Saturday Live

Minutemen, San Pedro's DIY punk heroes, live at The Metro in Chicago in 1985. No fuss, no frills, no backdrop or guitar changes, just D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley playing their songs. This being Minutemen they rattle through their short songs in quick time, thirty five songs including many from their then recently release double album opus Double Nickels On The Dime plus covers of songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Blue Oyster Cult, The Who and Richard Hell. It's scratchy, grainy, trebly, life affirming stuff. 

Also in 1985 they played Acoustic Blow- Out on public access TV. This is one of my favourite Minutemen live appearances, the three men sitting in a circle playing their songs for each other, slowed down and relaxed. Watt opens proceedings speaking directly to the camera, 'I never gave a damn about the meterman, until I was the man who had to read the meters, man' and then they're into Corona, Themselves, I Felt Like A Gringo, more covers, History Lesson Pt. II and Little Man With A Gun In His Hand. In many ways, a perfect band. 

Sadly D.Boon died in December 1985, not long after Acoustic Blow- Out was filmed, falling out of the back doors of the van in Tucson as it swerved on a bend. Mike Watt, even today when asked what kind of bass player he is, replies, 'D. Boon's bass player. I'm D. Boon's bass player'.

Spot

Spot, Glen Lockett, in house producer for SST and countless classic US indie- punk albums from the 1980s- Husker Du's Zen Arcade, Minutemen's Double Nickels On the Dime,Minutemen's Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat, Black Flag's My War, Descendents' Milo Goes To College, Meat Puppets self titled album all included- has died aged 72. He had been ill for several months. His work with the bands mentioned above was a huge part of the sound and appeal of those bands- set up as if playing live, capture it in the studio, press record. He met Greg Ginn while working in a restaurant in Los Angeles in the 70s and was part of SST from the start. 

Those records, trebly and under- produced by modern standards but fizzing with raw energy, intent and heart, are part of the story of independent music, an underground scene that set many trains in motion. Here are two songs to remember him by, one by Husker Du and one from the Minutemen.

Turn On The News

The Glory Of Man

R.I.P. Spot.

Edit: it has been brought to my attention- thank you Ian- that Spot did not produce Minutemen's double album opus Double Nickels On the Dime. He did produce their The Punch Line and Bean- Spill EPs, debut album What Makes A Man Start Fires? and the 1983 EP Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat which contains this moment of untutored punk brilliance.

Little Man With A Gun In His Hand

Half An Hour Of Calexico

Calexico's dusty, Tex- Mex, border town songs have been lighting up my world since the late 90s and although I've dipped in and out over the years I went back in again for 2018's The Thread That Binds. There's a new one this year I still haven't heard. Joey Burns and John Convertino are based in Tucson, Arizona. They started out in Giant Sand with Howe Gelb and then struck out on their own as Calexico in 1996. Since then they've made thirteen albums and dozens of singles and EPs. Their early records really mined the traditional Latino sounds, mariachi crossed with American indie. Listening to this last night I was struck by how they manage to do despair and joy equally, a feat not all bands can do- from the Mariachi party horns of Crystal Frontier to the hopelessness and loss of Not Even Stevie Nicks, they span the full range of human emotion. 

Half An Hour Of Calexico

• Untitled 3 (Virus Style Mix)
• Minas De Cobre (For Better Metal)
• Not Even Stevie Nicks
• The Black Light
• Track 32 (Corona)
• A History Of Lovers 
• End Of The World With You
• Dub Latino
• Crystal Frontier (Widescreen)
• Alone Again Or

Untitled 3 (Virus Style Mix) is a Two Lone Swordsmen remix from 2001. Calexico returned the favour remixing Tiny Reminders No. 3.

Minas De Cobre (For Better Metal) and The Black Light are both from their 1998 album, The Black Light, a seventeen song introduction to the Calexico border noir world. 

Not Even Stevie Nicks is one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. It and Dub Latina are from their 2003 album Feast Of Wire, their best album in many ways. Track 32 is a cover of Corona by Minutemen, San Pedro's ever inspirational 80s punk rock heroes and was a hidden extra on the CD version. 

A History Of Lovers is from the 2005 mini album they recorded with Iron And Wine, a beautiful country lament. 

