We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005) - full transcript

[ AppIause ]

[ ''Joe McCarthy's Ghost'' pIays ]

Can you be sure
of the goddamn time of day?

Can you take the dirt
from the fist of a foreigner?

Are you gonna fight

When they caII out
your number?

Can you toe the Iine?

Can you repeat
what you've been toId?

Can you bite the buIIet?

Can you see the enemy?

Can you point your finger?



Prove your IoyaIty?

Joe McCarthy, Joe McCarthy,
Joe McCarthy, Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy, Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy's ghost

Joe McCarthy, Joe McCarthy,
Joe McCarthy, Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy, Joe McCarthy,
Joe McCarthy

[ AppIause ]

And Eskimo.
And, uh.

You teII them about the music,

about your mom making me
pIay bass.

[ Laughter ]

-Are we ready?
-Yeah.

Okay, can we go in
for a two-shot?

Boon and Mike.



Oh, yeah.
I met D. Boon when I was 13.

He was 1 3, aIso.

And where we Iived in the park,
he was pIaying army,

and he feII out of a tree
On me.

D. Boon pIayed guitar.

This is the tree.

And I come out here.

I think right here.

And he Ieaps out on me.

I was Iike, ''Whoa.''

This guy in this T-shirt.
He goes, ''You're not Eskimo.''

I go, ''No, I'm not Eskimo.''

And so we start taIking.

And he couIdn't find
his friends.

They aII had baiIed
or something.

So we start waIking
back across the fieId.

And he's teIIing me
aII these IittIe bits, you know?

Like, I'm thinking, ''God damn.

This is the smartest dude
in the worId.''

He's just rattIing off
aII these IittIe bits.

And the next day he brings me
to his pad in Park Western.

And he pIays me this record,

and aII the bits he was doing
was from this record.

Oh, my God, D. Boon.

You didn't make any of this up.

This was aII stuff that you
had heard off the record.

But I didn't know it
at the time.

But I was quite smitten
with him.

So that's actuaIIy
our beginning.

It was right here.

WeII, after 1O years
of Iooking into the mirror

RonaId Reagan
seems quite appeaIing

It's easier
running in a pack

Shouting anthems
and praying to God

Don't we know
what we're doing?

We've done it before

Everybody
swing to the right

Give me an armband,
give me a reason

Give me a sunshine,
give me a rifIe

Don't we know
what we're doing?

We've done it before

Everybody
swing to the right

JEAN WATT:
There was something magicaI

about Mike Watt and D. Boon.

Maybe because
they grew uptogether

and knew each other so weII

Hejust Ioved D.Boon.

The Minutemen
were just so unique.

And I guess something
Iike that can't reaIIy --

It's impossibIe for something
Iike that to come about

unIess you're Mike Watt
and D. Boon growing up together

from when you're IittIe kids.

When you meet some peopIe
in your Iife

and pIay music with them and
there's some kind of chemistry,

it's this magic thing
that happens.

AnditreaIIy happened
withthose guys.

They were Iike three bros.

It was Iike they probabIy went
to eIementary schooI together.

They were probabIy aII born
in the same hospitaI

at the same time.

Not from the same mother,
though.

When I first started going over
to D. Boon's house,

the first thing D. Boon
got me into was history.

He was reading
aII these history books.

But then another thing
he used to do was pIay guitar.

His mother made him
pIay guitar.

She pIayed guitar
when she was younger.

At first I was pIaying bass.

But my mom didn't want me
to pIay bass.

She wanted him to pIay bass.

So I had to.

It's not that he had to,
but he agreed.

I agreed.

Dennes' mom wanted him
to Iearn ''instruments''

and stay off the street
and stay out of troubIe.

So she wouId Iet them pIay.

In fact, I remember one
of the neighbors saying to her,

''How can you stand
pIaying there?

I mean, them in the house
making aII that racket?''

And she goes,
''WeII, I know where my son is. ''

Johnnygotagun,
ack,ack,ack,ack

Yeah, Johnny's got a gun,
ack, ack, ack, ack

Like this,
ack, ack, ack, ack

Like this,
ack, ack, ack, ack

AIIthe papers
wrote aboutJohnny

All the writers
shot him down

He got his gun
and shot himself

Ack, ack, ack, ack

When D. Boon's ma
had me pIay bass,

we were so far at the gigs
I never saw a bass up cIose.

You know.

Now, you couId see on the aIbum
covers it onIy had four strings.

But I didn't reaIIy know
they were bigger strings.

So we thought they were guitars
with onIy four strings.

We didn't reaIIy know
they were bigger strings.

[ ChuckIes ]

It was reaIIy strange
when I first saw a bass.

I remember
we started high schooI,

and I was bragging to some guy
about pIaying bass

in 1Oth grade.

But anyway, I see this guitar
with these bridge cabIes,

and this guy
sees me in the store.

Then he sees me
tripping out on this.

He goes,
''What are you Iooking at?''

I go, ''God damn.
Look at this thing.''

And he goes, ''I thought
you were a bass pIayer.''

And I said, ''I am.''

He goes, ''WeII, that's a bass.''

And I said, ''Oh, I know that. ''

But I fucking didn't know that.

I had never seen one.
It bIew my mind.

And we used to sit there and
maybe pIay ''Smoke on the Water''

-over and over again.
-One riff.

Andittook
aboutmaybetwoyears

before wefigured
that you havetotunetogether.

Tuning the strings,
they get tighter or Iooser.

They said they didn't think it
was a matter of tuning them.

They just thought
some guys Iiked them Ioose

and some guys Iiked them tight.

They wouId just say,
''Oh, I Iike mine tight.''

''I Iike mine Ioose.
I'm just gonna rock.''

It was on the TV

Yeah, it's hard to believe

Thefoodcoupons

Everyone with
the same clothes on

Their minds weep

Like caged sheep

Standing around

Preaching.

You got to beIieve

To be successful

They won't feeI
fucking reIief

Remember the American
wiII soon be history

BOON: We used to get together
in my room.

It was these oId projects.

These Navy projects that were
condemned back in the '4Os.

And we'd set up there
and rehearse.

-Not rehearse.
-It was your house, too.

We'd sit there and pIay Iike
one riff over and over again.

And my mom was very supportive.

She Iet us do it
even though she hated it.

She Iiked it.

We did have a band

caIIed the Bright Orange Band
in high schooI,

not writing our own songs.

And then we pIayed a party,

and we tried out
for a taIent show.

Which we Iost terribIy.

Yeah, here's
San Pedro High SchooI

This is where we graduated
in 'T6, aII three of us.

Both of them had moms that
supported what they were doing.

Never said, ''Oh, why don't
you guys quit this shit?''

Theyweregunghoonit.

And I think that has a Iot
to do with it,

when your parents are supportive
of your taIents or your arts.

I was very excited for them.

And I went to as many things
as I couId go to.

And I thought
it was reaIIy wonderfuI

that they did this themseIves.

They didn't have a Iot
of aduIt support.

Ah.

Graduate high schooI
We're 18 years oId.

D. Boon's ma dies that month.

She dies when we're 1 8.

And it reaIIy tore
our Iives apart.

EspeciaIIy D. Boon's famiIy.

It just coIIapsed because she
was a strong, strong piIIar.

Mom was basicaIIy
everything to him.

He taIked a Iot about her.

And when she passed away,
D. Boon's Iife changed.

This is a coupIe spieIs that
I've written down on the road.

It's out to aII you mothers
and fathers.

''Create forums

in which your chiIdren can Iearn
the beauty of the worId

throughthe arts

so they can pass it on
to their chiIdren.

That's what my parents
did for me.''

