Mike Watt and the Secondmen hone new material on tour >> Tour dates and concert ticket info >> LiveDaily

Mike Watt and the Secondmen hone new material on tour

Published April 1, 2003 04:42 PM

By Rob Evans / LiveDaily Editor

Mike Watt [ tickets ] will work the kinks out of material for his forthcoming album, "The Secondman's Middle Stand," by storming through more than 50 cities over the next two months.

According to Watt's official website, he and his group the Secondmen will return to their home base of San Pedro, Calif., to record the album about a month after the tour ends, and the CD should be in stores by October.

In a recent posting on his site, Watt terms the new album his "illness piece," documenting his bout with a painful internal abscess a few years back.

"Last tour we did the first three tunes from my illness piece," he writes. "This time we will do the whole thing. The piece concerns the hellride the illness took me on starting Jan. 25, 2000 and lasted for many months including 38 days of intense fever, violent tremors, bone-shaking chills, constant vomiting, losing almost all my red blood cells, an infection growing inside me like a baby that eventually exploded, almost dying, emergency surgery and long painful recovery."

Watt recently issued a bilingual (English/French) book titled "Spiels of a Minuteman," which features all of the lyrics that he wrote for the Minutemen [ tickets ] from 1980 to 1985. It also includes Watt's tour diary from a 1983 tour of Europe by the Minutemen and Black Flag, as well as Raymond Pettibon's drawings for the Minutemen covers. More details are posted at Watt's website.

Watt's most recent album is 1997's "Contemplating the Engine Room." He was a key figure in the '80s post-punk movement as a member of the Minutemen.

The tour opens on April 1, the birthday of his late Minutemen bandmate D. Boon. Boon died in a traffic accident in 1985.

[Note: The following tour dates have been provided by artist and/or tour sources, who verify its accuracy as of the publication time of this story. Changes may occur before tickets go on sale. Check with official artist websites, ticketing sources and venues for late updates.]

April 2003
1 - Sacramento, CA - Old Ironsides
2 - Eugene, OR - W.O.W. Hall
3 - Portland, OR - Blackbird
4 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
5 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Picadilly Pub
6 - Spokane, WA - B-side
7 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
8 - Salt Lake City, UT - Liquid Joe's
9 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
10 - Santa Fe, NM - Paramount
11 - Amarillo, TX - Brewster's
12 - Dallas, TX - Club Clearview
13 - Austin, TX - Stubb's
14 - Houston, TX - Rudyard's
15 - New Orleans, LA - The Parish @ House of Blues
16 - Pensacola, FL - Handlebar
17 - Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar
18 - Ybor City, FL - Orpheum
19 - Orlando, FL - The Social
20 - Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits
21 - Charleston, SC - Cumberland's
22 - Columbia, SC - Senate Park
23 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
24 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone
28 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
29 - Richmond, VA - Poe's Pub
30 - Washington, DC Black Cat

May 2003
1 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
2 - Philadelphia, PA - The Kyber
3 - Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
4 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
5 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
6 - Albany, NY - Valentine's
7 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
8 - Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's
9 - Providence, RI - The Met
10 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
11 - Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rosa
12 - Toronto, Ontario - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
13 - Hamtramck, MI - Small's
14 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
15 - Morgantown, WV - 123 Pleasant Street
16 - Columbus, OH - Little Brother's
17 - Chicago, IL - Double Door
18 - Madison, WI - The Annex
19 - Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall
20 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
21 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club
22 - Iowa City, IA - Gabe's Oasis
23 - Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground
24 - Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck
25 - Oklahoma City, OK - VZD
27 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
28 - Mesa, AZ - Hollywood Alley