This article contains corrections since it was originally posted.
It's always good to be around people again, especially at a show and in particular when the show involves Mike Watt. My timing proved to be really on last Friday (April 8), as I arrived at Spirit right as mssv ("Main Steam Stop Valve") was getting onstage. My tardiness came because I had been in the studio overseeing the recording of keyboard parts for an upcoming album. I probably should have done a few blog posts about the previous recording sessions for it. In particular there was a day in February when I had none other than Wendy Eisenberg add a total stun guitar solo to one song and banjo parts to a couple other tracks. But those details will all come later.
Back to Watt....
It should be said that mssv features Watt on bass, but it's led by guitarist Mike Baggetta, who writes most of the material. Drummer Stephen Hodges might be better known as Stephen Taylor Arvizu Hodges to anyone who owns Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones album. He's also played with Mavis Staples and with Watt on his Contemplating The Engine Room album. Baggetta has been called a "guitar poet" by Nels Cline and like that axe-slinger, he seems equally adept at improvisation and blasts of punk rock.
About a month ago, veteran music writer Jeff Tamarkin posted a comment on Facebook expressing his distaste for ongoing memes and comments that say certain bands and people of a certain age should hang it up because they're too old to rock. Getting old is a natural process, he said and "if you feel an artist should hang it up and stop performing, maybe the problem is with you, not them."
I thought about this as mssv tore into "The Mystery Of" because it was some of the heaviest stuff I've heard in a while, with Watt's thundering bass line complemented by the drums, with some mutant twang guitar overtop of it. If my online source is correct, Baggetta is in his early 40s, but Watt is 64 and Hodges is 70. And the sound they were churning up could leave people half their age in the dust. Not only that, they're playing 48 gigs in 48 days and traveling by van - at a time when it's still not exactly safe to be doing such a thing. (See below.)
Looking at Watt and Hodges, with their thick glasses, I also remembered a friend telling me about seeing the late trombonist Jimmy Knepper perform once and how his non-descript features gave him more the look of a math teacher than a guy who played with Mingus. He defied that look and these guys did too. It was also wild to see Hodges playing what looked like a ramshackle kit, with a tom that wasn't connected to the kick drum and a towel over it. Sometimes it sounded like he needed new heads, but then on closer listening, the crack he produced from them seemed perfect for the music.
Not being familiar with mssv's work, the whole set was a surprise to these ears. Three songs in, they went into "June 16th," a Minutemen instrumental from Double Nickels on the Dime. Their version was a tad slower than the original and much more deliberate: one section got extremely quiet and gentle, as if to consciously make it different from the original. This kind of dynamic shift showed up in a few of the songs (much of the set was instrumental) and it pushed the music feel a little more technical than visceral at times.
But for every moment like that, they sprung back with rock. The rhythm section held things down while Baggetta toyed with his effects to twist the sound. They encored with a version of the Stooges' "Little Doll" that contained a stretched out, rubato version of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" and Pharoah Sanders' "Upper and Lower Egypt." I didn't quite detect the jazz tunes but since this post originally appeared, Baggetta messaged me and clarified that not only were they all in there, but the Sanders song was the source of Dave Alexander's bassline for "Little Doll." (How's that for worlds colliding?) Ben Opie, who played with openers Weekend Pants, posted a brief video on FB of the "Lonely Woman" portion that made it clear too. After they finished, Tauhid, the Sanders album with "Upper and Lower Egypt" played through the p.a.
Watt seemed a little more frail than usual, with a softer speaking voice than his usual gruff bark between songs. His walk seemed a little more labored too. We can't fault him for doing what he wants to do. I just hope he's not pushing himself too hard.
Which leads me to the PSA portion of this post. Within a few days of the show, a few friends posted online in the days following the show that they had COVID. They were all there, and to honest, none of us were wearing masks. Sure, it was a bar and you can't have a drink while you're wearing a mask, but we all should have been more careful. Last fall, Bob Mould pissed off a lot of his fans by insisting that everyone at his show needed to be masked. Of course, that was a different time and numbers have gone down since then. But this week, the numbers in Allegheny County went up again by about 50%. We should have been more careful.
I was lucky. By getting there late, and not talking to anyone for more than a few minutes at a time, I somehow managed to avoid getting sick. (I've taken two tests this week.) We aren't out of the woods yet, even when Watt is involved. Be safe and smart, people. I want to do this again with you.
Watt often ended shows in the past by saying, "Start your own band." Last week, my personal takeaway was, "Start playing again."
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