Against a stackfuI of comics

Here comes the line

''l'm loaded
with rocket fuel''

Industry, industry,
we are tooIs of the industry

Their Iaundry,
bIeached of identity

You stand here naked

l stand here naked

Both on the pavement

Why are we different?

You stand here naked

l stand here naked

Both on the pavement

Why are we different?

Punk comes in 'T6, too,
the year we graduate.

And what struck us
about punk.

WeII, the big thing about it
right off the bat

was, man, these guys
are aII weirdos.

But they don't care.

In fact, they kind of
ceIebrate it.

So in a Iot of ways,
it was the perfect scene for us.

You know, it was Iike
aII these misfits.

Punk rock at the time

wasn't a term for a set
of musicaI parameters.

It wasn't at aII

It wasn't a term
for what kind of amp you used

and how you set it and
what kind of cIothes you wore.

And that was the great thing
about it.

Punk rock was kind of Iike
i m med iacy , i n tens i ty ,

honesty , exp ress ion .

ExpIoring things
that interested them

and expIoring them reaIIy hard.

[ AppIause ]

Undetermined where to go

No solutions
to our probIems

oliticians
possess this nation

No answers to our questions

Running in a maze

The masses Iedbyignorance

Led to the guiIIotine

PoIiticians say we're free

Now, this thing.
It's Petco now.

Okay, but one of the.

There used to be
a IittIe deaIio here.

This was
Chuck's Sound of Music.

This is where I bought
my first T. Rex records,

my Creedence records,

where I saw my first bass,
where we met Roy Mendez-Lopez.

MostIy the instruments they had
were schooI things, right?

Horns and stuff Iike this.

But they actuaIIy had
a coupIe Fenders.

Most stores did not have
Fenders.

It's so much different now,
the cuIture for music.

And if you're a young person,

it's so much easier
to be in a band.

It's so funny when peopIe taIk
about the ''good oId days.''

Because in a Iot of ways,
they were Iame-ass!

The peopIe who made music
and were in bands

were in a whoIe nother worId
far from you.

Come out.

You couIdn't have that.

Eventhe skateboards,
you know,cIay wheeIs.

You couIdn't go in the street.

Those were scooters, huh?

The same idea.

We were more kept in our pIace.

You know, nowadays you're kept
in your pIace more by your mind.

More by the herd mentaIity
than actuaIIy having

the materiaI and wherewithaI
to do things.

Let's say I got a gun

In my hand

Six sIugs,
six points of view

MateriaIism.

Let's say I got a book

In my hand

5O,OOO words,
5O,OOO transIations

IdeaIism.

Tear up your dictionaries,
tear up your dictionaries

Tear up your dictionaries,
tear up your dictionaries

WeII, it's no mystery
how I met these guys.

Even though we're the same age
and we did go to the same schooI

and graduate the same year,

I didn't know them
tiII after high schooI was over.

And I met Mike
at a friend's house.

I think it was the time when
he passed out in the bathroom

and Iocked the door
on aII of us.

[ Laughs ]

Then he said,
''Hey, join my band.''

So I said, ''AII right, dude.''
[ Laughs ]

And I met D. Boon.

Whatpossessedyou?

I aIways thought that was
reaIIy open-minded of him.

EspeciaIIy in those days
where peopIe hated,

99 percent ofpeopIe hated punk.

They thought it was
the most insane, horribIe thing

that anybody couId be part of.

And Georgie kind of saw
a Iot Iike us, too.

You know, hey, this is
an opportunity to pIay music,

pIay our own thing.

I think George was
the first guy I ever feIt

was pIaying funk rhythms.

PIaying Iike
ParIiament-FunkadeIic

and pIaying reaIIy fast.

PIus his stick
stuck in his sock.

That was a nice touch.

It was no joke.
They couId reaIIy pIay.

George!
Man, George is a powerhouse.

He drives with his upper body.

Most drummers, maybe
they'II Iead, for the most part,

with their kick drum
and then everything eIse.

But not George.

He's a reaI musician.

AII three of them were,
but George had crazy chops.

You wouId just watch him doing
just over/under high-hat stuff.

Like Buddy Rich kind of.

You're Iike,
''Where is that coming from?''

ObviousIy he had
the chopstogether.

You know, he was just
as much a centraI core

of the musicaI sphere
that they were spinning

asthe bass and guitar
and vocaIs.

He wasn't drumming aIong.
He was drumming with.

I hadn't pIayed drums that Iong
before I started recording.

Maybe a year and a haIf.

And I think that you try
so hard to pIay,

that you reaIIy.

You reaIIy make
an overaII effort to reaIIy try

and make parts sound right.

You come up with things that
maybe someone never heard before

or something.

You find a way
to make them work, you know,

without being too infIuenced
by other drummers

that were progressiveIy better
than you.

Who the hell
made the safe man7.

PeripheraI vision
corkscrews into thought

Lanterns, mufflers

flatten

Thick and pIaner,
fit into rolls

aced and sad

Syrup, Iackng

Totaled

ack a chunk of the sun

GIue it to your heart,
hold on

We make this band in 1 9T9
caIIed the Reactionaries

with me, D. Boon,
George HurIey,

and a guy named
Martin Tamburovich singing.

We saw a Iot of rock concerts.

You know, big shows.
The Forum, the CaIifornia Jam.

We used to go aII the time.

We were under the impression
you had to be part

of the speciaI eIite
to do music.

The other way
it was Iike modeIs.

You just Iearned that song
somehow in the bedroom,

you pIayed it,
and you got joy out of it.

We didn't think
you couId actuaIIy do them

in front of peopIe.

When we saw
these other Iame dudes doing it,

you know, we thought, ''Whoa.

That's not the point.''

The point is just trying to get
away with whatever you can.

You don't have to be part
of any machine.

Exceptmaybeyourown.

The CIash pIayed
in Pedro in 19T9.

The CIash pIayed
up in Santa Monica,

but we went to the gig.

And BIack FIag
was handing out fIyers.

We hadthousands offIyers,

and we were putting them
on every car at the parking Iot

for the Civic.

Passing them out to aII
the peopIe who came in and out.

And we met Mike Watt
and D. Boon.

There they were from Pedro where
we were putting the show on.

They couIdn't beIieve
there was a Pedro band.

Because we said we had a band.

We couIdn't beIieve it, too,

that there was gonna be
a gig in our town.

Wasn't HoIIywood, you know?

So they said,
''Why don't you pIay?''

So this ends up
the Reactionaries' first gig.

ActuaIIy, our first show was
in San Pedro with BIack FIag,

PIugz, AIIey Cats,
and the Descendents.

I think it's in February
of 19T9.

And it was over here
at a teen post.

This was very heavy hood
at the time.

StiII is pretty gnarIy.

They had thesethings
inthe'6Os and earIy'TOs

caIIed teen posts.

They try to give kids
things to do.

There's four apartments here.

But this was a IittIe haII,

and they had fixed it up
reaIIy nice.

And here Dukowski rented it.

And aII these peopIe
from HoIIywood came down.

The cops had to Iock aII these
peopIe from the suburbs in

because the IocaIs
were gonna kiII them

because they wrecked
their toiIet.

It's funny how hardcore
is supposed to be

kind of revoIutionary,
but it's not.

I n a Iot of ways
it works against the peopIe

they're supposedIy
supposedtosupport.

Maybe that's why a Iot of it
went racist

and the skinheads and stuff.

Because it's Iike pIayground
to me, a Iot of it.

We used it for music, for
freedom to do what we wanted.

But, as far as --
I couIdn't beIieve it.

They'd come down here
into this poor neighborhood

and wreck these peopIe's
teen post they just fixed up.

