Interviewing legendary punk bassist Mike Watt is an unforgettable experience.
With a combination of middle-aged wisdom and the excitability of a teenager, he punctuates his road stories and sage observations with belly laughs and mile-a-minute rants on nothing in particular. “Back in the ’60s a lot of people thought of the bass as a kind of toy, almost like a kazoo,” Watt told BP. “We had to fight and earn the bass some respect. On the other hand, there’s something cool about people not really knowing what we do: we’re left free to define ourselves.”
Watt grew out of Southern California’s late-’70s punk-rock scene to co-found the Minutemen. The band pounded out an extraordinary number of terse, frantic tunes with heavy political themes laced with elements of jazz and funk. “Back then, you never knew what the next band was going to sound like. Almost anything went, and it wasn’t about haircuts or guitar styles. I miss a lot of the chaos of the old days.”
Watt has always been at his best when pushing the bass guitar to the forefront – much like one of his early heroes, Jack Bruce of Cream. “Bass physics are trippy. If you stand too close to your amp, you’re never really sure what it sounds like, ‘cause you throw your frequencies way out there. But bass players seem to like that feeling of the sound pushing against their legs; there’s something about it that gives you confidence. On the other hand, you don’t know if the audience is hearing nothing but a foghorn. That’s why I always hire bass players as sound men – because I’m paranoid!”
In 1995, Watt put together his debut solo album, Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, an ambitious 17-song project with nearly 50 alternative-music guests, including Flea, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, and Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.
When he hit the road, Watt brought along a Stewart PA-1000 power amp and used the VT-40 as a preamp. On a mid-tour visit to the Eden factory in Minnesota, he picked up a WT-800 head to replace the VT-40, together with 4×10 and 2×10 XLT speaker cabinets.
For more information, check out the full article here and Read More to dive deeper into Mike Watt’s bass gear.