Mike Watt to Put the Carriage Before the Horse On 'our oars became wings' Tour 2002

Legend Mike Watt Launches 49th Tour to Preview Upcoming Album Before Recording It

PRNewswire
NEW YORK
04/04/2002

Columbia Records -- Setting sail on his landmark "our oars became wings" tour, Mike Watt demonstrates once again that this living legend never fails to flip the script. On what will be his 49th cross-country outing, San Pedro's favorite son will preview and promote his third solo release, the secondman's middle stand, before he even records it. And if you think the surprises stop there, you don't know Watt.

While most bands rubber the road to support an album already released, Watt turns touring on its head by showcasing the album in advance, a throwback to his pioneer punk heritage. Watt's revolutionary beginnings with the Minutemen and fIREHOSE followed an old punk rock theme of creating anticipation with a preview tour, a necessity in a time when punk rock saw little love on the FM dial. Likewise, Watt plans to push the musical fold forward once again, so tour #49 also gives his oars an early working.

"There is just something about putting your songs to the test in a live format," says Watt empathically. "Both of my solo albums were studio first, so it was time to make a return to the old way of doing things."

Watt, who will tear through 61 shows in 62 days, will also debut his most recent artistic distinction. The latest tour trades six strings for 88 keys as Watt kicks the guitar curbside for an innovative bass-drums-organ line-up. Inspired by one of his many side projects, a double bass twosome called DOS, the stylistic advance creates what Watt considers a musical duel between the bass and low-end organ sounds that allow the two instruments to "ping-pong off each other." Watt adds, "Once people figure you out, they dismiss you in a way. That's why I'm always doing something new. If you're not surprising people anymore, you're not really alive."

For the ever-advancing musical guru, the secondman's middle stand is more about being alive than most may realize. Lyrically, Watt wanted to expand his horizons by writing his first album focused in the now, a departure from all his previous work that generally reflects issues and experiences already passed. The new album, originally written about his beloved cat, had to be discarded when his feline friend of 17 years developed a fatal case of brain cancer. Just as he realized the need to rewrite the album, Watt was struck down with his own calamity, 38 days of fever that climaxed in a burst abscess in his perineum. Watching his life hang in the balance as a med student performed an emergency operation at the county hospital, Watt knew there could be no topic more in the "now" than this.

Structuring the album loosely on Dante's literary classic The Divine Comedy, Watt parallels the book's stages of hell, purgatory, and heaven with his own trio of fever, healing, and paradise. With the "our oars became wings" tour (a phrase lifted from The Divine Comedy), Watt will only perform material from the first two stages, which includes songs like "Boiling in Blazes," "Puking to High Heaven," and "Bone Shaker." He plans to save the happy conclusion to his epic story for the album itself.

Kicking off April 15 in Tempe, Arizona and coming full circle for a June 22 finale in San Diego (full itinerary follows), Watt's latest outing will feature Pete Mazich on the organ and Jerry Trebotic on drums through late May with Tom Watson replacing Mazich for the last half of the tour. Or, as Watt puts it, the tour starts with the "secondmen" and ends with the "jom and terry show." Either way, the spirit, innovation, and energized rebirth behind "our oars became wings" will make this one of the most profound Mike Watt tours in recent history.

Watt fans rejoice because San Pedro's living legend is finally back at the helm. Don't miss the boat!

                    "our oars became wings" tour 2002

   04/15/02       Tempe, AZ           Nita's Hideaway
   04/16/02       Albuquerque, NM          Launchpad
   04/17/02       Santa Fe, NM             The Paramount
   04/18/02       Lubbock, TX              The Pavilion
   04/19/02       Oklahoma City, OK        VZD
   04/20/02       Denton, TX               Fry Street Fair
   04/21/02       Austin, TX               La Zona Rosa
   04/22/02       Houston, TX              Rudyard's Pub
   04/23/02       New Orleans, LA          Shim Sham Club
   04/24/02       Mobile, AL               Monsoon's
   04/25/02       Tallahassee, FL          Cow Haus
   04/26/02       Tampa, FL                Orpheum
   04/27/02       S. Jacksonville, FL      Jack Rabbits
   04/28/02       Charleston, SC           Cumberland's
   04/29/02       Columbia, SC             New Brookland Tavern
   04/30/02       Atlanta, GA              The Earl
   05/01/02       Athens, GA               40 Watt Club
   05/02/02       Nashville, TN            The End
   05/03/02       Knoxville, TN            Blue Cats
   05/04/02       Raleigh, NC              Kings
   05/05/02       Richmond, VA             Poe's Pub
   05/06/02       Washington, DC           Black Cat
   05/07/02       Baltimore, MD            Ottobar
   05/08/02       Philadelphia, PA         The Khyber
   05/09/02       Asbury Park, NJ          The Saint
   05/10/02       Brooklyn, NY             Northsix
   05/11/02       New York, NY             Mercury Lounge
   05/13/02       Providence, RI           The Met Cafe
   05/14/02       Albany, NY               Valentine's
   05/15/02       Cambridge, MA            T.T. The Bears
   05/18/02       Detroit, MI              Shelter
   05/19/02       Grand Rapids, MI         The Intersection
   05/20/02       Cleveland Heights, OH    The Grog Shop
   05/21/02       Pittsburgh, PA           31st Street Pub
   05/22/02       Morgantown, WV           123 Pleasant Street
   05/23/02       Columbus, OH             Little Brother's
   05/24/02       Cincinnati, OH           Top Cats
   05/25/02       Chicago, IL              Double Door
   05/26/02       Madison, WI              The Annex
   05/27/02       Milwaukee, WI            Shank Hall
   05/28/02       Duluth, MN               Norshor Theatre
   05/29/02       St. Paul, MN             Turf Club
   05/30/02       Minneapolis, MN          7th Street Entry
   05/31/02       Lincoln, NE              Knickerbockers
   06/01/02       Lawrence, KS             The Bottleneck
   06/02/02       Denver, CO               Bluebird Theater
   06/03/02       Fort Collins, CO         Starlight
   06/04/02       Salt Lake City, UT       Liquid Joe's
   06/05/02       Boise, ID                Neurolux
   06/08/02       Seattle, WA              Crocodile Cafe
   06/09/02       Portland, OR             Dante's
   06/10/02       Eugene, OR               Wow Hall
   06/11/02       Chico, CA                The Brickworks
   06/12/02       Sacramento-Stockton, CA  Old Ironsides
   06/13/02       San Francisco, CA        Slim's
   06/14/02       San Luis Obispo, CA      Slo Brewing Company
   06/15/02       Goleta, CA               The Living Room
   06/21/02       West Hollywood, CA       Troubadour
   06/22/02       San Diego, CA            The Casbah

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SOURCE: Columbia Records

Contact: Lisa Linder, Columbia Records, Online & Emerging Technologies,
Columbia Records, New York, +1-212-833-6666, lisa_linder@sonymusic.com; or For
more information on Mike Watt, Howard Wuelfing, Columbia Records, Media, New
York, +1-212-833-8891, howard_wuelfing@sonymusic.com

Website: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
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