This is one of the reasons
why the Reactionaries broke up.

[ Laughs ]

I mean, it was aIso
an idea of D. Boon's.

He didn't think we needed
a snger

and wanted it
just to be a trio.

So he breaks up the band,
and we actuaIIy.

Georgie joins this New Wave band
in HoIIywood caIIed Hey, Taxi!

Anyway, here's the apartment.

And there's the window.

That window right there.
That's the bedroom.

That's where we started
the Minutemen.

That's where we wrote
aII our first batch of songs.

And Joe Baiza's Iiving
downstairs.

And I heard someone
working on a Who song upstairs.

And that's when I was
into punk rock,

and I thought, ''Why wouId
someone be pIaying the Who?''

So I open the door,
and there's this chubby guy

with kind of Iong hair.

And he has an army jacket
and a PiL button.

''Oh, hi, guys.
I just heard you pIay.

I thought I'd come down
and say heIIo.''

And we started
to taIk some more,

and then he was teIIing me
he was in another band before,

and he said
it was the Reactionaries.

I remembered meeting him that
night when Mike broke his bass.

So then we started taIking
some more, and he came in.

Jack met him,
and we were hanging out.

And we became friends
at that point.

You're son of a martyr

You're a son of a father

Here to Iook inside you

Here to look inside us

You can put it together

Or puII it apart

ReIapse unconscious

You don't remember

You don't remember

Ain't no fucking way

So the Minutemen get together
with this drummer, Frank Tonche.

Get together with him
actuaIIy at the end of February.

And we do a gig in ApriI
with BIack FIag.

Greg Ginn of BIack FIag saw us,
our first gig as M inutemen.

When we got rid of the singer

and changed our name
to Minutemen.

And he said, ''You want to make
a record?'' at our first gig.

CouIdn't beIieve it.

A month Iater we do a gig
at Harbor CoIIege here,

where I went to schooI, too.

Got my degree.

ThatIneverused.

I majored in punk rock.

With PIugz and the Gears.

But the drummer freaks out
after the gig.

H
e thnks punk rOC
is an insane scene and quits.

They were gonna record
their first singIe.

And I guess Frank got coId feet
and didn't want to do it.

''What the heII?''

I said,
''Mike, I'II do it for you.''

It was seven songs.

That's where we get Georgie,
you know, the next month.

Teach him aIIthe songs.

And in the third week of JuIy,

we record the first Minutemen
record, ''Paranoid Time.''

I toId them I'd never pIay
with them again.

And that's where Minutemen
took off from there.

[ ''Fascist'' pIays ]

Don't preach your structure
of society

Perverted ideas of reaIity

Your words of freedom
and common cause

Your words of hate and war
and others lost

l can't follow a man
on a white horse

His means of control,
they aII Iook too coarse

Tyranny is the reaI word

Where voices and opinions
are never heard

We all work
in a working mass

We all work
for the ruIing cIass

The state relies
on the working man

W ho obeysthe party
and the fatherland

They aII kneeI
to the party eIite

All enslaved
to the fascists

We had in our mind Iike
BIack FIag was sort of the --

that's SST.

At some point
in that time frame,

SST Number 2 came out,

which was the Minutemen
''Paranoid Time'' EP.

I thought
it was kind of interesting

that BIack FIag wouId use
what IittIe money they had

to put out another band
aImost immediateIy on SST.

''Oh, who's this band?''

It turned out it wasn't a band

that sounded Iike BIack FIag
at aII

It wasn't a band that reaIIy
that much sounded Iike anybody.

It was the perfect foIIow-up to
''Nervous Breakdown,'' I thought.

The songs were appeaIing because
aIthough they were ''poIiticaI,''

they weren't didactic.

They deaIt with poIitics
in a reaIIy impressionistic way.

And I just said, ''This is
one of the most originaI things

I've ever heard.''

''Paranoid Time'' the song
I thought was reaIIy great.

That was the one that I think,

coming out of
the hardcore background,

that was the one
that was cIosest to my genre.

Where I couId go, ''Okay.

These guys are contributing
something with this song.''

When you Iisten
to ''Paranoid Time''

You have to reaIize
these weren't just songs.

These peopIe are reaIIy
paranoid.

This one's for RonaId Reagan.

I try to work, and I keep
thinking of WorId War I I I

I try to taIk to girIs, and I
keep thinking of WorId War I I I

The 6:OO news

Makes sure I keep thinking
ofWorldWar Ill

I got a miIe of numbers
and a ton of stats

Of warheads,
a billion Chinese warheads

I don't even worry
about crime anymore

So many goddamn
scared faces

I keep thinking of Russia,
Mother Russia

aranoid,
stuck on overdrive

aranoid, scared shitless

MOORE: Seeing D. Boon
just sort of rocking,

jumping up and down and
just bIowing out these songs.

Watt just Iike
compIeteIy utter conviction.

And then the drummer

pIaying aII this kind of
wigged-out prog-jazz fury drums.

And.

So it kind of bIew minds.

The record bIew our minds.

It was not Iike any music
we'd ever Iistened to.

We couIdn't understand
how they wouId have pIayed it.

We couIdn't get any idea
of who they were.

We couIdn't picture them.

The record was just a drawing
on the front.

The Iyrics are so provocative.

ReaIIy, Iike, head-scratching.

It was something that you couId
reaIIy spend some time with,

and it's a short record.

What is it,
Iike 3 1/2 minutes Iong?

You know, the songs
reaIIy went by fast.

They reaIIy pIayed
a Iot of songs in a set.

And even if they had riffs,

bythetimeanybody
had something to hoId on to,

they were on to the next song.

You got to understand
we were never caIIed Minutemen

for, Iike, minute songs,

Iike we aIways got expIained
by peopIe.

It was this parody
on these right-wingers.

And the whoIe idea of rock bands
being big giants,

we wouId be Iike minute men.

I can't imagine
in the earIy days

bands Iike Hüsker Dü,
Minutemen pIaying arenas.

It was too intimate,
the i r pe rfo rmances .

They don't work with
aII the smoke and the Iighting

and the speciaI effects
and the airpIanes

and whatever you have to do
on a big stage.

That was not part
of the scene.

Part of the scene was you get
up, you pIay your heart out.

Yeah,Iet'stake
the essence ofthetune

and just do it, and that's that.

Nobody had done that before.

AII the other bands were hoIding
to verses and choruses.

So manyofthesongs,

the Iyrics, when you read them,
are just Iike haiku.

Or it's Iike a proposition
by Wittgenstein.

It's just Iike
a reaIIy simpIe statement.

It doesn't have a Iot of
fIoraI Ianguage surrounding it.

It's just Iike a IittIe kerneI
of an inteIIectuaI idea.

That aIways reaIIy appeaIed
to me.

It didn't bIow away
the hardcore kids.

It was a IittIe too
maybe grown-up.

It was a different kind
of inteIIigence.

It wasn't Iike ''poIice beat me''
kind of thing.

It didn't have that agony.

Some peopIe just didn't get it.

Being spit on kind of --
That kind of sucks.

But you can't see
where it's coming from,

so you can't reaIIy bIame
anybody.

''Let's spit on them.''

These kids from Orange County

just took after the EngIish
reaIIy weII

They wouId spit.

Butanyhow,
Ijust gotthe overspray.

Mike and D.,
they got most of it.

They were aIways getting coIds.
I never knew why.

We're doing it
without two strings.

Is that punk enough
for you guys spitting?

I'II come and see your band,
aII right?

Huh, fan?
Huh, punk rock fan?

[ Crowd shouting ]

Let's hoId the spit down.

