We Jam Econo

The punk ethos – the true punk ethos – is something admirable. Keeping it simple, stripped down, no B.S., nothing fancy, direct, focused politics against all forms of oppression, being true to your self, never doing anything for money, having and spending very little money, supporting your community, power to the people, and, of course, loud, fast, direct music… for some people, it’s a complete philosophy and lifestyle.

Mike Watt embodies that better than anyone I’ve ever met, even today. And the band he came from- the Minutemen- set the blueprint for a very unique universe, complete with their own slang, that few groups have ever really been able to manage. We Jam Econo tells their story the only way a band like this deserves- with simple, no-frills camcorder-aesthetic video.

Hearing their origin stories (coming from their own lips) is amazing in the context of where they ended up- genuine punk gods. You wouldn’t know it to hear Watt talk about it, staring at a bass in a store as a teenager, wondering why the strings were so thick on that “guitar”. It’s amazing to consider that these three clueless high school friends growing up in a small Southern California town developed into a truly great musical trio- one of the best musical trios- to ever grace rock n’ roll.

Jello Biafra, Thurston Moore, Henry Rollins, Richard Hell, and pretty much every other great punk band is represented here in the interviews, all of them showering deserved praise onto the Minutemen. Their music: tight and impeccable. Evolving into complex, interesting chords and rhythms. Their lyrics: brilliant splatters of impressionistic political statements. Unpretentious, but deep. They grew in leaps and bounds with every album, yet never managed to lose the ethos and style that made them who they were- that was the Minutemen, and Tim Irwin’s econo doc captures these boys from pEDRO’s spiels like ragin’, full on.

For the true fan and archivist, we’ve included not just the full documentary, but a bunch of full, uncut shows and interviews as well!