Mike Watt. It’s Freak’n Mike Watt!: 15 Answers

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

I said it’s Freak’n Mike Watt!   and I love me some Watt!

…and WATT’S not to love?

I first met Mike Watt back in ’95 while touring with Porno for Pyro. He filled in as their bass player when Martyn LeNoble couldn’t finish the record. I was working as a systems engineer for an audio company called Delicate when I was hired under less-than-normal circumstances. You see, the band’s tour manager was going to mix the band, but here’s the thing … he didn’t know how to mix.

Well he did, sort of.

But Mike was always great!

He played his bass like it owed him a favor, which it probably did. And he knew all these funny little facts about the cities we visited, probably more than an encyclopedia. Some nights, as we shuffled from the venue back to the hotel, he would spout details about things as simple as a light post, like a wizened professor regaling stories from a time quickly disappearing from history. But he kept me interested, even though I sometimes teased him.

Other than his email, I lost track of Mike for a few years. I ran into him once with Perkins in Santa Monica, then again at the Hootenanny in Orange County, a few years later. Then he went on to play with the Stooges, which was awesome, and makes complete sense!

I know that this introduction doesn’t do him justice, and I find it difficult to come up with words that frame my reverie for him, because in some ways I know him simply as my friend, not the legend that he has become.

I know one thing. It makes me happy that he’s in the world.

I know that I’m better for it.

 

Q: What is your favorite sandwich and who makes the best one?

M.W. You mean here in Pedro? “Busy Bee” on Walker near 25^th Street is real good. I like the one with roasted pork, mustard, onion and chilies‒real good one.

Q: What is your favorite meal your mom makes?

M.W.  I like when my ma fries up breaded talapia and puts it on top of a bed of farfalla pasta that’s on top of a bed of shredded cabbage with black olives. Of course, there’s black pepper and olive oil.

Q: How did you meet your best friend?

M.W. I met D Boon when he jumped out of a tree on to me at Peck Park here in Pedro. He mistakenly thought I was one of his friends who had the nickname of Eskimo. I met Raymond Pettibon at a punk gig in Hollywood.

Q: When or how did you find what you wanted to do?

M.W.  I knew I wanted to do music because that’s what me and D Boon did together ever since we were twelve years old, and I wanted to keep doing it because I liked being with him. I got a degree in electronics but never used it. Me and D Boon were lucky the punk movement came when it did.

Q: How did you pursue it?

M.W.  Practicing, composing, gigging, recording, practicing, composing, gigging, recording, prac…

Q: Did you have a mentor/mentors in pursuing what you wanted? 

M.W. My mentors were from bands. We saw our mentors up in Hollywood, like Germs, Bags, Dils, Screamers, X, Alley Cats, Nervous Gender. [They] made for profound inspiration. Also bands that we hardly ever saw. Only knew their records like Richard Hell + Voidoids, Pop Group, Wire, Cabaret Voltaire, Alternative Television, The Fall. Brother bands like Black Flag, Husker Du, and the Meat Puppets inspired us peer-wise. We learned much tour stuff from Flag.

Q: What do you dream of doing or are you doing it?

M.W. I want to get a handle on more of my prose. Plus [I] want to be lucky to be in the right place for a trippy collaboration. Have a chance to learn and get further down the road with bass. I have much work to do – probably more than a life’s worth, but I keep on pushing.

Q: What would your 15-year-old self say to you now?

M.W.  How the fuck did you make it this far and not get killed?

Q: If life were a person what would you say?

M.W. What next are you going to teach me?

Q:  If you were in charge of the world and you have no restrictions, real or imagined, what is the one thing you would give it?

M.W.  Well, I would want everyone to visit everyone else’s land and pads to see what’s up. Maybe some kind of trip you’d have to make after high school or something. Everyone should have that experience. I think I’m very lucky that touring has done that for me, and…what the hell.

Number Two: I’d have gig pads with good parking for the van, easiest possible load in/load out.

Number Three: I would argue for more open minds.

Q: Has morality disintegrated to the point that we now need Yelp for people?

M.W. Reading about “morality” in the old days doesn’t seem all that together. I think we gotta look forward and try to be less idiots about how we treat each other. Yelp is out there now, but at least it ain’t forced on you. I can’t really trust Yelp reviews.