Spit on me.
Get beIIigerent.

Right on.

Right. Right.

[ Crowd shouting ]

[ ''SickIes and Hammers'' pIays ]

[ Crowd shouting ]

ROELAND:
Dennes was singing,

and spit was just going
right in his mouth.

They did not care.

They finished their set, and
the crowd was kind of Iike.

And after they finished,

I think the crowd kind of, Iike,
changed their mind.

You have to do a Iot of
growing up aII of a sudden.

If you couIdn't get
through that.

I mean, where you're singing

and some kid gobs a spit wad
right in your mouth.

I thought it was funny the way
they moved back off the stage.

Like, ''We're not going anywhere.

You guys aren't getting rid
of us that easy.''

Your face feII into my eyes

I heard your friend
call me a communist

Smoked butts
off the fleetwood floor

There l was in a vacuum

PuIIed down by guiIty weights,
you know

WeII, I am afraid of you

I'd wear out my knees
for you

But this is not a Iove song

Aah!

WATT:
Me and D. Boon, you know,

we reaIIy didn't know
that many art peopIe.

B
OOn WaS artIStIC,
couId paint and stuff Iike that.

But there was no cuIture art,
you know?

I guess everybody comes to it
in different ways.

But the way we came to it
was through punk.

Which is kind of hard
for some peopIe to expect.

To beIieve.

Because they see
some kind of vioIent movement,

peopIe beating each other up
and spitting on each other.

Shit Iike that.

There was some stuff
Iike that, too.

But especiaIIy in the 'TOs
and oIder punk,

there was a Iot of art peopIe.

Had a big infIuence on us.

For D. Boon,

I know it brought out stuff
that was aIready into him.

For me,
it got me reaIIy curious.

I started reading
about these things Iike Dada

and Futurist and SurreaIist,
stuff Iike this.

Pettibon turns me on
to John CoItrane

and Ornette CoIeman.

There are so many ideas
in their music.

And Mike's bass pIaying

is so over the top
and so fuII of ideas.

And the band has
such an amazing spirit.

The M inutemen give off the vibe
of the excitement of that

more than just about any band
I can think of.

They just seem, Iike, so happy

and inspired to be up there
pIaying, you know?

So it reaIIy does make me
feeI good to think

that I pIayed some kind of roIe
in making Mike want to do that.

Rock 'n' roII, as usuaI,
was a fairIy toxic concept.

Rock 'n' roII was once
an antidote to aII this crap.

I aIways regard the Minutemen
as stiII a part of the soIution.

But there was a kind of
a respect you had

to not be a cIone.

It was Iike if you were gonna be
part of this,

you had to contribute.

You don't want to be
a cookie cutter

or a Xerox machine.

Had to come up
with your own ideas.

And this is what the Minutemen
were doing.

And then some in those days,
but a Iot Iater on,

and then
with the hardcore peopIe, too,

peopIe wouId say,
''How can you caII this punk?''

''Why is it punk?

You don't sound punk.
You don't Iook punk.''

You know?

That wouId aIways strike us
as such narrow-minded shit.

The Minutemen.

I think those guys, Iike,
were totaI punks

in the sense of they were
not fitting in the moId

of what a punk shouId
theoreticaIIy Iook Iike.

PIaying bIues to punks,
that's pretty punk.

And Minutemen going out there,

being Pedro dudes doing
their whoIe totaI thing.

Some of their music
was so abrasive-sounding.

Espec ia I Iy com pa red
to the kind of more simpIe

or kind of raging kind
of punk rock.

Their stuff is more
weirdIy off-kiIter

and kind of herky-jerky

and just wouIdn't give you
the reaIIy.

[ Tapping ]

Which you kind of wanted
to hear.

A ton of white-boy guiIt,
that's my probIem

ObstacIe to joy,
one reason to use some drugs

SIept on a beach,
sIept in trash

American trash

Thinking too much
can ruin a good time

l asked a Mexican
who ran a bar for Americans

''Who won'' l said,
''the election7. ''

He Iaughed,
I feIt Iike a gringo

They pIayed a song,
they had some fun with us

Why can't you buy
a good time?

Why are there soIdiers
in the streets?

Why did I spend the 4th
in someone eIse's country?

The Minutemen, to me, were
this band that sort of stood out

on the ''Rodney on the ROa''
record.

The first ''Rodney on the ROa,''
VoIume One record.

I had sort of heard their name
in FIipside and stuff.

I didn't reaIIy get a handIe
on them.

Their name kind of stuck out

because it wasn't the usuaI kind
of West Coast punk rock name.

They weren't BerkIee SchooI
of Music-taught musicians.

They were just three dudes
from Pedro

thatjust happened to pIay

and just had, you know,
that mix that they just geIIed.

They got Iumped in
with the hardcore scene.

But they were anything but.

They wouId cover
Creedence CIearwater

and BIue Oyster CuIt.

And to them, that was
just their way of expressing,

''We're not reaIIy
just punk rock.

We're part of this bigger
continuum of rock 'n' roII ''

And D. Boon, I think,
was an inspiration.

He's Iarge, you know?

Watching him pIay guitar,
his fingers were reaI fat,

but he couId bust out
the greatest Ieads.

When it came down to pIaying,
they were on top of it.

They just rattIed off the songs.

32-song sets.

Just bam!

They were just great pIayers.

They kind of brought this whoIe
other IeveI of musicianship

to this underground
music scene.

They had a Iot of comedy
in their music.

They couId be funny,
if you read their Iyrics.

And sometimes pissed off.

Dennes seemed a bit angry

in some of his Iyrics
about certain things.

Maybe that's stuff
he feIt inside

and it was coming across
in their music.

That's what I sense
in that kind of music.

And they're nice guys.

They're aIways fun
to be around and stuff

Kind of Iike the Three Stooges
in a good way.

Andthey hadthe Three Stooges

pIastered in the back
of their van in the window.

So when they drove by,
you'd see the window.

And there wouId be the big
poster of the Three Stooges.

Maybe more Iike
Abbott and CosteIIo

with somebody eIse
thrown in the mix.

Mike and D.

No, I'm just kidding.
It's LaureI and Hardy.

Mike and D. Boon,
it was Iike twins.

They had
Iike a secret Ianguage.

And you couId just see them. .

I mean, when they wouId
communicate.

they didn't have to
reaIIy speak.

They were just
these IittIe eviI twins

that wouId just sort of push
each other into things.

Mike Watt, to me,
was the heart of the band.

He was the heartbeat.
He was the bass pIayer, right?

Ba-boom, boom, boom, boom,
ba-boom

He was the heartbeat.

And D. Boon, to me,
was the souI

They Iived what they said.

They beIieved in it 1OO percent.
1,OOO percent.

And the more you spent time
with them,

the more you reaIized
that this was so reaI

And it just feIt so good
to be a part of something

that was absoIute truth.

As truthfuI as it couId be
with its fauIts, you know?

And they were the first ones
to admit if they were wrong.

They made their own worId
in a rock band.

And so.

That's even more rare
than just being a good band.

They were aII,
George, D. Boon, Mike,

aII great musicians
and performers and writers.

But the Minutemen reaIIy --

There wasn't very many punk rock
bands that couId pIay at aII

The Minutemen couId actuaIIy
pIay their instruments.

They were so unusuaIon stage.

EspeciaIIy this interpIay
between Mike and D.

You know, D. being
this reaIIy heavyset guy

bouncing around Iike he was
Iighter than air on the guitar.

And Watt being reaIIy.

Just being Watt on stage,
I guess.

And this great drummer
in George HurIey

pIaying reaIIy different stuff
than you wouId imagine

a hardcore-type band's
drummer pIaying.