End Of The World With You is from 2018's The Thread That Binds, an album that was in part a response to Trump and the right wing, anti- immigrant populism that he peddled while president. 

Crystal Frontier was a single in 2000, a trumpet led celebration of the people that live in the border areas between the US and Mexico and their shifting lives. In 2008 NASA beamed it into space to wake up the crew of the space shuttle. 

Alone Again Or is a cover of Love's 1967 classic, released as a single in 2003. 

I Dream Light Years

San Pedro's 80s punk heroes Minutemen burst back into my musical life last night, their song The Anchor suddenly appearing in my mind in response to a post at New Amusements. Then suddenly I was down a Youtube wormhole of Minutemen songs, D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley delivering short sharp bursts of politics and life over an urgent, super taut punk and post- punk musical bedrock. The Anchor, Little Man With A Gun In His Hand, History Lesson Pt. 2 and I Felt Like A Gringo all flew by in a matter of minutes. I was going to post any or all of those but on checking I've posted all those songs before so instead went for this...

The Glory Of Man

From their 1984 opus Double Nickels On The Dime, The Glory Of Man is trebly, funky guitars, rock solid bass playing, rattling drums and lyrics apparently inspired by James Joyce and Ulysses. Mike Watt sets out his stall with a startling first few lines- 'Starting with the affirmation of man/ I work my self backwards using cynicism/ The time monitor the space measurer...' 

Two years earlier in July 1982 they recorded their second album in one evening, What Makes A Man Start Fires. It opens with this song...

Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs

Blisteringly fast and over in a minute and a half, Watt works out that writing political songs is fine, even if they veer towards sloganeering, because Bob Dylan wrote propaganda songs so why shouldn't he? They just took the thoughts that occurred to them or came up in conversation and then turned them into songs. 

Watt and Boon had played together since school and worked out not just a way to play together musically but a philosophically too. Boon believed that the guitar shouldn't 'bogart the bass', that the guitarist should stay away from the lower frequencies and that each player should have his own realm. Watt's baas playing pushes so many of their songs along, the signature and the foundation of their songs. D. Boon plays fast and trebly, spindly and dynamic, the two instruments locking into each other and dancing around each other. Both men wrote and sang. They toured endlessly using their touring philosophy 'we jam econo'. Play as many gigs as you can when on the road ('if you're not playing you're paying' was another Minutemen buzz phrase), load and unload your own gear, sleep on other bands' floors, build a network of like minded souls in disparate towns. An inspirational band from a time when these things really mattered. 

Anchor Dragging Behind

There are lots of reasons to love San Pedro's Minutemen. The band was formed as a result of a lifelong friendship between guitarist D. Boon and bassist Mike Watt. They tried to make their music democratic- the bass and guitar and George Hurley's drums would not encroach on each other's areas, guitars would be trebly to give the bass the space to be the bass. All their songs were about something, even if it was just as Mike Watt had it, 'shit from an old notebook'. All three contributed lyrics and almost everything they wrote was a personal or political response to the world their encountered. They had a philosophy, 'we jam econo', that described their dedication to low cost recording and gigging. They rejected looking and acting like clichéd rockstars, loading and setting up their own gear at gigs and taking it down and loading it away afterward. They wrote songs that were short and packed their albums with them, one burst after another. They were part of an early 80s attempt to build an alternative network across the US, venues, fanzines, record labels, promoters, doing it for themselves and their fans and operating outside the mainstream because they didn't want to be inside it. 

In 1983 they released an album called What Makes A Man Start Fires?, an eighteen song record powered by Mike Watt's bass playing. On The Anchor, at two minutes thirty practically a Minutemen odyssey, D. Boon sings about a dream and about Mike Watt's bass, the 'anchor dragging behind'.

The Anchor

If you haven't seen the 2005 documentary about the band, We Jam Econo, you should put aside ninety minutes this weekend and treat yourself. At a time when there's a distinct lack of people to admire, we could all learn something from Boon, Watt and Hurley. 

Isolation Mix Twelve

I'm not sure that the title of these mixes holds true any more but onward we go. This week's hour of music is coming from the punk and post- punk world and the long tail that snakes from the plugging of a guitar into an amplifier and someone with something to say stepping up to the microphone. Some Spaghetti Western as an intro, some friendship, some politics, some anger, some exhilaration, some questions, some disillusionment, some psychedelic exploration and some optimism to end with.

