Mike Watt plans summer/fall jaunt behind 'Middle Stand' >> Tour dates at LiveDaily

Mike Watt plans summer/fall jaunt behind 'Middle Stand'

Published July 26, 2004 11:40 AM

By Rob Evans / LiveDaily Editor

Mike Watt [ tickets ]'s long-delayed third solo album, "The Secondman's Middle Stand," hits stores on Aug. 24, and the punk-rock icon will back it with an arduous North American tour that visits 50 cities in two months.

In a recent post on his website, Watt wrote that the set list for the upcoming tour will feature "Middle Stand" in its entirety, followed by 20 minutes of other material.

Bassist/vocalist Watt will hit the road with his current group The Secondmen: organist Pete Mazich and drummer Jerry Trebotic. The trio recorded "Middle Stand" in San Pedro, CA, the Los Angeles-area town that has served as Watt's home base since he was a child.

Watt, who was a founding member of Southern California punk rockers Minutemen, has described the new album as his "illness piece," documenting his bout with a painful, near-fatal, intestinal abscess in 2000 (sample titles: "Boilin' Blazes," "Puked to High Heaven," "Bursted Man").

"The cliche is 'last stand,' but I just couldn't see it being my 'last stand,'" Watt said in a statement of the forthcoming album, which was inspired in part by Dante's Divine Comedy. "[Dante] wrote that in the middle of his life, too. When I read it again, after the sickness, in my 40s, I saw it as a kind of vehicle for him to talk about the intense stuff in his life."

"Middle Stand" was initially scheduled for release in May, but the release date was pushed back in the wake of changes at Columbia Records. The set will be issued by Columbia's RED Ink imprint.

Watt recently wrapped up a mid-summer stint playing bass with the reunited Iggy & The Stooges.

TOUR DATES

September 2004
16 - Santa Rosa, CA - Last Day Saloon
17 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
18 - Sacramento, CA - The Blue Lamp
19 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
20 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Media Club
21 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
22 - Spokane, WA - B-Side
23 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
24 - Salt Lake City, UT - Egos
25 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
26 - Lincoln, NE - Knickerbocker's
27 - Kansas City, MO - Grand Emporium
28 - Columbia, MO - Mojo's
29 - St. Louis, MO - Blueberry Hill
30 - Iowa City, IA - Gabe's Oasis

October 2004
1 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
2 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
3 - Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall
5 - Indianapolis, IN - The Patio
6 - Champaign, IL - High Dive
7 - Chicago, IL - Double Door
8 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
9 - Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College Student Union
10 - Toronto, Ontario - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
12 - Burlington, vT - Club Metronome
13 - Albany, NY - Valentine's
15 - Morgantown, WV - 123 Pleasant St.
16 - Lexington, KY - The Dame
17 - Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light
18 - Nashville, TN - The End
20 - Detroit, MI - Alvin's
21 - Pittsburgh, PA - 31th Street Pub
22 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
23 - Brooklyn, NY - South Paw
24 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
25 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
26 - Providence, RI - The Call
27 - Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's
28 - New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge
29 - Philadelphia, PA - The Khyber
30 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
31 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506

November 2004
1 - Atlanta, GA - The E.A.R.L.
2 - Charleston, SC - Cumberland's
6 - Tallahassee, FL - The Beta Bar
7 - Birmingham, AL - The Nick
8 - Mobile, AL - Mental Notes
9 - New Orleans, LA - The Parish @ House of Bluses
11 - Austin, TX - Stubbs BBQ (inside)
13 - Little Rock, AR - Vino's
17 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
20 - Tempe, AZ - Big Fish Pub

Artist Links:

Mike Watt tickets at Ticketmaster