He was such a finessey drummer

that had aII these
different things he couId do.

I guess in generaI aII three
of them were Iike that.

They were reaI pIayers
in a certain hand.

And that sort of put them aside

from the simpIe three-chord
punk rock thing.

I'd aIways try to push articIes
on them.

I'd try to sneak them into --

PeopIe wouId say, ''I want
a thing on hardcore bands.''

So I'd put them in.

PeopIe wouId say, ''I want
a thing on psychedeIic bands.''

So Iike, ''Oh, yeah.
I'II put them in.''

You know, stuff Iike that.

You know, you couId sort of
squeeze them in

to aImost any
kind of generic overview

of contemporary L.A. stuff.

Because they reaIIy were unique
in terms of what they did.

It was just a briIIiant moment
in time

thatthey hadthatenergy

to transcend any
and aII musicaI boundaries.

Without getting bogged down
as a rockabiIIy band

or as a hardcore thrash band,

that they couId not reaIIy fit
or beIong anywhere,

which was part of their magic.

What can be romantic
to Mike Watt7.

His body's onIy a skeIeton

A series of points

With no height, Iength,
or width

In his body he feeIs Iife

His onIy connection

Between the yeIIing
and the sIeep

His life's
the toughest riddIe

He's chalk

He's a dart board

Sex disease

He's a stop sign

He's chalk

He's a dart board

Sex disease

He's a stop sign

We were recording
the ''Fat'' EP with Spot.

And Spot, in between takes,
basicaIIy,

was editing the ''Punch Line'' EP
for the M inutemen.

I hadn't heard too much
of the M inutemen,

and I was hearing snippets
of ''Punch Line'' aII the time.

I was just Iike, ''Wow.
These guys are reaIIy wiId.

They're reaIIy different.
It's bizarre music.''

To me it sounded very bizarre.

WATT: Some of these songs have
Iike onIy two Iines of Iyrics.

They're so bizarre.

A Iot of these songs
aren't even a minute.

A Iotofthem
are 4O seconds and stuff.

38 seconds.

Again, they weren't supposed to
stand on their own.

They were supposed to be part
of this big river.

And the abiIity for them
to just kind of shift gears

from song to song
in the way they did.

Where in a way the Minutemen
sets created their own momentum.

It wasn't about
so much individuaI songs.

It was about the entire process
that you were going through.

It seemed abstract to me and
anguIar kind of music, you know?

I was just ''Wow, '' you know.
I was Iistening to that.

Andthe songs were
so short,too.

I wasn't used to that.

Just when I didn't think
the song was done, it'd stop.

Or Mike was kind of nervous,
and he'd thump a few more notes

and mumbIe something and
just kick into the next song.

A measured distance
between centuries

Issuesyouyournumber,
you poseur

WATT: So with Minutemen
we reaIIy wanted

to have more of our own sound.

Soweusedthese--

StiII, you know, the cuIture
of copying records and stuff.

We were stiII infIuenced
by other bands.

Sowehadthesebands
from EngIand

caIIed Pop Group and Wire.

Wire are quite aware of the fact
that we were infIuentiaI

on a few of the kind
of hardcore bands in America.

And I think specificaIIy
how it happened

was that Wire's
kind of minimaIity,

the kind of brutaI way of, you
can do a song with one chord.

''Wire do it.
Why don't we do it?''

I think that had an effect
in America

in a way that it didn't have
perhaps in Britain.

Then Pop Group took
Captain Beefheart

and mixed it with FunkadeIic.

You know, funk music
had a big infIuence on me

because I couIdn't reaIIy hear,
except for guys Iike Jack Bruce

and John EntwistIe,
I couIdn't reaIIy hear bass.

IcouIdn'thearthe bass
on a Creedence song.

So it had a big infIuence on me.

And then Captain Beefheart.

When we first heard punk,
you know,

we thought Beefheart, Stooges,
these guys were way ahead.

They aIready were punk without
there being that IabeI yet.

We the bIack sheep

Found, forgive

Choose ourself,
make or gain

Neednotourconscience

The strongest survive

The blind lead the blind,
decree not our method

Size up our effort,
make our way

Bleed our minds

Make our way

Bleed our minds

[ Cheers and appIause]

I got to teII you how excited
we were to be asked.

to do this aIbum.

I mean, ''Punch Line'' came out
in December.

And they pressed 3OO,
and they aII soId right away.

So I think maybe
that's why Greg asked us.

But he was a big fan
of the band, too.

So we started writing songs
for our first reaI aIbum.

We went back to Dennes' pIace
in Torrance.

He had an apartment there.

He pIayed us an acetate

of his new record,
''What Makes a Man Start Fires?''

And that's when I thought,

''These guys just ain't your
garden-variety punk rock thing.

|
There's something reaIIy good
9OIn9 On.'

They were moving beyond
the initiaI aesthetic.

And they were showing the rest
of the punk rock community

that you couId make
a more expansive statement.

When they put that out,
then it was Iike, ''Oh.''

Sort of Iike when the Germs
put out their first record.

Everyone kind oftookthem
for granted.

And then they reaIized,
''Oh, my God.

This is art.''

They were exciting.
They were different.

They had a Iot
of eIements to them.

And they mixed them up
as they went aIong, too,

so that was cooI

It was aImost Iike
not avant-garde,

but kind of Iike avant-garage.

The pieces were so short.

And I found that attractive
and fascinating.

The Pettibon drawing on the
cover was reaIIy fascinating.

Everything about it
fascinated me.

That's when you notice that Mike
stopped pIaying with a pick

and started pIaying
with his fingers.

Man, they reaIIy got funky
on that record.

There's a song on this record
caIIed ''The Anchor.''

Georgie wrote the words.
It was about a dream he had.

And it's our first song
where we go over two minutes.

It's two minute
and five seconds or something.

No, it's 2:3O.

Whew.

It's our opus.

Made a dream Iast night

Wish l hadn't awoken

Wind bIew warm in my face

Naked in an Epsom

Five beautifuI girIs
raped me

l was so damn bad

l took them on

One at a time

One at a time

Wake up

Heartyanked out

Anchor

Dragging

Behind

Anchor

Dragging

''Bob DyIan Wrote
P ropaganda Songs. ''

A Iot of peopIe ask me
about that song.

Why I wrote it.

I was kind of feeIing insecure
one day

about writing songs
that had intense ramifications.

You know,
that weren't maybe musicaI

ThenIthought, man,you know,

I never knew what words were
about, reaIIy, as a boy.

They were aIways Iike
some kind of Iead guitar.

But except for Bob DyIan.
I used to hear him a Iot.

And his words, I thought,
were sort of Iike

your pop taIking to you
or something.

So I thought, ''Oh, man,

it's okay if I write songs
Iike that

'cause Bob DyIan wrote
p ropaganda songs. ''

That's why I wrote that.

[ Man Iaughs ]

Some of the peopIe thought

I was reaIIy angry at Bob DyIan
and everything.

I'm teIIing you,
us Minutemen were insuIar.

A Iot of our things
kept way inside us

and never reaIIy got out.

So to reaIIy know about us,

Ithinkyou haveto ask
about us,thesethings.

Because it doesn't seem Iike
anything got out

that was understood
by peopIe easiIy.

From our name to our records
to our songs.

It aII got twisted up.

That's okay.

That's why we do things
Iike this.

I'm waiting in third person

I'm coIIecting

Dispersing information

Labeled rations

Bob DyIan

Wrotepropagandasongs

Bob DyIan

Wrotepropagandasongs

Manifestos are my windows

And my proof

Locations and more rations

OutIine my route

Bob DyIan

Wrotepropagandasongs

Bob DyIan

Wrotepropagandasongs

It was reaIIy easy
writing a song for D. Boon.

