REVIEW: Mike Watt, Ball-hog or Tugboat? (Columbia/Sony)

- P. Nina Ramos

When I lived in Arizona I met Mike Watt for the first time. He had already been a part of the most influential punk band of the eighties, the Minutemen and a few years into fIREHOSE. The show that followed was amazing. Watt was like one with his bass. Ed Crawford sang and played the guitar with passion I'd only seen in hard core bands. And George Hurley slammed those drums like it was going to be the last time. In that hot desert night fIREHOSE was the closest I had ever come to big rock stars. It's six years later, and although I've met my share of personalities. I'm still in awe of Watt as a musician.and a human being.

I've seen every fIREHOSE tour since then, and I've experienced his growth as a musician to appreciate this collection of a stream of consciousness. From funk to soul to pop to jazz and many more in one breath, is the only way I can describe with no accuracy the feel of this record. Mike Watt has created a perfect mesh of sounds for a large audience to appreciate. A track like "Against the Seventies" evokes a strong image of Blondie and the old days of Manhattan glam, New York Dolls and Max's Kansas City, while making a mockery of the current "sentimentality" the decade holds today. To "Sexual Military Dynamics" where the sound goes all out, every component seems to just fit. Watt brings the raw passion he used in the beginning of his career with the wisdom of the road on his back to bring plain ol' good music. And don't be thrown off your rocker when you hear "Song for Igor"-as much as Vince Meghrouni sounds like D. Boone (singer for the Minutemen), it's just wishful thinking. In a recent inteview in Smug, Watt explained the title of the record posed the question, is he a ball-hog claiming the spotlight, or tugging the boat while others claim the fame? The interviewer proceeded to ask why the bass was such a backseat instrument. Watt claimed this is exactly what he wanted - writing all the music was enough for him. He went through his phonebook and got together with as many musicians as he could. Fifty guests (including Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Red Hot Chili Pepper's Flea, the surviving members of Nirvana, and the Beastie Boys' Mike D.), four cities and many overdubbing sessions later, the project was complete. Ball-hog or Tugboat? is a culmination of fifteen years of strong music making for Watt. To know his bass is to love the first breezy summer night you listened to D. Boone's wail and George Hurley's energy tied together with the Minutemen bass. And, when circumstances silenced Boone, fIREHOSE was born. Today, Watt's brainchild has as much honesty and passion as he ever showed.