Hellride East

Hellride East was a one-time project band growing out of Watt's infrequent performances under the name Hellride with Stephen Perkins and Peter DiStefano. This version of the band contained then-former-Dinosaur Jr members J Mascis on guitar and Murph on drums. 
Like its West Coast counterpart, Hellride East paid tribute to and reinterpreted the music of The Stooges by way of John Coltrane. 
The lineup played only one gig at Brownie's in New York City in 2000, not long after Watt recovered from the illness and surgery that would later inspire The Secondman's Middle Stand. J Mascis later tapped Watt to play bass in a live touring version of J Mascis and The Fog in support of J's More Light album; during these tour legs the band would often add Stooges covers to the set list, sometimes with Ron Asheton participating. An outgrowth of this would be a few European performances of Stooges covers with Scott Asheton joining Watt, Ron, and J under the banner Asheton, Asheton, Mascis and Watt, and later to the proper reunion of the Stooges in 2004 with Watt taking the bass position. 
Semi-indirectly, Hellride East would also lead to J Mascis successfully reforming the original Dinosaur Jr lineup of himself, Murph, and Lou Barlow.
Category:Mike Watt project bands
Category:Mike Watt collaborations with J Mascis