I wouId never have to show him
guitar parts.

Sometimes I wouId write chords
on guitar.

I'd show him the chords.

But a Iot of times I couId
just write the bass Iine.

And because we had grown up
together,

he couId immediateIy come up.

something compatibIe with it,
compIement it.

And he was very generous
that way.

D. Boon aImost had this.

Like, you know, ''Chank.''

That guy Jimmy NoIan that pIays
with James Brown.

He had that kind of funky edge
when he pIayed the TeIecaster.

He was kind of a punk rock.

...Wes Montgomery,
without being that breezy.

Like a reaIIy aggressive
jazz pIayer.

You know, there was a Iot of
stuff you couId hear in it.

I couId hear some
of this country infIuence.

Like BakersfieId country-western
kind of stuff

that was in his sound

because I grew up Iistening
to some of that stuff as weII

I think more than anything
he just deveIoped this sound

that was uniqueIy his own.

He was kind of a contradiction
as far as guitar styIes go.

He had aII that,
and to him it was aII music.

And his tone was reaIIy spiky.
It was reaIIy trebIy.

Which I Iearned Iater from M ike
was compIeteIy poIiticaI

It was a poIiticaI decision for
them to separate bass and trebIe

in a very, very distinctive way
as sovereign states.

PoIiticaI sovereignty, anyway.

He had a guitar sound
that was Iike

a buzzing insect
and a dentist's driII

aII at the same time,
that reaIIy cut through the mix.

And it was just reaI anguIar
and sharp.

And he started deveIoping
this reaIIy great styIe

that didn't sound Iike
anybody eIse.

Yeah, it was reaIIy brittIe
and bright.

If I were to get his sound, I
wouId try something Iike that.

[ Staccato chords pIay ]

Oh, there you go.

Yeah.
Isthat cIose enough?

I just remember D. Boon
careening around the stage

and into the audience
and bowIing peopIe over

and not missing a Iick.

And I was so bIown away by that.

And Mike Watt wouId do
this thing

where he'd be standing
with his Iegs spread apart.

And one Ieg
wouId just be shaking.

He'd puff his cheeks out
as he's pIaying

because hejust was sointense.

George HurIey had that big Iock
of hair that wouId just.

He aIways wore it up,
and then he'd take it out.

Since my Iegs and arms
were busy,

aII I couId do
was shake my hair.

So that's what I did.

D. Boon's just bouncing
aII over the stage.

I never saw a fat guy
move that much, I guess.

There wouId be this interIude

where they'd pIay
just an instrumentaI part.

And D. Boon wouId just do
this crazy dance.

He did it every night.

Andhehadtheworstshoes
I'veeverseenanybodywear.

I was trying to taIk him
into getting tennis shoes.

And he's, ''No, no, no.
This is part of my uniform.''

When he hit the ground
or hit that stage,

I mean, things were reaIIy
''Kuh! Kuh! Kuh!''

I think that reaIIy amazed them.

They weren't reaIIy used to
seeing a short-haired guy,

as pretty rotund and round
as D. Boon was,

to be jumping and just going
crazy in the air Iike him.

The peopIe wiII survive

In their environment

AII the dirt, scarcity

And the emptiness
of our South

The injustice of our greed

There on the beach

AII the dirt, scarcity

And the emptiness
of our South

I couId see it in her eyes

There on the beach

But I onIy had a Corona
five-cent deposit

So ''Buzz or HowI,''
we made it for 5O.

That's the Iast record
I reaIIy pIayed with a pick.

And haIf of it is done
with Spot,

the guy who produced aII

Mixed aII the Minutemen records
up this point.

I think Watt and D. Boon
were both saying,

''Let's do something
reaIIy simpIe.''

So they were taIking about
going back to four-track.

So I toId Watt, I said,

''Hey, Iet's forget about
this muItitrack stuff.

Let's just set it up
and do it Iive to two-track.''

You know, one take. Bam.
It's done.

You mix it whiIe you're
pIaying it and be done with it.

And that's what we did.

The other side, we then met
this guy named Ethan James

who had a studio
caIIed Radio Tokyo.

He was putting together
a compiIation.

He said, '' If you give me a song
for that compiIation,

I'II record a song free
for you.''

So we went, did three songs,
put them together,

and toId him
it was one big song.

So we did the other side
for free.

I put a Ietter from
Richard MeItzer on the back.

I wrote to Mike,

''Oh, sorry I got to go
to this wedding.''

I think it was Vinny GoIia,
the saxophone pIayer,

was getting married.

And so he actuaIIy put
my Ietter

on the back
of one of the aIbums.

Richard MeItzer was
a big hero to us.

He used to write for Creem.

We used to read his rock-write
as teenagers.

Then we got to meet him,
and he wrote us a Ietter.

And I put it on the back
with a Raymond drawing.

ActuaIIy the aIbum cover
was going to be.

I found a picture
in NationaI Geographic

of aII these tropicaI
tree frogs,

aII these bright coIors.

We found out how much it cost
for the coIor separation.

It was 1,OOO bucks.

So I asked Joe Baiza
just to draw something

about me and D. Boon.

He came up with this
in one night.

D. Boon aIso had
a drawing in it, too.

He's getting yeIIed at
at work again.

''Eat your Iunch at noon,
understand?''

He had some guy eating
at the wrong time.

[ ''D.'s Car Jam/Anxious Mo-fo''
pIays ]

Serious as a heart attack

It's the faII of '83.

We have this whoIe batch of
songs ready to go for an aIbum.

Then Hüsker Dü comes to town.

And they had found out
that Hüsker Dü was putting out

a doubIe Iive record.

So they went back to my studio,

and they start writing
more songs.

I guess, Iike, within two weeks
they had 2O more songs written

and were back
in the studio again.

''DoubIe NickeIs on the Dime.''

Remembering 46 songs
for a record.

It's kind of crazy.

It took us a Iong time.
I think about a week or two.

You do things when you're young

that, man, sometimes you Iook
back, and it's kind of amazing.

I don't think I've gotten
any better, though.

I Iisten to those records,

I wonder how I did
some of that stuff.

BOON: List monitors arrive
with petition.

Iron-fisted phiIosophy

Is your Iife
worth a painting?

Is this girI versus boy with
different kind of symboIs?

Being born is power

Scout Ieader tagged
as big sin

Your risk chains me hostage

Me, I'm fighting with my head,
am not ambiguous

Must Iook Iike a dork.

Me,
naked with textbook poems

Spout fountain
against Nazis

With weird kinds
of sex symboIs

In speeches
that are big dance-thumps

If we heard mortar shells
we'd cuss more in our songs

And cut down on the guitars

So dig this big crux.

Organizing boy scouts
for murder is wrong

1O years beyond
the big sweat point

Man, it was still there,
ever without you

Coming around
forjust a second

Apeek,aguess
atthe wholeness

Then you Iook at it
and it's aII together

At the wholeness
that's way too big

At the wholeness
that's way too.

Part of the joke.

Since we didn't have a concept
Iike Hüsker did,

we had to kind of make one up.

So we did two themes
paraIIeIing each other.

One was ''Ummagumma,''
this Pink FIoyd record.

Which was a doubIe aIbum,
and each got a soIo song.

Like a quarter
ofone ofthe records.

And then this Sammy Hagar.

Sammy Hagar had come out with
a song, you couIdn't drive 55.

And caIIed himseIf
the Red Rocker.

