Feature Interview: Mike Watt [Archive]

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03-23-2004, 08:11 PM

<center> The On-Ramps and Off-Ramps of Bass With Mike Watt </center> By Imre Komaromi <img src="/images/watt/image001.jpg" width="310" height="437" align="left">Mike Watt is a true original. Part kid, part musical maverick, part road-veteran with all the veteran's smarts of someone who has been there and done that. Talking with him you get an idea of why he is so good and been so influential. This is a man who loves his work. After having been in two of the most important post-punk bands, fIREHOSE and the unforgettable Minutemen, Watt (as he refers to himself in trademark third-person) went on to write and record two successful and critically acclaimed solo albums: Ballhog or Tugboat, and Contemplating the Engine Room. The later being a "punk opera" that paralleled the life of his father in the engine room of a Navy ship with his own life on tour with the Minutemen and his interaction with its members, George Hurley and D.Boon. Watt has recorded solo bass albums with his side-project, Dos, featuring Black Flag bassist, and ex-wife, Kira Roessler. He's had people such as Eddie Vetter, Dave Grohl, and Flea guest on his solo work, and even had the Red Hot Chili Peppers dedicate an entire album to him (1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magic). With all the success and influence Watt has had in his career, he has remained one the most genuine and true artists out there, and an extremely nice guy to boot! Talking with him is an experience all unto it self, you have to stay focused to keep with his train of thought, ideas whirl around each other, colliding with and bouncing off each other. At the end of one of his "spiels" Watt closes it all with one of his larger-than-life belly laughs. But staying with James Joyce-like stream of consciousness is the reward. In the end, not only has Watt infused you with his knowledge of music, touring, and bass in general, but his enthusiasm grabs hold of you and refuses to let go. Suddenly, you remember why we're all in this game to begin with - the music. I sat down with Watt, questions at hand, but after about ten minutes, or so, I realized that trying to stick to some sort of formulaic interview would be futile, and no fun really! So I let the tape recorder go and ran through topic after topic with Watt letting his ideas, memories, and imagination run as I listened to him talk about bass, the state of music, the 70's punk scene and the death of Joey Ramone, and anything else that entered into his mind. On-Ramps, off-Ramps and glue You know I'm always thinking about onramps and off ramps and how to get the cats to the next part, or out of this one. And if you're not sure, then you're like glue that's just sliding around, not holding it together - see the bass is like glue holding the tiles together, and I don't want to (as a bass player) let those cats or the audience down. But, then again, what's the glue without the tiles? It's just a puddle. So, politically, the bass can really be one of the best parts to play in a band. Picks and fingers <img src="/images/watt/image002.jpg" width="250" height="382" align="right"> Using a pick is an interesting thing. It can make you play more consistent, but you have to play with it off the string, so it creates a whole different feel. When we (Minutemen) first started, I couldn't play fast enough so I used a pick, up until we recorded Double Nickels on the Dime, on that one there were only four songs that were recorded with a pick; that was when I made the switch to fingers. I think guitar players like it when we (bass players) use picks because of the definition it provides. I like using fingers because it blends it, like a trombone almost, but maybe that's why others don't like it - they're having trouble telling the notes apart or something. I like to have honk in the low-mids, to me that's where it's at, I have problem with Stingrays for this reason. People ask me all the time why I don't play them, to me the pickup is in a weird place, a little too close to the bridge. To me, the spot where Leo Fender put the pickup in the P-bass is where I like it - a sweet spot. A lot of it depends, too, on where your hands are, whether it's up by the neck or down by the bridge…that has a bearing on everything. So I'm still inclined to say that a lot of the sound still comes from the hands, regardless of all the rest. The mystery of bass Bass can be a mysterious thing to a lot of people, and this can be to our advantage sometimes. See you can come out of nowhere and really surprise folks, it's like, "whoa, I didn't know you could do that on bass!" Whereas with guitar, it's been played out so much that it becomes quite a burden to then live up to those clichés, in a way it makes us a lot more free because of that mystery. But I think at times we can be a mystery to ourselves, too, because of the expectations others have on us - our responsibilities to the band. I toured with Jay Mascis who really is a cat concerned with time, and he would tell people, "I can go off because Watt is going to be there!" But he would want me to go off too…I think this responsibility can also be an opportunity, though. A lot of people get bummed out, they think it means playing one thing all the time - and that's not it at all, it's just keeping things together, and I don't think that means you have to play just one part all the time. More than four? Well, see for me, I have trouble with a five-string bass, much less anything more. To me I still feel there is so much I can work with on a four-string that the rest seems to distract me, I can't speak for others, though. To me I think using all the chords and tapping and such makes it sound more like a piano. These cats really shine by themselves, but when there in a band they can get rolled over…see there's a certain space for us, just like cymbals have there own space, and I think it's too easy to get lost. There's so many other instruments competing for space, like guitars, kick drums, etc…you can just get lost. There's a place in, like, the low-mids that our space - Jamerson really knew how to find that place, that place where it just really punches things up…it just moves, it percolates; there is just something trippy about that, I also think using open notes is a good thing, I don't think you should always fret every note. Also, for me, I can have a problem with the size of these basses. My hands are small and I have to use smaller basses like a Gibson, I was having so much pain in my hands after a gig or practice that I almost couldn't hold the steering wheel in the van! But, I switched to the Gibson I use now…all the pain went away. The Stage as a Petri Dish I'd like to make the stage safe - for the younger cats especially. I want them to not be afraid; the stage is a petri dish, a place where we can try things out, we don't have to go by all these formats. We can get crazy, have some emotion out there, maybe if they see me, a middle-aged guy out there they may think, "Why not, he's doing it!" I would like the stage to be safe to go crazy with the art