I find Mike Watt a compelling individual. On the one hand there is this utterly workmanlike, selfless approach to music. He's like a guy whose off to lay a tarmac drive somewhere. On the other hand there is this whimsical, almost childlike approach to composition and songs. A lot of his stuff seems to have really idiosyncratic bass parts and revolve around the bass parts in particular.
I'm reminded a bit of the Scottish sculptor Jimmy Boyle. He was a former gangster who discovered, almost by accident, that he was a sculptor while serving a sentence in prison. On the one hand he's a hardnut you're not going to want to cross, but on the other he can produce this wonderfully creative, visionary work.
I have this mental image of Watt driving around in his Econoline van like he's off to fit a kitchen somewhere, only he's off to perform his third opera somewhere.