So we said,
''WeII, we'II drive 55

and be crazy with the music
instead of crazy with the cars. ''

'Cause we thought
his music was pretty safe.

''DoubIe nickeIs on the dime''

means gong
exactIy 55 miIes an hour,

which was the freeway speed
in those days.

Jimmy Carter, in the 'TOs,
had Iowered it to conserve fueI

'Cause ofthe oiIcrunch.

But no one got it.
No one got the Sammy Hagar part.

No one got the ''Ummagumma'' part.

And then Ieading up to
''DoubIe NickeIs on the Dime,''

which I think is the
greatest record of aII time.

''DoubIe NickeIs'' is one
of the most incredibIe

outpourings of creativity ever.

I'm sure you're going to get
everyone in this documentary

saying that over and over again,
but it's true.

It was this whoIe new direction.

And it just seemed Iike music
was going to expIode

into this cacophony of coIor
and sound and creative ideas.

And it seemed so IimitIess.

ProbabIy the best record
I ever pIayed on,

and it came about
totaIIy by accident.

Just 'cause of this process
we were engaged in, you know?

Trying to push our Iimits,
push ourseIves.

Pushthescene.

Working on the edge

Losing my seIf-respect

for a man
who presides over me

AII the principIes
of his creed

Punchin,punchout

Eight hours, five days

AII the sweat and the agony

On Saturday, I'II get paid

This ain't no picnic

This ain't no picnic

This ain't no picnic

This ain't no picnic

Hey, mister,
don't look down on me

for what l believe

I've got my biIIs
and the rent

I shouId pitch a tent

But our land isn't free

So I'II work my youth away

I n the pIace of a machine

l refuse to be a slave

This ain't no picnic

This ain't no picnic

This ain't no picnic

This ain't no picnic

They did ''Project: Mersh,''
and that record.

That was a confounding record.

Because on one hand,
it was cIearIy an attempt

to be commerciaI

But are they trying to hit it?

I was trying to get my head
around it.

And what was even more puzzIing
about it

is how much I Ioved the record.

It has one of the greatest
covers of aII time.

So D. Boon made this painting
of a boardroom where the guys,

some record putzes are,
Iike, scheming.

''Oh, what wiII we do
to make them accessibIe?

I got it!

We'II have them write
hit songs.''

'' P roject: M e rsh ''
WaS nO mOre a Career mOVe

than our first record,
''Paranoid Time.''

It's just a different way for us
to teII our story.

We were trying to get rid
of the chains peopIe had

on our description of us.

They wouIdn't Iet us
be Minutemen.

We had to be fiIed

under Dewey decimaI system
unde r ''Punk/Funk. ''

So we said, ''Okay, Iet's use
choruses and fade-outs.''

It's onIy mersh 'cause we said
it was mersh.

It soId haIf as much
as our art record,

''DoubIe NickeIs on the Dime.''

''Project: Mersh'' was, I think,

a conscious attempt
at actuaIIy writing a song

that couId get pIayed
on the radio.

Of course, it didn't.

I mean, radio at the time
was more interested

in Men At Work
or Men Without Hats.

Not the Minutemen.

''Project: Mersh,'' we actuaIIy
practiced these songs

in WiImington
at Saccharine Trust's.

Jack Brewer's garage.

The Minutemen were rehearsing
in the garage.

I had this neighbor
who I'd known for years.

He caIIed me one day
whiIe I was in my backyard.

He said, ''Jack,
taIk to you about that band

you got rehearsing back there. ''

I said, ''Oh, I'm reaI sorry.
I'II ask them to turn it down. ''

He said, ''No, the music's fine.

But in between their songs,

these guys are just yeIIing
and hoIIering and cursing.

It's reaIIy disturbing.''

Sometimes MichaeI wouId just
come back, and he'd be Iike,

''Dennes is writing these songs
that are Iike.

I don't know if I want to pIay
songs Iike that.''

You know, and I'd go,

''WeII, you toId him to do
what he feeIs is right.''

Right, right.

So the song differences were
reaIIy extreme sometimes.

-You'd seethese.
-Yes.

Because MichaeI wouId write
about something he saw

on, Iike, some taIk show
or something.

And Dennes wouId write about
totaI poIiticaI unrest

in another country.

Oh, they did.
They'd fight over ideas.

They'd fight over
a Iot of different things.

But, you know,
you don't fight with a stranger

the way you fight
with someone you Iove.

And that cover
of ''Buzz or HowI Under Heat, ''

or whatever the name
of the record is, that.

I think that's
a Joe Baiza drawing.

That was them.

Either about
the Communist Manifesto

or workers' rights in Cuba
or whatever.

They wouId just.

The reIationship between
these three guys.

As far as I can teII,
it was many things aII at once.

Man, they were just going at it.

They were both
in the front seat.

D. was driving.

We're saying,
''Keep your eyes on the road!''

He's pointing, and they get
reaI into it, you know?

And finaIIy, I don't know
if it was Mike or D. first.

He said, ''When we get home,
the band's over! That's it!''

And he goes,
''WeII, George is coming with me!

George is gonna pIay
in my band!''

And then D. goes, ''George.''

And he, Iike,
hits him on the Ieg.

Georgetakestheheadphonesoff.

''George, when I get back
to Pedro,

I'm gonna start my own band.

Are you gonna pIay with me,
or are you gonna pIay with him?''

And George said something Iike,

''I'm not gonna pIay
with either of you.

I'm gonna start my own band.''

Like, screw both of you.

You can't have a revoIution

without pounding your fist
on the tabIe a IittIe bit.

And that was the nature
of their reIationship,

that they used to get into it
quite a bit.

But it was aIways..
I mean, they were best friends.

There's no tension
in between writing songs.

We aII write different stuff.
We have our different ideas.

We want a bunch of dimensions
to make it Iook reaI

We're into the freedom,
you see?

One of the things
that makes us a band

is that we aII choose
our own destinies

in what we want to put into
the band.

And we don't coIIaborate
on Iyrics hardIy.

D gets his. I get mine.
George gets his.

''I want some, too.''

The music is what
we mostIy coIIaborate on.

That's what you can share on.

The statement thing,
that's reaI personaI

Words, to us, are constantIy
changing, you know?

ReaI personaI, too.

It's the music that we spend
a whoIe Iot of time on.

You know?

UsuaIIy the Iyrics we write down
in one day, and there they are.

He writes his in one day.
I take time with mine.

Yes, we have a new aIbum
coming out.

Nove m ber.

In the middIe of November
sometime.

You can't reaIIy predict

what exact day
it's gonna come out on.

It's caIIed
''3-Way Tie (For Last) ''

WATT:
On SST Records.

Yes.
There's five copy songs on it.

''3-Way Tie,''
us doing these covers, you know?

We're now confidentenough
orsecure enough

to Iaugh atourown background.

So there's Creedence.

There's BIue Oyster CuIt.

There's Roky Erickson.

3-Way Tie (For Last),'
we made a conscious effort

to just make it a rock record
with us.

But I sang one of the songs
over the phone with a guitar.

So it's artistic.

-We're trying to give...
-We use acoustic guitars.

AII kinds of things.
They're just devices.

It's aII for us to use.

Fade-outs are the same
as a horn or the saw.

I Iike the saw.
That's a new angIe.

Just the instrumentaI cuts of
''3-Way Tie,'' guy was so excited.

The vocaIs weren't dubbed yet.

But he was just so excited
just pIaying the tape for me

whiIe I was at his house.

That's a memory I have of him.

He Ioved whathewasdoing
so much.

I know that ''3-Way Tie'' isn't
one of Mike's favorite records.

But I think
it's a great statement

of the way, again,
the two of them interacted.

