Dos

Dos emerged as an intriguing bass-guitar duo uniting Mike Watt, known from the Minutemen and fIREHOSE, with his ex-wife Kira Roessler, formerly of Black Flag. The pair launched the project expressly to position the bass instrument front and center rather than in its customary supporting position. They chose the name Dos, the Spanish word for “two,” to avoid any confusion with computer software. The endeavor also served a healing function following Roessler’s exit from Black Flag and the sudden passing of Minutemen guitarist D. Boon on December 22, 1985. After trading demo recordings throughout most of 1986—while Roessler resided in Connecticut—the musicians regrouped to lay down their self-titled debut album toward year’s end and issued it on Watt’s New Alliance Records imprint.

Because both artists remained occupied with other commitments, Dos maintained an irregular performance calendar, typically convening only when Roessler traveled to support occasional fIREHOSE shows, and a correspondingly measured pace of releases. Those efforts produced the 1989 EP Numero Dos, the 1991 seven-inch The Bob Lawton EP on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label, and the full-length Justamente Tres, which appeared a full ten years after the first album. Even with such intermittent activity, Dos stands as the longest-running musical outlet of Watt’s career and the primary ongoing concern for Roessler.