Mike Watt

David Bowie and Iggy Pop: The Next Day and Ready To Die

There's always a question of whether or not icons can sustain their status and relevance as they age. Tied to histories that have cultivated their own mythology over time, we've been presented with comeback albums grasping onto some semblance of the youth they thrived in. In the chorus of the openin ... More >>

Iggy Pop Taught Mike Watt How To Be A Better Bassist

By Katherine Turman Mike Watt is a jack of all trades, and master of most. Since founding hardcore punk legends Minutemen in 1980 and contributing the phrase "We Jam Econo" to the cultural lexicon, the bassist and "spieler" has added much to America's left-of-center musical landscape. From the two- ... More >>

SST Records Legend and Music Scribe Joe Carducci on His New Book and Throwing Sonic Youth's Cassette Into the Demo Pile in 1985

By Brad Cohan Joe Carducci not only played a monumental role in helping run and co-own SST Records in its glorious 1980's heyday when Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü and Meat Puppets were the reigning kings of the Amerindie underground, but he also famously penned the lyrics for the Minutemen's ... More >>

Q&A: Keith Morris Of OFF! On Greg Ginn, The Black Flag Days And SST Records

Keith Morris, a few years shy of 60, remains typically snotty as hell, with trademark grimy dreads hanging from a head splotched with bald spots. But he also happens to be one happy camper. The iconoclastic ex-Black Flag bawler—whose bratty freak-puke was on SST Records' initial release (the N ... More >>

A Father's Day Mix Of Songs With Mixed Feelings About Fathers

Every May, there's no shortage of mawkishly sentimental songs to play on Mother's Day, but a month later, there are comparatively few Father's Day equivalents. Sure, there are some treacly tracks like Bob Carlisle's 1997 adult-contempo hit "Butterfly Kisses," but fatherhood is more often than not in ... More >>

Q&A: Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite On How Happy Hardcore Sucks, Not Caring That Instrumental Rock Is Out Of Style, And Covering The Jewish Prayer "My Father, My King"

For the last fifteen years, the sonic-terrorizing Scottish smashheads Mogwai have remained true to their original vision: the cathartic squelching of a loud/soft gargantuan-riff dynamic undeterred by the music fashions and trends dictated by the Bitchfork monarchy. Admittedly an uncool bunch— ... More >>

Q&A: Mike Watt On Snapping Pics In San Pedro For on and off bass, The fIREHOSE Reunion, And Playing Stooges Covers

For the past three decades, the flannel-flyin' and econo-jamming godhead Mike Watt has staunchly adhered to his and late, great best friend and fellow Minuteman D Boon's credo "punk is whatever we made it to be while projecting an air of sincerity that is just plain righteous. And in all of Watt's p ... More >>

Mike Watt and Friends

Q&A: Scarcity Of Tanks' Matthew Wascovich On Not Being A Poet, Cleveland Punk, SST Records, And Releasing Two New Albums On The Same Day

Bottomless songwriting pit machinist Bob Pollard has some friendly in-state competition from fellow Ohio native and Scarcity Of Tanks guru Matthew Wascovich. The Clevo skater/sporto/wordsmith/punk dude—the lone constant in SOT's revolving universe of all-star avant-rock beasts—is touting ... More >>

Q&A: Sebadoh & Dinosaur Jr.'s Lou Barlow On '80s Hardcore, Signing With SST Records And How Evil J Mascis Used To Be

via Sub Pop RecordsSebadoh.​The staggering gamut of cred Lou Barlow boasts in the hardcore, post-punk, lo-fi and indie rock realms toes past the line of the ridiculous and the legendary. In the early '80s, Barlow obliterated his guitar in the cataclysmic Massachusetts hardcore band Deep Wound ... More >>

Q & A: Scratch Acid's David Yow On Reunions, Nirvana And Book, The Jesus Lizard Coffee Table Book

Niles J. FullerScratch Acid in 1984. ​David Yow—the beer-swilling, crowd-surfing, lunging, occasionally dick-waving, shirtless, human sweat-mop frontman of post-punk iconoclasts the Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid—is quite the congenial dude, despite the juicy belches meted out in my ... More >>

Q&A: Helen Money's Alison Chesley On Her One-Woman Cello Band, Covering The Minutemen And Touring with Shellac

If any one-woman band can eclipse the delightfully volatile presence of Steve Albini and his stature in the annals of Amerindie rock and scrumptious food bloggery, it's the cerebral and dissonant classi-punk Helen Money, who's opening for Shellac at the Bell House tonight and tomorrow night. Helen M ... More >>

Download: The Churning "The Mite," By Jenny Scheinman's Mischief And Mayhem

Michael Wilson​ Already renowned as arranger to the stars and New York's go-to violinist, Jenny Scheinman is building a new reputation as a formidable bandleader as well; her emotive scrapes and dramatic whines now dance around the propulsive jazz-rock of a newish quartet. The band—bassi ... More >>

Q&A: dos' Kira On The Physicality Of Bass Playing, Her Definition Of "Punk," And Why Duos Should Stay Duos

​When the subject of women in punk and rock is broached, the usual suspects often come up: Kim Gordon, Kathleen Hanna, Patti Smith, Kim Deal and Debbie Harry. The injustice here is how punk-rock bassist Kira (born Kira Roessler) is rarely mentioned in the same breath—not that she cares m ... More >>

