Mike Watt and The Missingmen 10/10/19 Spaceland Ballroom

Unfortunately missed Northampton freak collective Sunburned Hand Of The Man's opening set on this evening. I did have a flashback of seeing them at Bar back in the day. It was a December show and they pinched a Christmas tree somewhere, donned drum and cymbal cases on their heads, and oozed their freak prog-noise assault while dancing around the tree in some sort of blotto pagan ritual.

Anywho, the main ingredient on this evening is another freak of nature Mike Watt. Driving up from San Pedro in the 80s, Watt formed the seminal LA hardcore outfit  The Minuteman with D. Boon and George Hurley. Rated as one of the top 20 bassists of all time, Watt was joined by longtime cohort Tom Watson on guitar and youngster Nick Aguilar on drums, the Missingmen. Looking at Watt's discography, you realize that he has been a part of many rock and punk acts, Porno For Pyros, The Stooges, Ciccone Youth just to name a few. His mind bending bass playing was buoyed by Watson's angular guitar and Aguilar's incessant drumming. When Watt introduced the young drummer, he said he went to high school with his dad. The stage setup was egalitarian, drums up front flanked by bass and guitar. The mush mouthed singing style of Watt reminded me of a punk version of the tobacco chewing sheriff in the Smoky and the Bandit movies, it was truly difficult to understand what he was saying. There are no sing along " hits" associated with this artist, the songs veered from punk  speediness to beat poetry angularity. Watson's vocal style was reminiscent of Fred Schneider. Encored with some Stooges TV Eye. Watt listed some influences, Fogerty, Buck Dharma ( from Blue Oyster Cult), with a dash of Pete Townsend, good company indeed. Just so the crowd didn't lose the free jazz angle, Watt left the stage and uttered one more name.....John Coltrane.