In History Lesson Part 2 D. Boon explains his friendship with Mike Watt, the importance of punk in changing their lives, the singers and players in the bands that inspired him and, in the first line, the essence of punk as he experienced it.

'Our band could be your life
Real names'd be proof
Me and Mike Watt played for years
Punk rock changed our lives

We learned punk rock in Hollywood
Drove up from Pedro
We were fucking corn dogs
We'd go drink and pogo

Mr. Narrator
This is Bob Dylan to me
My story could be his songs
I'm his soldier child

Our band is scientist rock
But I was E. Bloom and Richard Hell
Joe Strummer and John Doe
Me and Mike Watt, playing guitar'

Ennio Morricone: For A Few Dollars More

Minutemen: History Lesson Part 2

Joe Strummer/Electric Dog House: Generations

X: In This House That I Call Home

The Replacements: Can’t Hardly Wait (Tim Outtake Version)

Husker Du: Keep Hanging On

The Redskins: Kick Over The Statues

The Woodentops: Why (Live)

The Vacant Lots: Bells

The Third Sound: For A While

Spacemen 3: Revolution

Poltergeist: Your Mind Is A Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder)

Echo And The Bunnymen: Ocean Rain (Alt Version)

Pete Wylie: Sinful

Carbon/Silicon: Big Surprise

This Band Could Be Your Life

Yesterday I contributed the 170th Imaginary Compilation Album over at The Vinyl Villain. I think it's fair to say it is an idea which has caught on. After sending over ICAs for Big Audio Dynamite, Husker Du, ACR and Andrew Weatherall I decided it was time for San Pedro's 80s punks Minutemen to have their time in the sun. You can read it and get the songs here. As always there are songs which had to be left out. This is one of them, the live version from their posthumous 1987 live album Ballot Result. Following D. Boon's death Mike Watt and Hurley compiled the album from fans votes and contributions but the idea had started back in 1984 when they were bootlegged.

I Felt Like A Gringo (live)

The lyrics for this song show, along with the 10 short songs over at TVV, what a remarkable band they were. Over their frenetic, jerky post-punk funk we get one minute forty seconds of American awkwardness and cultural imperialism in the Reagan era.

'Ton of white boy guilt, that's my problem
Obstacle to joy- one reason to use some drugs

Slept on a Mexican beach, slept in trash
America trash
Too much can ruin a good time

I asked a Mexican who ran a bar for Americans
'Who won' I said, 'the election?'
He laughed, I felt like a gringo
We paid for a song and they had some fun with us

Why can't you buy a good time?
Why are there soldiers in the streets?
Why did I spend the 4th in somebody else's country?'

There On The Beach, I Could See It In her Eyes

After writing about them at the weekend I've been thinking about Minutemen a bit this week, digging out some of the records and cds, thinking about an ICA for The Vinyl Villain and then it occurred to me that I could tie together two of this week's posts quite neatly.

One of the Minutemen's key songs is Corona (off Double Nickels on The Dime but more famous as the theme tune to Jackass. Let's try to ignore tattooed MTV idiots stapling their arms and scrotums and focus on the song). D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley all wrote lyrics for the songs. Inspired and turned on by punk rock they decided early on that they would write lyrics that meant something. D. Boon wrote Corona after a trip to Mexico.

Mike Watt can explain the song better than I can- 'Corona is very heartfelt. D. Boon wrote that one on a trip to Mexico. After all the drinking and the partying, the morning after, there's a lady picking up bottles, to turn them in to get monies for her babies... it really touched him. Music was personal with us, it's how we were together, and then the [punk] movement let us do it in front of people. The movement was so inclusive, and it seemed that if you wanted in, you had to bring something original – it was kind of a toll. And for D. Boon, I remember him telling people, “Okay, whatever we play, it sounds like the Minutemen”. And that's what I hear in Corona.There's a little Mexico in there, it's got a little 'thinking out loud' – what D. Boon called our lyrics. Like, D. Boon's thinking about what's going on here: we're having a party at the beach, and this lady, by using the empty Corona bottle – it's not like D. Boon liked Corona beer! – no, she's using that bottle to help. So there's a real connection there. That's why I really like Corona – it's a strange mixture of things, but to me it's the nice things about the Minutemen'.

