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RockBill - August 1985

The Call of THE MINTEMEN

by ROBERT O'BRIAN

The Minutemen may be the best (new) white band in America.
Comprised of a lead guitarist who is also a painter and a
direct descendant of Daniel Boone, a bass player who insists
that songs can be written on the bass, and a drummer who my
friends think is the best around, the Minutemen put on a
dynamic show, singing original songs that are tightly arranged,
lyrically profound and are usually under three minutes long.
D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley grew up on the projects
of San Pedro (which they pronounce "Peedro") in Southern
California - not unlike most kids - drinking on weekends,
checking out new bands and bombing in cars.
Then they heard punk rock.
"It changed our lives," says Mike Watt, the Minutemen's
bass player. "I was nineteen before I ever went into a club.
This guy broke three strings and everyone was into it. I'd
never seen anything like that before..." Watt then took
long-time buddy and fellow guitarist D. Boon to the just
flourishing punk clubs way up in Hollywood and a band was born.
"We were called the Reactionaries originally," says Watt.
"People thought we were Nazis. We live in San Pedro which is
very redneck. There's a cultural lag..." Their new name -
the Minutemen - lends itself to misunderstanding and hostility
about as readily as their old name. You see, the Minutemen is
also the name of a right-wing extremist group of "patriots" whose
ideology has more in common with the John Birch Society than with
USOCA (United States Out of Central America). These Minutemen -
who play rock 'n' roll - couldn't stand further from their
namesakes, ideologically or even emotionally.
D. Boon is droll:
"I never though Nazism would make a comeback," he muses while
washing motor oil off his arms in the Men's room of Manhattan's
Peppermint Lounge before their gig that night. D. Boon is the lead
guitarist. He is a very large man and more solid than most his
size. As Watt pointed out, Boon's songs are called "Shit From an
Old Notebook," "Untitled Song for Latin America" and "West Germany,"
to name but a few.
"That song is not a knock on the German people or anything like
that," reassures Boon. "But if you think about it, every time Germany
was united there was a world war." Boon is a registered Democrat and
a member of USOCA.
"The United States," he claims, "is short-sighted. America is a
business and they don't like to see the Soviet Union doing the
same thing."
MIke Watt puts it a bit differently. "America is really funny...
always lookin' over their shoulders, seein' what others are doin'.
But, I don't believe in 'Us vs. Them.' The powers that be play upon
that 'Us vs. Them' stuff to divide people up. Now, we're in a
dangerous time..."
The Minutemen's political stance is integral with their music, but
more than that. It's the personal touch that adds so much charm to
their sometimes frenetic songs. "I must look like a dork," sings
D. Boon in the explosive, "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing,"
penned by Watt. As solid and well played as the songs are, the Minutemen
give the impression that - well - anyone could do what they do. Anyone
can sing their own song.
Mike Watt is prophetic:
"I think we're gonna go back to the oral kind of tradition, likeHomer.
He didn't really write things. Kids are gonna be getting their info
from songs."
"Everything is North-South now," says D. Boon,"East-West is just...
that's just the Swiss comin' out of the mountains into Italy. Now,
they take the resources out of those countries (in the Southern
hemisphere) and leave 'em with nothing."
"Like sharecropping," I offer.
"Yeh," says Boon, nodding in agreement as he strings up his electric.
"Do you realize," I begin again, "that the United States has never
been in a war that didn't directly involve the British or the French?
Well, except the Spanish-American..."
Both Boon and Watt are the sons of Navy men. Mr. Watt was a lifer,
while Boon's old man only pulled ten years.
"The workin' man thing in America is real," Mike Watt says without
a hint of pretension. "My Dad was a chief in the Navy. He said he saw
a MIG go down over Hanoi. He has no political conviction, though, it's
just pullin' duty to him. Now, he installs air-conditioners on roofs in
110 degree weather. I say 'Why do you do that, Pop?' He's always askin'
me when I'm gonna pull some duty. But my Dad listens to Dylan now."
"Your father likes Dylan?"
"He was raised on George Jones. He's only forty-four. They get workin'
people to get married real young and start havin' families. My grandpa was
a vaudeville guitarist. We used to tell him about being spit on at our
early gigs and he just laughed. He had lettuce and tomatoes thrown at
him from the audience!"
Mike Watt shakes his head when asked if the Minutemen are label-hunting.
"Accountants run them record labels and our stuff doesn't wash with them."
Though the band does have a video out, Watt has decided opinions about MTV.
"I don't know what it has to do with music," he says.
More than once did Watt have something to say about "them accountants"
who run the record labels and the critics who propagate misinformation as
easily as they bandy about the name of the newest rock category.
"Everyone asks us if we're jazz musicians. Jazz isn't where we come from,
but jazz is living. Not like critics... you know... 'Here's bebop in the
shrine forever.' We call our band 'scientist-rock' cuz we're always
discovering new things..."
Mike Watt takes the peanut M&M I've offerd him and pops it in his mouth.
"Art is a fuckin' gamble, man it's a crap shoot," he intones."Art is
anything you can get away with. It's hard to quantize that stuff unless
you're really roboted out. But deep down, people really do have hearts.
Like war... people think it's other people going out with guns, but it's
not. It's machines. Our whole country is invested in a machine."
What about the future of rock 'n' roll? Once more, Mike Watt waxes prophetic:
"I think guitars will come back. People'll be lookin' for personality.
But an electric guitar is a machine, so I shouldn't be so snobby. We're into
confusin' people. If we confuse enough people, then maybe things'll be open
to debate again. Everything's so compartmentalized now."
It's a freakishly warm day in New York and D. Boon is walking around
shirtless in the back of the Peppermint Lounge. It's been raining sporadically
and the dampness brings to mind some Minutemen lyrics. "Love is leaf-like...."
Hours later, the band will cook on stage. D. Boon will appear weightless as he
jumps and jerks to nearly every twang on his guitar. A midget will climb the
stage and dance ecstatically to the band's approval. George Hurley's drums
will amaze the audience. A song about El Salvador and a cover of Creedence's
"Don't Look Now" will close the show. Two quotes will remain in mythoughts
as D. Boon stands at the exit door, passing out "U.S. Out of Central
America" stickers: "We do have a basic morality," and "There's a lot of
self-doubt in our songs."
This must be the answer. Stay curious and tolerant and tell your own
story. Sing your own song. Tell your story. Any way you can.