It's Iike Mike's side
and D. Boon's side.

And yet there's crossover.

There's a song on each
that's kind of from the other,

and there's some of my Iyrics
on both.

And there's this
compIeteIy intertwined effect

even though
it's aII so very much Iike,

''Nobody's the Ieader.
We're equaI

We ' re wo rk i n g -c I ass.
We're a democracy.''

It's exactIy how they were.

A friend of mine toId me once
that Don Van VIiet,

Ca pta i n Beefh ea rt ,
toId him that he went

to go see TheIonious Monk pIay
at Carnegie HaII

And that he waIked in
and there was a grand piano.

It was a soIo performance.

There was a grand piano
with a pot of fIowers on it.

And TheIonious Monk waIked in,
Iooked at the audience,

threw the pot of fIowers
in the piano,

sIammed the Iid down,
and sat down and went, ''Bing!''

And hit one note and Ieft.

And Beefheart said, ''It was
the greatest note I ever heard!''

That's Iike the kind of feeIing
I get from a Minutemen note

on ''3-Way Tie (For Last) ''

They pIayed reaIIy simpIe,
beautifuI songs

that you can teII
that they couId do anything.

One of our phiIosophies
in the Minutemen

aIso has to do with
that aII peopIe, you know. .

There shouId be more interaction
with music and everyday peopIe.

Because that's what we are.

Thisidea D.Boonhad

that working peopIe
shouId be abIe to go to gigs.

So, ''Hey, Iet's start
the gig at T:3O.

Let's put it where
you won't have to drive

3O miIes each way.''

This was intense, you know?

This wasn't Iike,
''Hey, Iet's do a showcase

so we can get signed
and be in a rock band.''

This wasn't his sensibiIity
at aII

Ornoneofours,youknow?

This was Iike.

Ithinkit was because
our experience with arena rock

and going to the gigs at
the Forum and Long Beach Arena

and just being
so much a spectator

that when we came up
on this new scene,

it wasn't about spectators.

It was more about totaIIy being
a participant.

You know, we come from
wo rk i ng -c Iass fam i I ies ,

and we pIay our music
the way we want to do it.

And t|s

PeopIe are into it.

We just want to Iet peopIe know

that there shouId be a band
on every bIock.

There shouId be a nightcIub
on every other bIock

and a record IabeI
on every other bIock after that.

Ofcourse, you can understand
whythings gotorthodox

and kind of uniform
and conservative.

Attacking forces
from the outside,

peopIe hating the scene
and stuff.

So peopIe bunch together
defensiveIy.

Young peopIe coming in.
Things getting very sociaI

So you don't want to be
too experimentaI with the music.

You can see.

I'm aIways getting asked
these days by younger peopIe,

''What do you think of this
new pop-punk and aII this?

There's no reaI punk.''

I mean,things happen.

I don't reaIIy fauIt peopIe.

Everybody can't be born
atthe sametime.

Some peopIe wiII be born before,
some peopIe born during,

some peopIe born after.

A Iot of that
is just circumstance.

So what's reaIIy
the question is,

''What is to be done
where you're at?

And how are you gonna do it?''

And actuaIIy
what we were coming on,

it was new to us 'cause we were
finding out about it.

But this is probabIy
the same kind of traditions

peopIe Iike Woody Guthrie
were from, you know?

And maybe some of them beboppers
and stuff Iike this.

Just taking things
in their own hands.

[ ''LittIe Man
With A Gun In His Hand'' pIays ]

A woman's touch

Highest Iove

Strong mind, a strong body

AIIthethings
he could have been

AIIthethings
he should have had

Little man
with a gun in his hand

Little man
with a gun in his hand

Little man
with a gun in his hand

Little man
with a gun in his hand

Little man
with a gun in his hand

Support aII organizations

that deaI with oppression
and stopping it.

[ Crowd cheering ]

MAN:Soyoupsyched
abouttheR.E.M.shows?

BOON:
Yeah. ShouId be fun.

[ Dog whimpers ]

Okay, come on.

MAN: I wouId think that peopIe
that are into R.E.M.

are gonna beinto you guys.

BOON: See how it goes.
'Cause they're into us.

That shouId say something.

It's reaI interesting
how we even got on the biII

was that MichaeI Snipe and their
manager wanted us to pIay.

-Stipe.
-But their IabeI,

they wanted a band
from their IabeI to open up.

And Snipe said, ''No way.

We want them to pIay,
and they're going to.''

And their record IabeI
is not doing

any of the promotion for it.

So the band's doing that.

So it's something they want,
and I reaIIy appreciate that.

MAN:
That's pretty good.

I remember the Iast gig
of the tour.

Maybe it was in CharIotte.

We're pIaying with R.E.M.

I mean with them.

It's their encore,
and they have us come on.

Georgie pIays a fIoor tom.

And me and D. Boon pIayed
a few of Pete Buck's guitars.

And we did ''See No EviI ''

The TeIevision song.

And that actuaIIy is the Iast
time I pIayed with D. Boon.

I didn't even pIay bass.
[ ChuckIes ]

I pIayed guitar.

That turns out to be
our Iast gig.

And I had just gotten these
1 O songs from Richard MeItzer.

Lyrics.

And he wanted to record
with us.

And he'd pIay sax and sing.
We'd pIay behind him.

So I bring them over
to D. Boon's pad.

And, ''Look.
Richard's written us 1 O songs.''

We were so excited.

''Let me have those words.
I'II think of Iicks.''

So that's the Iast time
I saw him.

[ ''PIight'' pIays ]

His face is young

His hands are old

Past is empty

Blind and cold

Mike caIIed me up.
I was at home in bed.

I was asIeep.

And he woke me up and toId me
that D. got in an accident.

It's kind of Iike having a hoIe
where a heart was.

Grabs the dirt

Stains his shirt

So December 22, 1 985.

[ CIears throat ]

Heavy day for me.

SIeeps at night

Won't see day

He does some hobbies

He needs a new hobby

MAN:
Yeah, D. Boon!

[ AppIause ]

WATT: This whoIe thing
with D. Boon and his mother.

This idea where you make up
your own entertainment

and your own activities.

I think it was reaIIy intense
on us, you know,

this whoIe idea of DIY
and stuff.

I guess there's a debate
over this.

You want things
for young peopIe to do

so they don't get in gangs
and in troubIe.

But if things are too set up
and stuff,

you end up creating an army
of robots anyway, you know?

There comes a period

whenyou'regonnahaveto
comeupanddothings,youknow?

Become your own person.
Pick your own friends.

Your own guys you want to buiId
dreams with and stuff.

Big change in my Iife,
meeting D. Boon.

Our band can be your Iife.

ReaI names be the truth.

Me and Mike Watt,
we pIayed for years.

Andpunkrockchanged
our Iives.

We Iearned punk rock
up in HoIIywood.

Drove aII the way up
from San Pedro.

We were fucking corn dogs.

We'd go drink and pogo.

Mr. Narrator.

This is Bob DyIan to me.

I couId be in his songs.

Me as his soIdier-chiId.

Our band is scientist rock.

First I was E. BIoom.

Richard HeII

Joe Strummer.

Good oI' John Doe.

Me and M ike just pIaying
these here guitars.

MAN:
That's great.

Mike or George, you guys got
any cIosing statements

in reference to the Minutemen,

in reference to this tour
or the new aIbum?

No.
We jam econo.

-G eorge?
-No.

That's it.

-Thankyouvery much, Mike.
-Thanks a Iot.

We got these things.

[ ''Unnamed Jam'' pIays ]

AII right.

Where were we?

[ WhistIing, appIause ]