There's so much about this 2 minute 25 second song- the Mexican riff at the start followed by the trebly guitars and double time drumming, the fizz and buzz of the bass, D. Boon's punk poetics- he manages to say so much with so few words-

'The people will survive
In their environment
The dirt, scarcity, and the emptiness of our south
The injustice of our greed
The practice we inherit

The dirt, scarcity and the emptiness of our south
There on the beach
I could see it in her eyes
I only had a Corona
Five cent deposit'

Corona

In 2003 Calexico put out their fourth album, Feats Of Wire, the one that brought all the pieces together with some career high points. One edition of the cd came with some bonus tracks, including a cover of Corona, a pretty logical song for them to cover. Calexico slow it down a bit and add some lovely mariachi horns

Track 32 (Corona)

While looking for a picture for this post I found this image of a pair of SST labelmates, pictured in front of a poster for Husker Du's 1984 double album, D. Boon (who died the following year when their tour van crashed) and Grant Hart (drummer of Husker Du, who died this year of cancer).

Should Words Serve The Truth?

In 1984 Minutemen, from San Pedro, released one of US punk's set texts, Double Nickels On The Dime, a 45 song double album (out on SST in the same year as Husker Du's double Zen Arcade). Minutemen came from the punk rock scene but Double Nickels... contains much more- country, jazz, spoken word stuff, funk. The songs are short, really short, so if you didn't like one, no need to jump up and flip the needle on- another song will be coming along any second now.

Their lyrics weren't standard punk stuff either...

'A word war
Will set off the keg
"My words are war!"
Should a word have two meanings?
What the fuck for?
Should words serve the truth?

I stand for language
I speak the truth
I shout for history
I am the cesspool
For all the shit
To run down in'

Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Truth?

By the time singer and guitarist D. Boon died in a van crash, out on tour, the band had put out four albums and eight e.p.s, criss-crossed the States, and converted thousands, one-by-one. Their story, beautifully told, is here...



As D. Boon sang in History Lesson Part II 'our band could be your life'.

Do The Du

Slipping back to 1985 today after I came across this twenty five minute clip yesterday. Husker Du live at The Stone in San Francisco on March 1st. The film starts towards the end of the set with Diane, Hate Paper Doll and Divide And Conquer (both from then recent release Flip Your Wig) and into an encore of Eight Miles High and Makes No Sense At All. For the final song, a romp through Louie Louie, the Huskers are joined by members of all four support bands- SWA, Saccharine Trust, Minutemen and Meat Puppets. Seeing Husker Du, Minutemen and Meat Puppets on the same bill seems extraordinary now but was standard for the time.



What seems funny about this video now is that it was professionally filmed but is so shonky. The sound is pretty hit and miss, Bob Mould's guitar inaudible in places against Greg Norton's bass. Whether that's the sound at the gig or just what the cameras are picking up I don't know.

The group also show how different things were in 1985. Touring without much in the way of label support- SST had never had any money- they more or less just booked some dates, got in a van and off they went. Minutemen's creed famously was 'we jam econo', in other words they cut their costs as far as they could, packed and unpacked their own gear, slept in the van or on fans' floors, touring as cheaply as possible. Touring connected with them fans and promoted records (which could be bought if SST had got them into the record shops in the town they were playing). These bands have not been anywhere near a stylist or a focus group, there's no lightshow, no backdrop, no projections, no gap between band and audience- all the things that modern signed bands take for granted. Different times.

This is also a new discovery for me, an unreleased outtake from 1984's New Day Rising album. Corruscating independent punk from Reagan's America.

I Never Gave A Damn About The Meterman 'Til I Was The Man That Had To Read The Meters, Man

As a follow up to yesterday's Minutemen post- and since I reminded myself of them I've been playing their songs whenever I get the chance over the last couple of days, in among the other stuff- here's the full audio recording in one handy zipfile of that November 1985 Acoustic Blowout! appearance (the forerunner to MTV's Unplugged sessions I suppose).

