Mike Watt

‘Live In Fishtown’ is a collaborative live album from a gig Mike Watt and Charles Plymell played on August 9, 2008 in Philadelphia.

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Mike Watt co-founded and played bass guitar in the legendary bands like Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He is one of the busiest bassists around. 

“Time does make a difference”

How do you remember the evening of the gig?

Mike Watt: I remember it being a pants-shitter for me. I was scared of fucking up and choking like a big dog. There was no practice, but I was excited to do what I could to back Charley Plymell and his poem’s up. My bass had just been stolen with the rest of The Stooges stuff in Montreal, not too much before this event and so I was using a bass just given to me by a cat named Andy from Constableville, New York, so very kind of him. Actually, the day after this event was a gig in Baltimore I did with Stooges – a big reason I was available to do this. What I remember most about this event was both the kindness of the gig-goers and of hearing Charley Plymell reading his poems most beautifully. I was very inspired and somehow came up with bass to aid and abet – I give him full credit for pulling that out of me.

Did you prepare anything?

Prepare for something like this? Well, for one thing there was no stage. It was a trippy venue for the event and I dug it much, very singular in its ways, not so typical. The way I “prepared” was mostly psyching myself out so as not to freak out when it was showtime and that was tough. Like I said, it was pants-shitter for me and damn if the time leading up to showtime seemed like forever which made for me feeling like I was shitting a damn pecan-log ‘pert-near. Crimony. Must’ve sweated a buttload, enough to fill a king-sized piss jug, I shit thee not.

This show took place in 2008. Do you listen to this now differently than at the time when it was recorded? Does time make a difference?

Time does make a difference… makes it fucking hard to remember! However, I got good memories of hearing Charley work in this “room” (actually I think we were in the open air!) and finding me way on bass via the rhythms he was bringing with his reciting of his works. Maybe I knew it was being recorded… or maybe I don’t – what mattered to me was not letting Charley down in front of these gig-goers. It was in those moments that I was really concerned with, but I will say that when Byron Coley told me the gig was recorded and he wanted to put it out on his and Ted Lee’ label, I was WAY into it, into BIG TIME.

What do you and Charles have in common, you think?

I think me and Charley both share an appreciation for the arts… we like to both sling it and appreciate it.

Did you and Charles stay in touch afterwards?

Yes, we have stayed in touch since that event – I’ve even konked in his Cherry Valley pad after playing a gig not too far from it, that was bitchin – we had a good time.

Also, Charley wrote the libretto for an opera me and Petra Haden had just got done – it should be out this spring… our mutual buddy Benito wrote about it here. http://hootpage.com/hoot_benitovilaplanetchernobylpiece.html

When did you and Charles actually first meet?

I met Charley in 2007 in Western Mass at a poetry trip Byron Coley set up. Grant Hart was there also, my old buddy from Hüsker Dü. Immediately after I read Charley’s “The Last of the Moccasins” and loved it. We’ve stayed in contact via email ever since, I’m most grateful for that, truly.

Joeri Bruyninckx

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Headline photo: Mike Watt with Flipper at Alex’s bar in Long Beach, CA on August 5, 2022 | Photo by Dean Westerfield

All photo materials are copyrighted by their respective copyright owners, and are subject to use for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

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Charles Plymell