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Mike Watt Returns To The Road
Mike Watt has announced a lengthy list of tourdates that will keep the former Firehose and Minutemen bassist on the road for most of September and October, according to his official website. Watt--who is returning to the road after recovering from a bout earlier this year with a life-threatening infection and subsequent major surgery--will be touring as Mike Watt and the Pair of Pliers, and will also play a smattering of dates with several of his side-project outfits.
On Wednesday night (8/16), Watt returned to the stage with his Mike Watt and the Pair of Pliers trio--also comprised of Tom Watson (guitar) and Vince Meghrouni (drums)--for a gig in Los Angeles. His extended tour with that lineup does not begin in earnest until Sept. 11 in San Francisco. Between now and then, though, the bassist has roughly half-a-dozen shows scheduled--performing with almost as many different lineups--throughout California, according to the itinerary posted on his website.
In addition to a Sept. 1 show with the Pair of Pliers, Watt also has two gigs lined up as Mike Watt and the Black Gang (with Nels Cline and Bob Lee), three with Banyan (with Porno for Pyros' Stephen Perkins, as well as Dave Aron, Memphis Willie, Nels Cline and Norton Wisdom) and another with Hellride (with Peter Di Stefano and Stephen Perkins) before the Sept. 11 kick-off of his 48-date tour--dubbed by Watt as the Enough With the Bag of Piss Tour 2000.
The catchy tour title is a reference to the several weeks during which Watt was catheterized following emergency surgery to repair an burst abscess of the perineum. Those with the stomach for Watt’s graphic, first-person account of the experience can read all about it in a detailed posting he made on a Sony bulletin board.
Watt’s most recent album, "Contemplating the Engine Room," was released in 1998. Prior to that was 1995’s "Ballhog Or Tugboat?" which featured vocal performances by a number of high-profile frontmen, including Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, and Henry Rollins. Watt also played bass on Perry Farrell’s 1997 Porno for Pyros album “Good God’s Urge.” Rolling Stone reports that Watt plans to begin recording a new album later this year.
