciting news: I got a cd-r in the mail from iggy labeled "secret plan" and it's got thirteen song demos w/him singing into a minidisc recorder w/scotty on a little kid drum set and ron on a tiny guitar amp along w/him, all done at his pad in miami. these are songs meant for the first stooges studio album in over thirty years. my mind is totally blown as I work my bass to these babies. ig wants me to spend three days w/him in august - just me and him - so he can nail down what he wants out of me on bass for recording in the fall. I am very excited about this music!
april 1, 2006
it's that time of year again, it's d. boon's birthday today and I'm missing him big time. I know he'd like to help out somehow so in his name I've set up stickers through cafe press where all the money received goes to doctors without borders. you don't have to get these though to remember him right, just a thought his way and I'd be very grateful... I owe him so much. man, did he give it his all - so inspiring and what a dear, dear friend.
march 30, 2006
last night I had the incredible opportunity to take part in peforming at the disney concert hall a tremendous piece written by glenn branca called "hallucination city" symphony #13. I was among sixtyfive guitarists, nineteen other bassists and the incredible drumming of virgil moorefield (who I got to sit right next to!), all amazingly conducted by john myers (whom had my total attention cuz otherwise I would've been way lost). to my starboard was bass brother alan deremo who very much helped me so too - I was sick w/flu and fever and barely together but hell if I was gonna miss an opportunity like this! it was a mindblow to the nth degree for me, one of my greatest musical experiences ever. much, much respect to glenn and reg for having me aboard plus all the musicians who passionately took part.
february 28, 2006
I got the word from rocket fuel films people tim irwin and keith schieron that the minutemen documentary "we jam econo" now has a tentative retail release date of june 27, 2006 on plexifilm as a double dvd set w/lots of extra stuff not included in the ninety minute version that's been screened in theatres for the last year. much respect to tim and keith from watt!
january 17, 2006
the beginning of a new year, coming on the tenth one now for the hoot page, damn! after all this time, I finally acquired the mikewatt.com domain name, crimony! I set it w/a pointer so if you type that in your url box, it'll bring up the hoot page and things will still be as you're used to it.
the good people at mcnally-smith college of music in saint paul, mn have set up an annual mike watt bass guitar scholarship for an incoming bass major. I am deeply honored by them doing this - making it possible for people to find creativity and expression in music has always been a big goal of mine ever since me and d. boon started playing for people. much respect from me to jack mcnally, who I got to meet when I did a seminar on the campus last month and to steve mcclellan who helped make it happen.
december 20, 2005
yet another circlin' 'round ol' sol... I turned fortyeight today. had a good paddle this morning in my kayak (I named her "zaby" from a charachter in thomas pynchon's "mason & dixon") out from our harbor, past the angels gate lighthouse and into the open sea to celebrate. hell, tuesdays are a regular paddle day for me anyway. "one life is many days" - something I learned from of reading james joyce's "ulysses" - I'm still learning...
november 30, 2005
folks, I found a new anchor necklace to replace the one I lost in england last august! I feel a whole lot less naked now though I miss the vibes that came w/the original deal cuz someone was very generous that way. hopefully some of that somehow will get transferred from the original to this new one.
there was some confusion about whether it was really me on a certain myspace.com page (it's now gone) so I went and put up a simple mike watt one to help clear things up some. I'd like folks to know that the minutemen myspace.com page is a tribute one run by a friend named josh adams.
october 26, 2005
got my first payment from cafe press for those "punk is whatever we made it to be" stickers and am sending doctors without borders all the proceeds. lots of thanks to everyone for helping out w/this cuz it's a cause I much support and will continue to do so.
on a much less important note, I'm asking if anyone has any idea where I can find a replacement for the anchor necklace I lost at the end of my last trip to england back in august. it's about an inch and a half long and was given to me by a gig-goer after a performance of my "contemplating the engine room" opera at tt the bear's in cambridge, ma during the "putting the opera to bed" tour '98 and I've worn it constantly ever since. I've been looking everywhere and feel 'pert-near naked w/out it.
september 29, 2005
"the way things work" by the unknown instructors has just come out on smog veil records. this is improvised music jammed up in august of 2003 from joe baiza on guitar, george hurley on drums and myself on bass w/spiels by poet dan mcguire of maumee, oh and jack brewer of saccharine trust (like joe baiza) spoken on top. two weeks from today the same line-up plus special guest david thomas (of pere ubu) w/his thoughts/words/voice will enter total access in redondo beach, ca (where the minutemen's "project mersh" e.p. was recorded in 1985) for round II two of this proj.
august 31, 2005
last night's double-take on the original "fun house" album for atp's "don't look back" series for a sold-out crowd at the hammersmith apollo in london, england was quite a capper to end this summer's stooges gigs in europe. all sixteen of them were total mindblows for
