Talking to the iconic punk bassist Mike Watt is always an adventure. With a blend of mature wisdom and the energy of a teenager, he accents his road tales and insightful observations with hearty laughs and rapid-fire 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 shared with 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.”
Originating from Southern California’s late-’70s punk-rock scene, Watt co-founded the Minutemen. The influential post-punk band churned out a remarkable number of concise, frenzied tunes with strong political themes infused 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 excelled at 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 foghorn. That’s why I always hire bass players as sound men – because I’m paranoid!”
In 1995 Watt curated his debut solo album. An ambitious 17-song project, with nearly 50 alternative-music guests, Ball-Hog or Tugboat? featured appearances from Flea, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, and Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.
For the recording of Ball-Hog, Watt utilized an old Eden VT- 40 head; since early Edens tend to overheat when pushed, he installed two fans on his, designed to keep running after the main power is shut off. He also used a dbx 4-band parametric EQ. “I need a little midrange for definition, but I like to scoop out the low mids. You’ve got to get rid of that stuff – it’ll bogart the whole band.”
While on tour, Watt brought along a Stewart PA-1000 power amp and used the VT-40 as a preamp. During 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.
“I used to use 15-inch speakers, but I destroyed eight of them on tour – the solder connecting the cone wires to the terminals would melt. I think the 15s couldn’t handle the attack; with the Edens, the box acts like a 15, but you get the attack of the 10s.
