Name: Mike Watt
Occupation: Bassist, songwriter
Nationality: American
Current release: Mike Watt is joined by Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple), Benjy Johnson (Grammy-nominated producer) and Scotty Irving (Clang Quartet) for the Spirit of Hamlet album Northwest Of Hamuretto. It is out now via Broken Sound Tapes.

[Read our Kawabata Makoto interview]
[Read our Kawabata Makoto interview about his creative process]
[Read our Benjy Johnson interview]
[Read our Scotty Irving interview]

If you enjoyed this Mike Watt interview and would like to know more about his music, visit his "hoot page". He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.  



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?
 
Sure, all that can contribute OR some or part of that stuff maybe doesn't ...

Tunes for me are mysterious from where they come from - sometimes it's really just an attempt at trying to connect with the cats you're playing with and especially when it's your first time together in a project!
 
For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

We started this project with Scotty's drums and that pretty "concrete" for me ... I took his eight tunes worth of drums-only and brought my bass to react to his stuff as straightforward and as honest as I could bring it ...

I actually pretended he was doing that stuff in my pad LIVE with me in the moment, I shit thee not! That was my approach.
 
Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?
 
I prepared by trying to "make my slate as blank as possible" in order to allow as much direct connect as possible between me and Scotty's drums. After that, it left my hands for Makoto and little did I know, later on to Benjy.

I think it was important I made sure not to have any preconceived notions of what SHOULD be and be open-minded enough to deal with any way it seems the freak flag wanted to fly.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?
 
Well, I do use a tuner to make sure the bass is in tuned. It's better for me to record straight so I can focus and bring as much to bear to the mission as I can.

I can't work with the bass fucked up actually, not very well at all - so fuck that!

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?
 
I started by listening to Scotty's drums - this where I found my "cues" on how to bring, learning the "feel" of each of the eight tunes he brought with his drums. I even chose keys that sounded good to me with his tuning.

I think of the bass these days more like a "four string drum kit" rather than the idiot "four string guitar" obsolete idea.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?
 
Benjy wrote all the lyrics. I dig them much.

I actually didn't think this album was gonna have singing when we started. But am real glad it did when it happened.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

Good lyrics for me are a trip. It's like my head was as a washrag getting wrung out by them, you know?

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?
 
For this project, it's where all the parts came together and though I think they all informed each other. It wasn't the true reality on the dealio 'til it became "the whole enchilada" in my opinon.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?
 
Well, this is not a SINGLE WRITER process involved in this Spirit of Hamlet project. It is a process of everyone contributing one at a time, one cat going first and then then the experience of capturing the reaction of the next cat to that and so on ...

Benjy was both last to go AND the mixerman so he glued it all together. That's what he did with "all the ideas" in my view.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?
 
John Coltrane said there were two important things he wanted to get going later with his music:

1) invoke "the entire experience of the expressive self" and
2) tell "the truth on your instrument."

I tried to keep this kind of stuff clearly in mind for this project and collab.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?
 
Big time, it's a matter of spirituality for me.

Music for me has that kind of "fabric" to connect with me with others that way. I am most grateful for the opportunity, truly.

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

I think this can be different for every sitch, there is no one way. Benjy was the closer for this project and I guess it was trust in him by the rest of us that let it happen that way.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practice?
 
Perspective can always help in an honest assessment, yes. I think the "truth" is better up front than any other way though.

There's a lot about aesthetics concerning that but "truth in music" I think should be the bottom line and the yardstick to measure such stuff with.

Which is a trip in itself if you think about it. It is for me.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?
 
For a recording, I think a producer is 'pert-near like another member of the band! Crimony. I think Benjy did really good for us here.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?
 
Well, right away when I heard this album done, I wanted us to start on round II, another go with Scotty AGAIN firing it up! Without thinking, this popped right into my head, I shit thee not ...

Experiencing such "creativity" sure can make it kind of "contagious" on a bassman!
 
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?
 
There are different ways to make music and how we did it with this album has got its own ways ...

I try to make music a very personal adventure and take it seriously so shit doesn't get lazy and ends up as rerun crap or connect-the-dots sleepwalking jive.