Record Store Day Wax: Mike Watt + The Black Gang - "Rebel Girl" (30 Days In The Hole)

Damn near the furthest thing from a pothead or Neo-Nazi, while being an avid music fan/vinyl-collecting "champion," Record Store Day is my kinda holiday; already in it's sixth annual year of festivities, I trucked up to my favourite record store, Tunes (Turnersville) around 10:30-11ish with 2 wish lists in hand. After assembling quite a few stacked, re-stacked, and un-stacked 45/LP piles, my final haul included: Mike Watt + The Black Gang, Surfer Blood, Pornography, G. Love, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. some J Dilla from the postman... Bob Dylan, Rob Zombie, and Dio/Killswitch Engage (for my buddy waiting tables @ Friendly's). Based solely on Thom Yorke & Flea's involvement, my co-pilot Mr. Moot bought a copy of Atoms for Peace - AMOK, which ended up being pure fucking garbage!


Like anybody, if I had an endless cash-flow, I would've gotten a lot more. But I'm very happy with what I got an how they sound on wax. Needless to say, Mike Watt + The Black Gang - "Rebel Girl/30 Days In The Hole" was definitely my ace-in-the-hole find of the day. Recorded live between 1998-99, Watt recruited friends Nels Cline (Wilco) and Bob Lee (Claw Hammer) to record 2 spirited, previously unreleased Bikini Kill/Humble Pie covers. It's without a doubt a righteous-sounding 45 that was recorded by 3 suspiciously angst-filled then 40-somethings. The 7x7"'s back sleeve also lists some additional info: Oct. 16, 1998, New York, The Knitting Factory, Steve Reed [Back-up Singing], July 4, 1999, Irvine CA, and "This Ain't No Picnic" Festival. While The Black Gang went through a few line-up changes over the years, Mike Watt said around 2008 that he'd like to re-form the Cline/Lee incarnation, after fulfilling commitments with Iggy & The Stooges and The Minutemen.