again, and that was one reason I felt good about doing the opera out live. People would get these strange looks on their faces as they realized that this whole performance was one long song. But I got a lot of feedback that way, too. A bunch of Navy guys gave me things after these shows. A submariner gave me a goldfish he had, another guy gave me his uniform - I ended up relating to a lot of people on levels that weren't even musical! And that to me is success, because music is an angle on life, and if the music speaks to them, even if they aren't sure exactly why, then it's success. The NEA, playing out, and furthering the arts The arts have to be supported. Take a look at the great depression, I think without the arts we would've totally gone down the tubes, but the arts were strong, and I think that was a true savior for us. Now I'm not always sure just how to go about supporting the arts, other than grabbing my bass and getting out and playing. I'm for anything that gets good art out there, you know? I'm not always sure on the devices of it, per se, and I'm not exactly sure about having a committee and a bureaucracy and things like that where art is concerned - but whatever gets it out, man, ya know? I think it always needs to be talked about, though, because some people really want to censor art, and I just don't know about it. When it comes down to subsidies and money, and how do you make a living as an artist…well, I tell you, the way I found out is to be the man in the van with the bass in your hand, you know? The Internet and electronica I think it ups the ante - we (bass players) gotta be more inventive. The midi keyboard was pretty scary, too, when it came out…but there are still things that we can do that they can't. We can slur on the strings, play just open strings, the touch and sheer geometry of the strings sets us apart. It's nuance - that's what we have that they don't. I think sometimes they have nuance "buttons" on the machines, you know, to try and catch up! See, one thing I got out of it was maybe we're paying too much attention to our left hand and should pay a bit more to our right hand. See a lot of the electronic music goes for rhythm more than the melody - and that's more about the right hand than the left. See we, as bass players, can still be a big source of a lot of drama in the music, and I don't know if the guys with all the samplers and stuff can do that. They can't play in real-time like we can - they have to load a new sample! I think the Internet is a good thing, though. See back in the Minutemen, me and D.Boon divided the world into two categories: gigs and flyers. Whatever wasn't a gig was a flyer, and so on. So to me the Internet is kind of like all those old fanzines that were out there. It can cut out the middleman, and whatever is going to get promotion out there for your shows is a good thing. I know a lot of people are upset about the mp3's and the pirating…but I tell you, it doesn't affect me, I want more and more people to talk about Mike Watt. Whatever is going to get it out there and get people's attention and maybe get them out to the show - whatever form it takes - well I'm all for it. Bass, kick drum, and the next album Our note is definitely the kick drum, I'm very interested in that note because it is so close to ours…maybe some of the toms, but mostly the kick. See, that's mainly where it's at for us when we're interacting with the drummer. There's something about that "kick drum" note of the bass guitar I really like - the guitar player can't do that, they don't move air like that. That's where slapping can kind of miss, it competes too much with the drums, and can kind of disappear! On Contemplating the Engine Room we tuned the kick drum on each song to go with the bass. I really believe they live together in that frequency, and it really tightens things up when you do that. The next album I'm doing is going to be a drummer, an organ player and me. I'm going to have the organ player really work his left hand and all those bass notes. I don't want him playing traditional organ, I really want him to work in the bass clef, and have kind of a "dueling" going on between he and I. I really want to experiment a bit; I think I've been a little conservative with the bass on the last couple of albums. I think with the new album I'll be able to go off a bit - get a bit more physical with the bass. I'm feeling a bit of pressure with this new album, though, because I tell you, it's been about four years since the last album. We used to make records every year or two, so this is kind of a weird phase in my life, I'm not used to having to wait this long. But I'm also feeling opportunity with it to, the pressure kind of adds a bit of excitement to it, too. Joey Ramone and the punk scene, old and new <img src="/images/watt/image003.jpg" width="300" height="423" align="left">His death broke my heart, man. And, see, he was an important part of punk that many people forget about. He was about friends, and saying hey it's safe here and you can get up on this stage and try it out. He was glad to have you on board and was always interested in what you had to offer. Joey Ramone had the heart of our scene, man. And I just don't understand this world sometimes, and why some guys are taken so young. He was a part of the scene that will never die. If you want to call yourself punk, man you gotta be crazy with this stuff. And I don't mean in a violent way, but with the attitudes about boundaries, and pushing those walls down - what are you going to do with your instrument, and your sound, and the guys your playing with, you know? I think there's a lot of rubber-stamping, and it's like people are using it as a formula to become part of some "royalty" - it just seems a bit at odds with the ideas of punk that I grew up with. We don't need any more labels or rubber-stamps, those were the very ideas we were against back then. It wasn't about getting a tour bus and being a rock star. I think, too, that most kids are expected to be punks in a way…and if everybody is doing the same thing, then what are you rebelling against? But you know, just as they can't know what it was like for me back then, I'm not in their shoes either. And who knows, maybe the kids with the drum and bass think they're being punk! Because you know, punk is a state of MIND, not music, it's not about having spiked hair and playing your guitar fast - that was one kind, and their were so many others out there. There are those that argue me to this day that what I'm doing is not punk, and I know a lot of the reason I can get away with it is because I came out of that scene - I was part of the Minutemen. But the thing that they don't understand is that there was not another scene that would've let me and D.Boon do what we did. That was the punk scene and that's my attitude, sure things can change over time, but it's the state of mind your in, not just fast guitars. I'm going to challenge myself, I'm going to push things - do things different, like the bass and organ album, that's how Watt stays punk! <hr> Don't forget to visit Watt's page on the net: <a href="http://hootpage.com/">hootpage.com</a>.