(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

Mike Watt, a legendary bass player who was a pillar for both the Minutemen, Dos and fIREHOSE, recorded several ambitious solo albums.

Mike Watt recorded his first solo album, Ball-Hog Or Tugboat (Columbia, 1994), enlisting a host of exceptional singers (including Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Henry Rollins of the Rollins Band, Frank Black of the Pixies, Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees, Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum, and the Nirvana). On instruments, great virtuosos alternate, such as guitarists Nels Cline, Joe Baiza of Saccharine Trust, and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Chris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets, pianist Paul Roessler, drummer Dave Grohl of Nirvana, bassist Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. In total, about 50 musicians take part across 17 songs.
After the abstract works of fIREHOSE and Dos, the album presents Watt in the populist role he has always embraced, thanks to songs (more or less autobiographical) firmly anchored in the traditional values of rock and roll: the lascivious blues-rock of Big Train, the hard rock of Against The 70's, the power-pop of Piss-Bottle Man, and the rap-metal of Tell 'Em Boys. Watt, however, perhaps shows a greater affinity for the folk ballad, as demonstrated by Drove Up From Pedro and Chinese Firedrill. There is also room for South American novelty in E-Ticket Ride and roaring-era swing in Sidemouse Advice, as well as Sexual Military Dynamics, in the animalistic style of Beefheart. The album�s strength is also its weakness: dispersion, heterogeneity, and lack of cohesion.

Watt returns to the power-trio format (Nels Cline on guitar, Stephen Hodges on drums) on the follow-up Contemplating The Engine Room (Columbia, 1997), a proletarian "punk-rock opera" that continually references the musician companions of his youth. Tracks like In The Engine Room, Red Bluff, and Bluejackets Manual sometimes echo the memory of fIREHOSE, and at other times add a touch of funk, salsa, jazz-rock, and bossa nova; yet few songs stand out for their own merits.

Watt later returned to the format of the punk opera with The Secondman's Middle Stand (2004), modeled after the three sections of Dante's "Divine Comedy". and to the disjointed Minutemen-style aphorism on Hyphenated-Man (2011), containing 30 brief "songs".

Floored By Four (july 2009) was performed by a quartet with Nels Cline (guitar), Yuka Honda (keyboards and vibes), Mike Watt (bass) and Dougie Bowne (drums).

Anywhere were Mars Volta's vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala, the Triclops' guitarist Christian Beaulieu and veteran bassist Mike Watt, playing prog-rock and acid-rock on Anywhere (2012), that contains the singles Pyramid Mirrors (2011) and Infrared Moses (Valley King, 2012) and also features Toshi Kasai from Big Business.

Mike Watt and George Hurley (a fellow Minutement) formed the improvisational band Unknown Instructors with Joe Baiza of Saccharine Trust and Universal Congress Of, and saxophonist Dan McGuire. They released The Way Things Work (2005), The Master's Voice (2007) and Funland (2009).