View full sizeThe '90s band Firehose -- from left, Ed Crawford, Mike Watt, and George Hurley -- will reunite for a show at the Doug Fir Lounge on April 6, 2012 In spite of the many bands that reunite to either cash in on the always lucrative nostalgia market or to promote the re-release of older material, the news that Firehose would be getting back together for a tour was a surprise to even the group's most steadfast fans.
The funk-jazz-punk trio is doing a two-week U.S. jaunt that stops by
tonight in support of a soon-to-be-released collection of all the material Firehose recorded for Columbia Records. But even after five varied and well-received albums and hundreds of live dates during its '90s heyday, this isn't a band spoken of in the same breathless terms as peers such as Sonic Youth and Fugazi.
What Firehose is best remembered for is how it gave a second musical life to Mike Watt and George Hurley. The two had already been around the world and back again as members of Minutemen, a critically acclaimed politico-punk trio whose trajectory was cut tragically short following the accidental death of singer-guitarist D. Boon in a 1985 highway accident.
Coming Up: Firehose
When: 9 p.m. Friday
Where:
, 830 E. Burnside St.
Tickets: $22 at the door
Video:
In the weeks following Boon's death, the Watt and Hurley were feeling adrift and unsure whether they'd ever have the nerve to take up their instruments again. What brought them back was a wiry and intense Minutemen fan named Ed Crawford. Then in his early 20s, Crawford drove from Ohio to Watt and Hurley's hometown of San Pedro, Calif., and practically begged them to start a band with him.
"I still have a lot of respect for Edward helping me in those days," Watt told Rolling Stone recently. "I didn't really know if I wanted to play music after Minutemen. It was a bad scene."
Firehose expanded upon the Minutemen aesthetic, which leaned on short, jagged bursts of sound and energy. The trio stretched out instrumental passages, reined in tempos to a stately crawl or a hip-swinging bounce, and turned its lyrical views either inward or toward influences such as Dave Alvin, R.E.M. and Meat Puppets.
It was often great stuff, but many times was disregarded in conversations about music from the late '80s and early '90s, outside of helping introduce younger fans to Minutemen.
With 20 years since they've shared the stage together, perhaps now is Firehose's chance to secure a place alongside their peers. If not, they'll sure make a glorious racket on their way back to the shadows.
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