Mike Watt Archives - Page 2

A special piece of history has been released with Mike Watt’s Ring Spiel Tour ’95 album. It was a special time for Watt, who was just beginning his solo work after years of working with The Minutemen and fIREHOSE. His first solo album, Ball-Hog or Tugboat? was released in February 1995, and he took the show on the road in...

I’ve been revisiting some of Mike Watt‘s music recently after listening to his incredible interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and this clip floored me. The punk legend toured in 1995 with a superstar band to back him up including Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Foo Fighters members Dave Grohl and Pat Smear. Here’s the group on the Jon Stewart...

The Stooges are back to making new music, says bassist Mike Watt. The band, which hasn’t released any new material since 2007’s The Weirdness, is still in the very formative stages of writing. “I’ll tell you this: James Williamson a few months ago had me put bass on nine songs that he gave to Ig [Iggy Pop] and Ig is...

Mike Watt, bassist for the Stooges, the Minutemen, fIREHOSE and others, has released Mike Watt: On and Off Bass, featuring photos, thoughts and diary excerpts culled from his archives over the last ten years. Watt, who has a deep interest in photography, has had his work featured at Track 16 Gallery, in his home town of San Pedro, California. The...

Alternative rock band fIREHOSE, anchored by bassist Mike Watt, have released a new box set featuring their work from the early ’90s. lowFLOWs: The Columbia Anthology (’91 – ’93) offers up 45 tracks, including both of the band’s albums on Columbia Records (Flyin’ The Flannel and Mr. Machinery Operator), as well as 15 tracks of out-of-print and previously unreleased recordings....

2012 is shaping up to be a busy year for punk rock icon Mike Watt, with the and the announcement that fIREHOSE will be reuniting in April. The group, which was formed by Watt and fellow Minutemen member George Hurley after frontman D. Boon’s death, hasn’t played together since 1994. The band has revealed two weeks of dates, including a...

Violinist Chris Murphy enlisted the help of bassist Mike Watt and drummer Steven Hodges for this tune, “Blues for Bukowski” for his 2007 album, Luminous. Here’s the official video, complete with bass solo.

Bassists/singers Mike Watt and Kira Roessler have released their latest effort from their bass-focused duo, Dos. Dos y Dos is a 13-track release featuring two basses and vocals by Roessler. The duo first teamed up in 1985. Watt was playing bass with The Minutemen full-time while Roessler performed with Black Flag. The two began recording together on Watt’s four-track, before...

Punk legend and Minutemen co-founder Mike Watt has announced an extensive North American tour in support of his upcoming CD, “Hyphenated-Man.” The new record, which is already available in Japan, is 30 tracks which Watt describes as thirty parts of one big tune. “My third opera ‘hyphenated-man’ will be released everywhere except Japan on March 1, 2011 through my new...

Derf Scratch, founding member and the original bassist for the L.A. punk band Fear, passed away late last week after a long battle with an unspecified illness. Scratch, born Frederick Milner, founded the band with vocalist Lee Ving in 1977 and was with the group when they performed on an infamous episode of Saturday Night Live that allegedly cost NBC...

In addition to announcing the album debut of Floored by Four, Mike Watt has revealed that he is finishing up work on a punk rock opera, entitled “Hyphenated-Man.” You read that right, a punk rock opera. This will in fact be his third punk rock opera, following Contemplating the Engine Room and The Secondman’s Middle Stand. Watt explains that this...

Punk legend Mike Watt’s supergroup project, Floored by Four, has announced that they will be releasing a self-titled debut album, due out September 28 on Chimera Records. This will be their first recording together, a little over a year after their first live performance. The other band members include Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, former Cibo Matto keyboardist Yuka Honda and...