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The most important thing to know before chatting with former Minutemen bassist Mike Watt is that for every question you ask him, you can expect an anecdotal response that only circles back to its initial topic after a 20-minute journey. At times, this can make Watt hard to follow during a conversation, especially when he starts throwing in some of his signature "Pedro speak" (the local dialect from his home in San Pedro, California).
It's also one of his most endearing qualities.
Every time you think Watt has gone way off the tracks and completely forgotten what you were talking about, all of his metaphors, asides and history lessons combine for a truly genuine point of view that leaves you wondering just how long he was pondering what you asked him before you asked it. The man has a well-thought-out point of view for virtually every topic and leaves very few stones unturned.
It's his unique outlook on life, vast knowledge of all things bass, and nearly four decades of experience in the music industry that make Watt a perfect podcast host -- a title he has held since he brought "The Watt from Pedro Show" to the internet in 2001 on his website twfps.com. [It should be noted that use of the word "podcast" is my own. Watt refuses to use the "p-word."] But even though the web-based version of the show has been running for 18 years and is rapidly closing in on 600 episodes, Watt is quick to point out that his broadcasts have extended well beyond that mark.
Decades ago, his first foray into hosting a radio show came on the pirate station KBLT, which Susan Carpenter (under the alias "Paige Jarrett") ran from her apartment in Silver Lake, about 25 miles north of Watt's home in San Pedro. After filling in for Keith Morris' vacated DJ spot when he had to go on tour, Watt was eventually given his own permanent show on the station. The program ran until the FCC shut it down two years later.
"I go on tour and I remember we were at these cats' place named Eric and Bill, who had just started a company hosting websites. I was bumming about losing the show to them, and they said, 'Watt, you can still have the show, and, in fact, people can listen to it anywhere if they have a 'puter [Pedro Speak for "computer"] and internet. That is where this new version that started in 2001 came from.
"You can hear this show anytime you want, anywhere in the world, if you have a 'puter," he added. "It is pretty amazing."
Unsurprisingly, Watt has a particular way of viewing most topics through the lens of punk music. There are very few subjects that he can't somehow tie back to "the movement," as he affectionately calls it. So, while most people might not think of websites as being radically punk at their core, Watt is able to connect those dots effortlessly.
"It's this idea of the parallel and the cultural aesthetic of fanzines, where you put out your own magazine -- it is like starting your own band or something. These were cats that went to gigs and liked records a whole lot," Watt said. "There was no filter and there was no middleman. You just went out and printed it out wherever, you know? You would just go down to Kinkos. Nobody had any say in what you did. To me, there is a total parallel between that and a website, because you can do the same thing.
"I mean, Walt Whitman, in 1855, put out 'Leaves of Grass' himself -- nobody else put it out. In a way, it's a tradition, and the only thing new is you or us finding out about it," Watt added. "The way I like to think about the movement, is that it is not so much a genre or a style, but it is a state of mind or something like that. That makes it fluid and dynamic, and it doesn't get caught in one place -- the next shift can take it on, so the other shift has to let go."
Though Watt lamented that, "there are a lot of lame things with technology," he also acknowledged the positive aspects of the digital age.
"In the good old days of the Minutemen, we couldn't have done this," he said. "There is a lot of things in terms of collaborations that I can do so much more of now, that I couldn't do in the old days."
Now nearly two decades into the web-based version of his show, Watt said that the driving force behind the program is his desire to show people that there are many ways to enjoy a career in music. The VH1 program "Behind the Music" has left many people with the impression that things always go wrong for musicians in what is portrayed as a cut-throat industry, he said. But, in his experience, that just isn't the case. Lately, he has been inviting more and more guests on his show to help accentuate this point.
"They would say 'here is a story,' but it is always the same story -- the manager steals all the money, the label destroys the band. I just thought that me and D. Boone didn't go through that, so I thought there is more than one way to have a musical journey; and so that that is the idea," said Watt. "Sure enough, almost nobody has the same musical journey on the show. It is always a different trip.
"I did 14 years with a major label and I have no nightmare stories. But I saw lots of cats coming in and tying the puppet strings to their wrists, and then crying about it," he added. "They wanted it, but then all of the sudden it didn't work out, and they got all sad. Those people never told me what to do. I didn't have to submit a demo, and I didn't have a suit in the studio."
In showing that each musician's experiences in the industry are unique, Watt hopes to inspire his listeners to get out there and express themselves any way they can. As long as the passion is there, he said, artistic endeavors never turn into the "jive shtick" that many people fear.
"Maybe they are a little scared and thinking they can't do it 'that way.' What I am trying to show is that maybe there isn't 'a way' -- there is 'your way,' and since you ain't done it yet, you don't know how it is going to work out," said Watt. "Even the people who have done it are still adding chapters to their story.
"In a way, I want to give them the 'G.O.' -- the go -- to say, 'It's okay, don't worry. Don't have any expectations, just bring it! Let your freak flag fly,'" he added. "That is what made me what I am today; that was one of the great things about the movement. I am just trying to extend that thing without it being phony."