Q & A: Oneida's Kid Millions On Thank Your Parents Having Nothing To Do With Actual Parents And This Weekend's Huge Event

Lisa Corson​ Brooklyn stalwarts Oneida have been mowing down the NYC music strip for years with their scrapheap of trippy psychedelia, acoustic pluckin' and pickin', organ-splattered rock histrionics and apeshit improvisational forays. In 2006, they capped off their monumental LP Happy New Yea ... More >>

Q&A: Titus Andronicus' Patrick Stickles On "Practical Righteousness," The Replacements' Goof Songs, And His Band's Our Band Concert Set

​Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles named his band after one of Shakespeare's most violent, least regarded plays. He writes songs named "Upon Viewing Brueghel's 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'." His band's most recent album uses the Civil War as a metaphor for political and persona ... More >>

Week In Review: Grade It On A Curve

​Five days! Many items! A look at the last week at Sound of the City is below. We weighed Salem and fake Salem and the Internet and the slippery notion of "truth" online We chatted with Mike Watt about being on crutches, taking naps, and "the Neutral Milk guy." We counted down Kool Keith's ... More >>

Q&A: Mike Watt on Napping, Beards, the Neutral Milk Guy, and D Boon

Mike Watt (center) and his Missingmen To dig up some remotely negative bluster thrown at flannel-flyin,' bass-pluckin' Minutemen/fIREHOSE/Stooges punk-rock guru and super-nice dude Mike Watt is no small feat. Enter Watt's ol' SST Records pal Henry Rollins for lighthearted jabs at Watt, found in Rol ... More >>

Mike Watt Releasing Third "Opera," Playing Mercury Lounge In April

The cover is a real problem​Econo icon Mike Watt's post-Minutemen career is a fascinating melange of major-label alt-rock coups (1995's Ball-Hog or Tug Boat, now available for the low low price of $0.96) and underground experiments, particularly his two prog-punk "operas," 1997's Contemplating ... More >>

Live: Kathleen Hanna And Friends (Kim Gordon! Amy Andronicus! Care Bears On Fire!) Invade The Knitting Factory

Murray Hill introduces the night's star attraction. The Kathleen Hannah Project The Knitting Factory Saturday, December 12 Better than: Any actual battle of the bands that I've ever attended. We are gathered here tonight at the Knitting Factory to praise Kathleen Hanna, not bury her. Though it ... More >>

Lou Barlow & the Missingmen

Download I'm In You's Steve Erickson-Checking "Beast" (SOTC Premiere)

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing new and emerging MP3s from local talent. ​Brooklyn's I'm In You give a sprawling, cinematic makeover to the classic art-punk of bands like Pere Ubu, the Pop Group, or Nomeansno. With swarms of steaming strings, a choir of teenage girls, and ... More >>

Spike Jonze Gets His Long-Overdue MOMA Retrospective

Pump up the Arcade Fire

Lou Barlow

Live: M. Ward Ends His Tour at Central Park Summerstage

Winnie KwokM. Ward​ M. Ward should have been the commencement speaker at my college graduation instead of the blindingly sequined, paperback-writing, thriller novelist swami who dispensed the sole pearlescent aphorism of "Give 'em hell!" before talking mostly about shoes, and not even as a me ... More >>

Mike Watt Serenades the Time Out New York Offices: We Are Totally Jealous

Fresh off his Double Nickels on the Dime celebration last week, Mike Watt's new deal, Floored by Four (the other three are Nels Cline, Yuka Honda, and Dougie Bowne), hits Central Park SummerStage tomorrow opening for M. Ward. In a fit of promo pique, Mike apparently dropped by TONY's bizarrely fur ... More >>

Free All Points West Alternatives Galore

​ Big gigantic music festivals featuring people with names that even those living deep in the Amazon forests or on the wild, wild plains of New Zealand have heard of tend to suck up most of the cultural airspace when they come to town--All Points West being no exception here. But this is an ex ... More >>

M. Ward+Mike Watt & Nels Cline

Live: 25th Anniversary of the Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime at the Bowery Poetry Club

25th Anniversary of the Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime featuring Richard Hell, Mike Watt, Bass Player from Handjob, and More Bowery Poetry Club Saturday, July 25 "What is punk?!" squeals the mysterious Bass Player from Hand Job, as if reposing some remarkably stupid question. Anyone witho ... More >>

Ron Asheton, 1948-2009

Original Stooge Ron Asheton has been found dead in his apartment. Along with his work with the Stooges, Asheton played with various late-20th Century superstars including Mark Arm and Thurston Moore and (in memorable dates at Wetlands some years back) J. Mascis and Mike Watt. He rocked exceptionally ... More >>

NICKELS & DIMES

Breaking down the Minutemen

Provincializm: Linda Sundblad

Whose Nostalgia?

No R.I.P. for the rock album just yet—Sonic Youth's seminal Daydream Nation lives again at McCarren Pool.

Disastrous Disco

No-wave noise begets all-new catastrophies

Music

Stuff you need to know to avoid cultural ostracism

Gimp My Ride

Desolation Row Came Early This Year

'We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen'

High Fidelity

From A to B and back again: this is your correspondent, running out of mix tapes

Sk8ter Bois

Listings

NY Mirror

Getting Their Hands Dirty

Michael Azerrad Chronicles Indie Rock His Way

Total Systems Failure

Consumer Guide