Mike Watt is one of the best rock bass players of all time. His work with the seminal punk group The Minutemen is beyond reproach.
After the passing of The Minutemen’s front man D. Boon in 1985 he wasn’t even sure he would play music again. Thankfully he did, forming the band Firehose in 1986 with Minutemen drummer George Hurley and uber-fan Ed Crawford on guitar and vocals.
Every Firehose record is unique in their own way. Taking the original punk sound of The Minuteman and taking them in more jazzy and progressive directions. Their final record, 1993’s Mr. Machinery Operator, might be their best. Check out the video for the song “Witness” from that album:
After Firehose broke up, Mike Watt made the solo record, Ball-Hog or Tugboat? in 1995. The words “solo record” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here because the amount of musicians that play on the album is huge. Check out this list which doesn’t even include everybody!
- Henry Rollins
- Curt Kirkwood
- Cris Kirkwood
- J. Mascis
- Eddie Vedder
- Krist Novoselic
- Dave Grohl
- Stephen Perkins
- Flea
- Kathleen Hanna
- Dave Pirner
- Pat Smear
- Frank Black
- Evan Dando
- Mark Lanegan
- Nels Cline
- Petra Haden
- Mike D
- Ad-Rock
- Bernie Worrell
- Carla Bozulich
- John Molo
Obviously, with a ensemble like that the music runs a wide gamut: Everything from alternative rock to jazz to funk is played throughout the nearly 70 minute run time.
The fact that this was put out on a major label (Columbia) and was heavily supported with television appearances and a huge tour still blows my mind today.
They even made music videos for the singles! The first one was “Big Train” (musicians here include Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Nels Cline, J. Mascis, Cris Kirkwood and Curt Kirkwood):
The other single with the video was “Piss Bottle Man” (Evan Dando, John Strohm, Anna Waronker, Petra Haden and Rachel Haden perform on this song):
“Against The 70s” was the 3rd single (Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Carla Bozulich are in the band here). I don’t believe they made a video for this one which is a shame:
Mike Watt (along with Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl andPat Smear) played “Big Train” on The Jon Stewart Show and it was a pretty incredible performance:
The singles from the album all fit pretty comfortably on 1990s alternative rock radio, so it made sense these songs were chosen for that purpose. However, the rest of the album steers clear of this mainstream sound.
For example, check out the wild instrumental “Intense Song for Madonna to Sing” which careens around like an unpredictable hurricane powered by Nels Cline, Michael Preussner, Joe Baiza and Paul Roessler:
Then there’s the jazzy funk of “E-Ticket Ride” with Mike D., Flea, Stephen Perkins and Tony Atherton:
There’s even a kind of alternative dance funk number called “Tell ’Em Boy!” with Dave Pirner, John Molo and Todd Rigione. It’s like Soul Asylum on speed:
The album also includes some interesting covers. The first is “Forever - One Reporter’s Opinion” with Michael Preussner, Nels Cline and Pat Smear. This song was originally performed by The Minutemen on Double Nickels on the Dime:
There is also a cool cover of Sonic Youth’s “Tuff Gnarl” originally on Sister:
Finally there is the absolutely brutal cover of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain with Bernie Worrell and J. Mascis that serves as kind of a epic epilogue to the album (even though its not quite the last song on the record):
Mike Watt took an variety of musicians on the road to support Ball-Hog or Tugboat? throughout 1995. Here he is performing “Big Train” with Dave Grohl, Eddie Vedder and Pat Smear at Earth Jam ’95:
This also included an epic show at The Metro in Chicago that was eventually released on the live album Ring Spiel. Here is “Against the 70s” from that performance:
While in Chicago Mike Watt stopped by local cable program JBTV for an interview and some performance clips. I remember seeing this when it first aired!
Eventually, Mike Watt pared down the group to just Nels Cline and two drummers: Michael Preussner and Vince Meghrouni. He called this group The Crew of the Flying Saucer. I saw this group open for Primus who were supporting Tales from the Punchbowl. I still don’t think the Primus crowd was ready for them or have they fully recovered from that show.
This stripped down band played on MTV’s 120 Minutes (with special guest Evan Dando at one point). It’s amazing to me that these wild performances were shown on television. Here is raw footage that eventually became the edited show and it is fascinating and brilliant. Songs performed include “Big Train”, “Intense Song for Madonna to Sing” and “Piss Bottle Man”:
Ball-hog or Tugboat? is one of my favorite 1990s alternative rock records. It covers so much ground that I’m constantly hearing new things every time I listen to it (and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve listened to it dozens of times over the years). It stands as a towering monument that encapsulates an incredible era of popular music.