Tracklist- The Meterman/Corona, Themselves, The Red And The Black, Badges, I Felt Like A Gringo, Time, Green River, Lost, Ack Ack Ack, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, History Lesson Part II, Tour Spiel, Little Man With A Gun In His Hand

No work tomorrow so make the most of your Bank Holiday Sunday.

Minutemen Acoustic Blowout!

Our Band Could Be Your Life

I'd forgotten until recently how much I love The Minutemen-  three unlikely looking punkers from San Pedro, California who made several classic mid-80s indie-punk albums for SST. Although Minutemen are more of a band inspired by punk than sounding like punk. They were fired up by punk's DIY attitude and sense of freedom and personal political responsibility but weren't Sex Pistols copyists or three chord trickists. Instead they played very short, quite fast, agit-folk-punk with a bit of funk on the side. On their 1984 double lp Double Nickels On the Dime they released 43 songs, none much over two minutes long. This one tells their story and is just about perfect.

History Lesson Part II

From an earlier lp (Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat) comes this intricate beauty, loads of ascending and descending, criss-crossing guitar and basslines, working up to the one line chorus- 'little man with a gun in his hand'. If you don't like this, I'm not sure there is any hope for you.

Little Man With A Gun In His Hand

And from the magnificent documentary We Jam Econo, History Lesson Part II live, acoustic and stripped down, with some chat from Mike Watt in the van first. D Boon, singer and guitarist, died in a car accident in 1985. I don't think Mike Watt has ever gotten over it.

Five Cent Deposit

Calexico's 2003 album Feast Of Wire was some kind of career highpoint, featuring the very lovely Just Like Stevie Nicks... among other songs. The cd came with three extra songs, one of them being this one- Corona. It might not be the best thing they ever recorded but it's a cover of a song by San Pedro post-punk-funk heroes Minutemen, so it can't be all bad. It even just about survived becoming the theme tune to Jackass, that programme where grown men pushed each other over and laughed.

http://download346.mediafire.com/luvv45ly92gg/mii1v9onfhonm6q/Corona.wma

Minutemen 'Political Nightmare'

Gordon can handle the economy, but his one-liners are delivered like they were written by script-writers.
Eton Rifle 'Dave' Cameron once met a black man who was worried about immigration. He met someone who'd been burgled too.
Nick Clegg isn't like them other two, but he's the winner apparently.

From The Minutemen's Three Way Tie (For Last) album.

Made your mind up yet? (Hint: don't vote Tory).

04 Political Nightmare.wma

Minutemen 'Little Man With A Gun In His Hand'

Another Minutemen track, from an earlier record, Little Man With A Gun In His Hand from the mini-lp Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat. Judging by the download stats at mediafire you lot wern't that bothered by the first Minutemen track but I'm posting this one anyway, cos it's ace. Guitar and bass interlocking and building, til the payoff vocal of 'Little man with a gun in his hand... little man with a gun in his hand'. Give it a go. You might like it. Might make a change from all the Weatherall we've all been listening to.

08 Little Man with a Gun in His Hand.wma

Minutemen 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain?'

I was watching Nurse Jackie the other night and two versions of this song were played, including the original by 60s rockers Creedence Clearwater Revival. Which made me remember that I have a version of this song, Have You Ever Seen The Rain? by Minutemen from 1985. By their standards this is an epic, clocking in at 2 minutes 24 seconds.

Minutemen were post punk 'corn-dogs', signed to SST, home of Black Flag and Husker Du. Minutemen played jerky, sparse, politically- edged songs, often in around a minute or two. They don't really sound like anyone else, and are true post-punk; inspired by punk but not Sex Pistols clones. Their 1984 double lp Double Nickels On The Dime has 40-odd songs on it, and hardly a duff moment. Some of their stuff is truly great. This was from their 'mersh' period (Minutemen slang for going commercial). Needless to say, they never crossed over, despite supporting REM in the mid-80s.

Singer and guitarist D Boon died in a van accident in 1985, and the band broke up, re-appearing as fIREHOSE. Bassist Mike Watt is an all round good guy, having done stuff with The Beastie Boys, and recently playing bass for The Stooges re-union. There's a good Minutemen doc on dvd We Jam Econo, worth seeking out. In the meantime, here's Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

06 Have You Ever Seen the Rain-.wma