Mike Watt was a founding member and bass player for the seminal punk band the Minutemen. The Minutemen started in 1980 and came to an untimely end in 1985 when guitarist D. Boon was killed in a car accident. During that time period the Minutemen tore apart punk, rock, funk and jazz and then put it back together again in their own manner. Though the Minutemen didn’t write verses and choruses, each of their songs is a satisfying composition and during their brief existence they released some of the most important and influential punk or post-punk records of all time including the ambitious double record set Double Nickels on the Dime. After D. Boon’s death, Watt considered giving up music but was coaxed into starting the band fIREHOSE with a Minutemen fan from Ohio named Ed Crawford. fIREHOSE were an exceptional live band and on album remained unpretentious and ambitious, willing to let the musical muse take them in any direction whatsoever. fIREHOSE released 5 acclaimed records before calling it a day in 1993. Since that time Mike Watt has performed and released records under his own name as well as performing bass duties for a reconstituted Iggy and the Stooges. As a blue-collar hero in an art-school world, Mike Watt has always inspired me. I’ve always admired him for being approachable and for telling his audiences to go out and make music or films or write stories and be creative. He has always been very humble on stage despite being the most amazing bass player I’ve ever seen in person. Mike Watt is truly the punk rock ideal in the flesh. I’m honored to have had the opportunity to talk to someone who always tells it like it is and who has inspired me so much. Now on to the spiel!

1. When did you first pick up the thumpstaff (bass) and what drew you to that particular instrument?

13 years old. D. Boon’s mother made me play it. She wanted us to have a band after school and stay out of trouble! She wanted us to stay in the house. I’d just met D. Boon and he was already playing guitar. He didn’t really know rock, his Daddy was way into Buck Owens so we learned all the Creedence which is why I wear flannel. I like bass though. Politically it’s great to be in a band on bass. It’s mysterious. You look good making the other guys look good. It was strictly kind of personal because I wanted to be with my friend. It was a personal thing. I played him Cream and Who, Alice Cooper and T. Rex. Blue Oyster Cult. I’ve been playing them all these years. We’re gonna play ‘em tonight.

3. I was really disappointed I didn’t get to see you play with the Stooges. Are you still playing with the Stooges?

I still am. We’ve done 27 gigs and we’re going to do more. We haven’t done too many gigs. Coachella, All Tomorrow’s Parties in Long Beach, New Orleans Voodoo Fest, some stuff in New York City and Detroit of course.

4. What were your main influences at the time the Minutemen started and what inspires you today?

Of course punk bands we heard and saw in Hollywood. Heard on records from England. Pop Group and Wire were huge influences on the records with the Minutemen. Live…Germs, Dils. Huge. What inspires me today? Usually…people. Sort’ve like when I started with D. Boon like...whoah! I wanna play with this guy! You know,

I want to hang out with him. He was way into history and he got me reading non-fiction. You just get into people and their personalities. To me the personal thing is always important. Bass, guitar they’re only machines, you gotta make them breathe. And that means you gotta get like fired up. It’s not the machine itself.

5. So when did you discover punk then? Was it your close proximity to the Hollywood punk scene?

Yeah, the drummer from the Weirdoes was from (San) Pedro and he was walking around town with a Kotex (?) wrapped around his neck and he said there was this place where people write their own songs because in arena rock, dudes didn’t write songs. So we were really attracted to that. You have to understand that the culture was very different from what it is today. You can’t even think of that today because everybody writes songs, in those days no one did. Only the rock stars!

6. Old punk had that whole D.I.Y. aesthetic that seems to be missing today. Why do you think that was or is?

No! I still do it. And I’ve met young people…Raoul the drummer is twenty years younger than me and he’s part of a scene in Pedro in fact. And they do it. I think you’re talking about the pop-punk thing and that’s gonna happen to anything. You gotta understand that Pat Boone sold more tunes than Little Richard did 50 years ago It’s this old thing to co-opt movements. Right? But at the same time, there’s an underground.

7. I saw this fIREHOSE Promo video where you, Flea, Cris Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) and Les Claypool (Primus) were sitting around talking about bass and you said that you didn’t come from a musical background and that it was like you had to get on a bike and fall off a couple times (“I still am,” says Watt). You felt it came naturally to D. Boon, do you still feel this way about the bass?

Yeah, most of the time! (Laughs). But that’s okay, you know? Everybody’s coming into the world with certain things but you also can just try. But you know like riding a bike, you don’t fall down like as much! A lot of momentum was built up playing with D. Boon. Even when I’m weak it carries me through.

fIREHOSE 1st Ever Gig 1986
Photo courtesy of Mike Watt

8. Why do you believe the Minutemen were so prolific (like 12 records in 5 years!)? I listen to Double Nickels on the Dime and I’m blown away by how you were able to do something like that so quickly.

We had a lot of things on our mind. You know we wanted to do as much as we could. I’m trying to get back to that. I’m gonna try to make an album in a year now. This new record we did pretty quick too. Once we did it. So that hasn’t changed.

9. You tour almost constantly. Do you prefer touring or recording in a studio?

My father was a sailor. I think it’s in my blood. I like playing other towns and the journey, the traveling. You get to be like Don Quixote. And you get to play for different people. Because all the different people you meet can teach you something. Like right now, your little spiel with me, I’m gonna learn something. It’s a very interesting thing instead of just staying in Pedro. I like to be in my town but I like to sally forth too.

10. I loved fIREHOSE and saw you guys nearly a dozen times. Why did fIREHOSE come to an end?

We did seven and half years, seven records and a lot of tours. Ed (Crawford) lives in North Carolina now. And when I go through he usually plays with me. He has his own band now called Grand National. Good man. He helped me a lot especially after losing D. Boon.

Mike talked with me a great deal more about D. Boon, Minutemen producer Spot, recording in Hollywood, hanging out with Sonic Youth, playing music for kids and even some politics. I was pretty sick a couple times over the holiday and hope to continue transcribing as soon as possible. Regardless, I really had a great time with this interview and I hope some of these highlights show what a great, compassionate artist Mike Watt truly is.

Special thanks to Mike Watt for the use of many pictures from his website. Thanks as well go out to the original photographers. Please check out the link to Mike Watt's website below.

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