Inner Sleeve: Doug McCombs

Minutemen – Double Nickels On The Dime (SST 1984)
Cover photography by Dirk V

Minutemen were proudly and defiantly squirrelly. These are misfits. These are the misfits The Misfits could never be. Look at Mike Watt on the cover of Double Nickels On The Dime. He’s looking into the rear view mirror and smiling. Punk bands don’t smile. Danzig would never smile. Watt seems to be saying, ‘I can be angry but I can still smile.’ Even now, if you see pictures of Watt, he’s smiling like he’s still at his sixth birthday party. Through the windshield you can see the highway interchange sign for The Minutemen’s beloved San Pedro. Proud of the one-horse town they came from. Very uncool. On the front cover and also the back, Watt, George Hurley and D Boon are all in their cars driving. They are on their way to work or practice, just like you or me. On the inner panels of the gatefold are some candid photos of live shows, sweaty and intense, or with small children dancing in the foreground. It’s like they’re saying, ‘This is what our gigs are like, some are cool and some are weird.’ Full disclosure. No glamour. There are also some Raymond Pettibon drawings: ‘These are some other things we think are cool and weird.’ I guess looking at this record makes you think you could be in this band or one like it. Uncool, cool and weird. The coolest.
Doug McCombs is a member of Tortoise.