Mike Watt, San Pedro’s most-esteemed citizen, has joined forces with two Italian musicians to form a new group called ‘il sogno di marinaio’. The Italian/American trio will debut their first album, Busta Gialla in January of 2013.

The Italian musicians are named Stefano Pilia and Andrea Belfi. Watt met them in late 2009 when he was invited out of the blue to join them on stage to play six gigs. The name of the group means ‘the sailor’s dream’ in Italian. Speaking about the name, Watt explained:

it’s in italian and this important cuz it’s the first time I collaborate w/artists from that land and also in their land (by the way, my ma’s people come from italy). I am the son of a sailor and so you now know a little about both my parents!

About the original shows that brought them together and recording the album, Mike Watt says:

I thought if we were going to come together to do that then why not also record the stuff for an album? Made sense to me and I’m so glad stefano and andrea were also into it. each of us brought tunes and we worked them out first w/prac in a real old pad in a little town near bologna called palesio and then at the gigs themselves before going into a studio called la sauna in the northern italian town of varano borghi where the cats there were absolutely righteous.

This latest project is another to add to Watt’s résumé which is becoming increasingly difficult to match. The bassist started out with legendary SST Records band The Minutemen, continued on with fIREHOSE, has performed in recent years with the re-united Stooges and has had steady output of solo material throughout.

His latest performances as Mike Watt & the Missing Men doing his third-opera Hyphenated-man should not be missed.