Former Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt plans to

begin recording his third solo album in early 1999, according to a Columbia Records

spokesman. The album will feature Watt with a drummer and keyboard

player, but no guitarist. Watt recently completed his third and final tour in support of his

sophomore solo disc, Contemplating the Engine Room, which detailed the

parallel histories of his life in the Minutemen and his father's career in the U.S. Navy.