Mike Watt at Maxwell's (08-02-1995)

On August 2nd, 1995, Mike Watt played at Maxwell’s! The legendary bassman from San Pedro, California came through Hoboken in support of his debut solo album, Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, which was released in February of that year. Watt brought along quite the backing band for this epic summer tour. His backing band included Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and then-Foo Fighters drummer William Goldsmith. Opening acts included Hovercraft, the multi-media project helmed by Beth Liebling, and the upstart Foo Fighters, who had just released their self-titled debut album in July.

Without a full-time band, Watt recruited a wide variety of friends to record Ball-Hog or Tugboat? In addition to Grohl, Smear, Vedder, and Goldsmith, the album also featured contributions from fellow SST Records alumni like Henry Rollins, members of Sonic Youth, Curt and Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets, former Saccharine Trust guitarist Joe Baiza, and J. Mascis. Flea, Kathleen Hanna, Frank Black, and a whole host of others are also credited on the record!