Mike Watt and the Secondmen is the punk rock trio formed by former

Minutemen Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

and Firehose bassist

Mike Watt Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. Watt co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ...

to perform and record his third solo album, '' The Secondman's Middle Stand''. Formed in 2002 in Watt's hometown of San Pedro, California, the band first consisted of organist Pete Mazich and drummer Jerry Trebotic, both of whom had played with Watt in a side project, The Madonnabes, that was devoted to reinterpreting the works of

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

; the three musicians had also previously recorded a song for a Doctors Without Borders benefit album under the name Mike Watt & Masina in 1998, with Mazich's wife Ljil on vocals. The Secondmen did three tours of the United States and Canada wherein they played early versions of some of the songs that were to be on the album, along with songs from Watt's back catalog and hand-picked cover versions rearranged for organ. Mazich's day job commitments forced him to tour as much as his earned vacation time (five weeks for the spring 2002 tour; seven weeks for the spring 2003 tour) would allow. For the remainder of the 2002 tour, guitarist Tom Watson took Mazich's place, and the Secondmen finished the tour as The Jom and Terry Show; the spring 2003 tour saw former Screamers and

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keyboardist Paul Roessler (who is also Watt's former brother-in-law) sub for Mazich during the last three weeks of the tour. By October 2003 Mazich decided to quit the day job in order to be able to concentrate on music while working as a freelance, "casual", longshoreman in between Watt tours. In January 2004, the band recorded ''The Secondman's Middle Stand'' along with former

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vocalist Petra Haden in a San Pedro recording studio. The group initially intended to start promoting the album during the 2004

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festival, but the cancellation of the festival led to the band not touring behind the album until September of that year. At one point, neither Trebotic nor Mazich could join Watt so they were temporarily replaced by Raul Morales and Tom Watson with the new combination named The Missingmen. In 2005, personal commitments similar to Trebotic's forced Mazich to sit out a European tour behind ''Middle Stand''; Paul Roessler played in his stead a second time. (Maintaining a sense of humor, Watt nicknamed the Roessler/Morales lineup "The Second-string Men".) The original lineup, however, did regroup to film a trilogy of three videos from ''The Secondman's Middle Stand'' with director

Mike Muscarella Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

. A regrouping of the original Secondmen lineup of Watt, Mazich and Trebotic played the

Festival Periferias A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

in Huesca, Spain on October 29, 2005, and a benefit concert for the San Pedro Skateboard Association on November 5, 2005. After the success of those gigs, the Secondmen were scheduled to play two more Los Angeles-area shows, including a December 3 opening slot with reunited punk legends and longtime heroes of Watt's, the Germs. The original lineup continues to play on occasion in the Los Angeles area, and has also played as a five-piece with Watson and Morales as The Secondmissingmen; this hybrid lineup debuted on Watt's 57th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mike Watt and the Secondmen Mike Watt Punk rock groups from California