Morality … I do wish we could treat each other better, truly. Hiding behind [the] smart phone leash constantly is bizarre … I only do computer stuff on a desk or lap computer; my leash is a flip one for talk only. Actually, I saw some of the phenomena in the ‘70s with CB radio, believe or not. For example, you can use a fire extinguisher to put out a fire, but you could also choke to death on it if used wrong.

Q: How is society getting things right?

M.W.  When we as a people treat each other decently…like they, themselves would like being treated, then I think it’s better. Otherwise, when people help others that are having a hell put on them, then that’s also happening, I think. When we think of the consequences of doing something really stupid before we just flail, I think that is good too. When we think of the next shift, after ours is done.

Q:  What do people need in order to see each other as equals?

M.W. I think you have to be considerate and truly fair. You get a kink in your neck looking down on people, but it can happen looking up at them too. If you look straight across and have respect, I think it truly feels more natural and, damn, wouldn’t that be great if the other cat was thinking kind of like that too?

Q: Do we still need religion?

M.W.  I think religion’s a private matter but in a way, like music: where everyone has their own view on it without foisting on others. Of course, that can be tough too. For sure, I’m with Mr. Jefferson on not having state religion.

Q: Do you have hope for the future?

M.W. Yes. There was the last shift before us and damn if it’s our shift now. The next shift has to have things with hope involved; that’s how I feel. Keep on pushing, maybe kind of like what I’m trying to do with bass.

Hot topic of the week:

This is an open discussion. Could be about Gay Marriage or the Confederate Flag, or Donald Trump, for example.

1: Gay marriage: I think it’s ok.

2: Confederate flag: Take it off!

3: Government stuff for sure. Donald Trump: “a face in the crowd.”

It’s too much for me and I don’t have enough control over it. If I want to read a web page, I do; OR if I don’t, I don’t. I need autonomy from the “foisted fear cycle” shit bum rush.

Q: What are three things that work for you? For example, I can’t find a good razor. Because of a near unbridled need for massive profits I find that many products don’t live up their advertising. What works for you?

M.W. I’ve found the three-blade razors with Barbasol (most economical) shaving cream works the best for me. I got a bass from the people at www.reverendguitars.com. It’s been five, so far… soon comes number six ‘cuz of all the revisions I keep suggesting. So it’s a process.

Both my trios, the Secondmen and the Missingmen work pretty good for me. They both got guys I can really trust and they play their hearts out every time. I tell you what helped me stop smoking cigarettes: getting rid of the ashtray that was next to the desktop ‘puter’s mouse. That worked, that worked good!

Keeping a piss jug in the boat (what I call my Econoline  http://hootpage.com/hoot_boat.html) means I ain’t gonna suffer. That works and THERE’S NO MOVING PARTS except for the lid screwing on or off. I like to think ahead much more now than I did when I was younger. My pop used to say: “Buy it right, buy it once,” and damn if I ain’t way into that.

Fall season: Make sure that you tour clockwise, cuz you wanna get out of the north before winter comes and wait for the south to cool more. Spring time: Tour counterclockwise, so you get out of the south before it’s too hot and you wait for the north to thaw. Stuff like that.

More thought-provoking questions:

1:  Do Americans have the right to complain about immigration?

M.W.  Sounds real stupid to me when they do. I’m not trying to infringe on anybody’s rights, but it sounds real stupid, especially some of the stuff I’m hearing.

2: If our value system is based on scarcity then what of a human life, now that we are in the billions?

M.W. I don’t what to think of our value system based on scarcity, ‘cuz inside I feel there’s lots of stuff involved. There’s perspective, like individual and group stuff, the trippy dualities that dangle cuz of that. I think we can somehow get it together. I hope we could. You already asked me about hope. Maybe this has something to do with that.

3: Would life be easier if racism were accurate?

M.W.  If racism can fire up hate, well, I guess hating hatred might be something. Hate. Ok, maybe racism is about judging. I like what Dr. King said about [the] content of your character and stuff like that. There are no shortcuts. I don’t think racism is a shortcut to the truth. I think it’s easy to deceive yourself with racism, so I suggest us being careful with such notions.