Watt, 6ths blend skill & vision

---

by Marc Hirsh

---

Ball-Hog or Tugboat? by Mike Watt and Wasps' Nests by the 6ths both work their way around this by sticking to the vision of a single person.

Good thing, too, because God knows what would happen if all the people on these discs had to come up with something as a collective.

Admittedly, Wasps' Nests doesn't qualify as a bona fide jam session. The group is the brainchild of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Stephen Merrit, and his guests don't contribute more than vocals, with the exception of Mitch Easter, who adds a guitar solo to his track.

The result is a weird collection of straightforward pop tunes sung by members of Superchunk, Tall Dwarfs, Helium, Yo La Tengo, Velvet Crush and other bands while Merrit adds on layers of distorted but quiet instrumentation. The vocals get odd, especially since every singer sounds alike, all singing under their breath, adding more atmosphere than melody.

Merrit seems to be aiming for some sort of low-budget shoegazer feel, but the songs would be simple and catchy enough to crack the Billboard charts if they were treated to better and more lively arrangements. Perhaps it's best this way, though. The album's best song, "Here In My Heart," sounds too much like Erasure's (or ABBA's) "Take A Chance On Me."

Ball-Hog is another story altogether. fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt's involvement on his own album is minimal compared to Merrit. Watt plays bass on all the songs, most of which he wrote, only singing on three. He lets his friends do the legwork. And what friends he has. A partial list: Frank Black, Evan Dando, J Mascis, Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, Dave Pirner, Flea, Bernie Worrell, half of the Screaming Trees, two-thirds of the Beastie Boys, two-thirds of Nirvana (three-fourths if you include tour guitarist Pat Smear, and I'm sure he would've gotten the entire group if it was physically possible), two-thirds of the Meat Puppets and three-fourths of Sonic Youth. Not a bad crop.

Best of all, Watt knows how to put them to good use. Dando's paean to peein' ("Piss Bottle Man") is a nice change of pace for the squeaky-clean Lemonhead while on "Against The 70's" Vedder wails with more humor than he has mustered in a while. And you'll never listen to Dinosaur Jr. the same way again after hearing Mascis completely dominate the Funkadelic classic "Maggot Brain."

The real treat is the more obscure personnel. Carla Bozulich walks away with her three songs, and guitarist Nels Cline really shows remarkable taste and innovation.

At the center of it all, though, is Watt, who manages to unify the mess even though he's the only constant on the album. Despite the shifts from the bluesy grind of "Big Train" to the lounge-jazzy "Sidemouse Advice" to the Spanish folk-flavored "Drove Up From Pedro" to the funk of "E-Ticket Ride" to the free-form God-knows-what of "Intense Song For Madonna To Sing," Watt proves himself to be the master of his instrument, playing whatever is called for with ease and style.

The relaxed vibe of Ball-Hog makes it a joy. Nowhere does anybody involved try to make a Big Statement. Watt presents us with a group of people all having fun, resulting in that rarest of albums: an experiment that works.

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the April 21, 1995 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.