Bassist Mike Watt to play at local Minutemen tribute show

By Christopher Weingarten

To say that Mike Watt has had a profound influence on the underground would be a devious understatement.

With partners D. Boon and George Hurley, Watt's band the Minutemen (named due to the brief nature of their songcraft) influenced countless artists as well as redefined the rulebook for punk rock by ingeniously weaving in folk, funk and avant-jazz elements into intelligent working-class leftist diatribes. His work with fIREHOSE left a memorably blazing trail over college radio and his two solo efforts have received innumerable critical accolades. His tonal and free-spirited playing style changed the way bass guitar (or "thud staff" as he affectionately calls it) is heard in modern underground music.

All of this while touring incessantly and leaving a mind-bendingly prolific set of tour diaries behind.

Of course you would expect PopCanon's Ned Davis to describe the first time he heard the Minutemen with nothing less than passionate abandon.

"The heavens parted, a lighting bolt named D. Boon struck my heart, and then a thundercloud named Mike Watt kicked my ass," Davis said. "Hurley was in there, too. What's another type of weather? I'm using a weather metaphor."

Ned will certainly not be alone in his emotional releases when Watt's sublimely clamorous presence descends on the Covered Dish this Friday with his band's newest incarnation, The Pair of Pliers.

To celebrate the career of this legendary performer, Friday night's show will kick off with three bands, Mercury Program, 3-Way Tie and Hayride, playing the first three sides of the legendary Minutemen double LP Double Nickels on the Dime.

3-Way Tie (named after the 1985 Minutemen album 3-Way Tie (For Last)) features the collective talents of Davis, PopCanon bassist Michael Murphy and Subrosa drummer Rusty Valentine.

"Double Nickels on the Dime is one of the most important records of my life," said Davis. "I also understand the Minutemen freed us from the British."

The Minutemen have also had a weighty affect on Kevin Sweeney, guitarist for Georgia's Hayride, which will be playing side three on Friday night.

"They changed my perception of what a rhythm section could do in a band," Sweeney said. "D. Boon's solos were abrasive and powerful, and the lyrics were both intelligent and hilarious. They were like no band I have ever heard."

"We've always been big fans of the SST bands, especially the Minutemen and Meat Puppets," Sweeney said. "When we were in high school, bands like that showed us that you didn't have to look like rock stars or compromise your music in any way. The Minutemen were so weird and unique that we couldn't help but be inspired when we heard them."

Also regarded as highly influential is Watt's playing style itself. Watt's trademark sound is a combination of skillful virtuosity and brilliant restraint that broke enough ground to help reestablish the bass guitar's place in contemporary music.

"He was the only guy who played like that for a really long time," says Nick Bielli, bassist for Hayride. It's a really unique style, especially for the punk rock bands that were around at that time. Any bass player who has heard it will tell you that that stuff's original. For a guy like me that learned to play bass off Black Sabbath and AC/DC records, that stuff was from another planet."

3-Way Tie bassist Michael Murphy agrees. "Watt's got that sense of simple but solid," Murphy says. "Often the most simple thing to play makes it rock the most."

Both Murphy and Davis admit to being a tad nervous about playing a monumental tribute to an underground hero when he's sitting in the same room.

"Like the first song on the first side of Double Nickels, I'll be an "'Anxious Mofo,'" Davis said. "I've already prepared that as my opening ad-lib."

"If I wasn't sure he'd be out there sleeping in his van, I'd be worried," said Murphy, a reference to Watt's nocturnal habits as documented in his web journals.

Despite briefly mentioning he was nervous, Sweeney appears unfazed.

"We love the Minutemen so much that we dressed as them for Halloween last year and played a set of their music, and it was an honor to be asked to play this thing with Mike Watt," Sweeney said. "We couldn't say no."

Shaken opening acts or not, Watt and Pair of Pliers should cap off a memorable evening of touching tributes with emotive bluster from one of rock music's true innovative geniuses.

Tickets are $10 in advance at Hyde & Zeke's Records.

[Neditor: Here's Watt's Tour Diary Excerpt about the show.]