OFF: Mike Watt writes about recording with Gov't Mule (fwd)

[Paul Mather]

I don't know if folks know, but Gov't Mule are currently recording a new
album featuring a whole boatload of famous bassists.  Mike Watt is one
of them.  It seems from the diary extract below that they came ->THIS
CLOSE<- to doing a cover of "The Red and the Black" for the album!  Now
wouldn't that've been ultra cool?  Shame they went with the CCR.  Maybe
Warren got scared off by the weird lyrics (one of his stated reasons he
doesn't do more Zappa)?

I believe the album is due out sometime in September this year.  It
should be a monster.

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa

>>>>>
http://www.hootpage.com/hoot_fog2001-3diary1.html

[...]

thursday, may 31, 2001 - london, england

[...]
tuesday was a meeting w/the mule cats about the recording. we talk about
doing that b.o.c. tune, "the red and the black," I explained to them john
fogerty was the reason I wore flannels, he had such an effect on me as a kid
and as well on d. boon. I can't say there was a band more influential on
both of us as ccr. we learned every song they did as boys. loved that voice,
loved that guitar, loved them tunes - the words too. it just happened also
to be john fogerty's birthday. lots of conncetions. afterwards, I meet matt
at this b.b. king club in times square to see john entwhistle at some
industry trough thing. much respect to b.b. but this pad was the worst, the
sound was like a skating rink. what a trip to see mr. entwhistle's fingers
go but for watt it got to be another horrid classic rock wank. I enjoyed
seeing drummer matt sit in on "johnny b. goode," playing one of those 'cage'
kits w/double kick drums. the next day was the recording and that was
something. I had been so nervous the last few days before it, kind of
petrified and out of my mind really but they were really cool guys and made
things nice for me. warren and matt decided on choosing a creedence
clearwater revival song, "effigy," and then putting some parts of two other
tunes by them, "slip away" and "ramble tamble." the studio was this old
yiddish theatre on the lower east side and we recorded right on stage, like
a gig. mike from _phish_ was making a movie about the creating of this
record so first I had to do some spiel and answer some bass questions. he
was great and asked me some happening stuff. I was quite nervous but at
least had the little bass right there in my hands, compass and all. then
came the recording. the first take had me so stressed, I clammed like crazy
so I sat down for the next ones. "effigy" is a heavy tune, words about
burning down the palace and shit like that. much respect to creedance but I
wanted to take the tune and the mule cats in another way so I let the little
bass sing and improvise, trading eights w/the chords and then real going out
w/the parts from the other two tunes. matt did too. I found out later they
don't do overdubs, just chop tape so that was quite a trip. it was a blast
playing w/them though and I have to say I was quite relieved when we got
takes three, four and five done cuz they were keepers. each one was like ten
minutes long but they said it would end up around eight. I was totally
drained and must've sweated like five pounds off but at least we did it.
wow, after never playing w/them before in my life. much respect to warren
and matt. matt lives in the val, near perk so I want him to come to pedro
when there's time and show him the town. man, the bass players on this
project. I tried not to let that effect me but there's john entwhistle, jack
bruce, george porter, flea, les claypool, john paul jones, roger glover,
chris squire, stanley clarke - damn, you name it. quite scary on watt from
that angle too. I got through it though and am quite honored they asked me
to do it. what a pants-shitter though, I swear I was going to crumble.
warren and matt plus producer michael's (felix papalardi's cousin - whoa!)
spirits kept me buoyed however. thanks, bros. [...]