Eddie Vedder appeared on the Smartless , hosted by Will Arnett, Sean Hayes , and Jason Bateman , to promote his latest album, Earthling . The album features collaborations with music icons such as Ringo Starr, Stevie Wonder , and Elton John.
During the conversation, Vedder went back in time and recalled a supergroup formed with Dave Grohl and other members of Nirvana to serve as a band for Mike Watt, the legendary member of the Minutemen .
He recounted (via Alternative Nation ): “[Dave Grohl] gave me the tape well before it was released, and I think it just said 'this side'. I didn't have any notes on it, it was pretty much all done. Their first tour was with Dave, me, and Mike Watt . We were playing for Mike Watt, who had just released a great album full of collaborations.”
"So, when we went on the road, it was me, Dave, and Watt playing as a trio late at night. Pat Smear played with us, and so on. After that, I'd start playing drums with a little trio, and the Foo Fighters would play. That was, like, their first tour. I mean, it was 28 shows in 30 days."
According to Popdose , however, a tour t-shirt shows that Vedder got the information a little wrong: there were 29 shows in 42 days. The tour he mentions was for the album Ball-Hog or TugBoat , released by Watt in 1995. The bassist was joined by several musicians such as Flea , Ad-Rock and Mike D ( Beastie Boys ), Henry Rollins ( Black Flag ), J. Mascis ( Dinosaur Jr. ) and many more, in addition to Vedder himself.
There are few recordings of this supergroup, but see below for some videos that have been found.
