After the unexpected commercial breakthrough of
Nirvana
in 1991, major record labels went on a feeding frenzy, signing underground bands left and right in the hope of finding the next big thing. It was
Columbia
's good fortune to have already struck a deal with a guy who had large supplies of both talent and indie cred.
Mike Watt
and his post-
Minutemen
band
fIREHOSE
jumped to
for the release of their fourth album,
Flyin' the Flannel
, and after the group broke up in 1994, the label had high hopes for
Watt
's solo debut. Arriving in 1995,
Ball-Hog or Tugboat?
found
collaborating with a stellar array of alt-rock notables, and the subsequent tour was no less impressive. While
didn't publicly announce who was backing him up, word soon spread that his band included
Dave Grohl
on drums and guitar and
Eddie Vedder
on guitar and backing vocals. (
Grohl
's
Foo Fighters
were one of the opening acts, on their very first tour, while
Vedder
's side project
Hovercraft
were also on the bill.) The prospect of seeing two alt-rock heroes backing up a California punk legend proved to be a hot ticket, and a mobile recording truck showed up to record the tour's stop at Chicago's Metro on May 6, 1995.
Ring Spiel Tour '95
is a straightforward document of the band's set, and if this isn't the strongest band
ever worked with, there's abundant passion, sweat, and heart in these performances.
's bass and vocals are up front here, and if his craggy, regular guy voice isn't always musical, it suits the workaday tone and attitude of his songs well, and his fluid but forceful bass work is, as always, inspiring.
and
William Goldsmith
take turns playing drums (and sometimes double up on two kits), and both of them interact with
quite well.
Pat Smear
add some guitar in this show, but it's
who handles most of the six-string work, and he fares surprisingly well; he's not a chops-intensive wizard, but his feel is excellent and he kicks up as much ruckus as
and his bandmates need. And the set, which is dominated by
material but also dips into some old
material (and a cover of
Madonna
's "Secret Garden" sung by
Smear
), gives
all the room he needs to be himself, which is always his best creative strategy.
is too much of a team player to seem fully comfortable with stardom, and it's not insignificant that he'd hire a backing band that could likely upstage him for his first major tour as a solo artist. But
preserves one night in the life of a working musician playing strong and sincere for his audience, and you can't imagine
would want it any other way. A great listen, and an indispensable document of the '90s alt-rock boom giving some payback to a founding father. ~ Mark Deming