Today, April 20, marks Record Store Day 2013, where special vinyl releases will be available exclusively through brick and mortar independent record stores. Many artists are involved in the promotion and celebration of the day, including Mike Watt, bassist for some amazing bands over the years like The Minutemen, Firehose, and currently Iggy and The Stooges. (There’s even a special vinyl-sized Mike Watt Tote Bag available that you can fill up with all your records.)

Recently, Geeks of Doom’s Stoogeypedia had a chance to have a lengthy video Skype conversation with Watt about a plethora of topics, including his participation in Record Store Day — Watt will be performing today with The Secondmen at Fingerprints Record Store in Long Beach, CA. So, in honor of today’s celebration of vinyl, we asked Watt to reveal his Top 6 Favorite Records Of All Time (we asked for five, but apparently, he’s got six). Check out an excerpt from our conversation here below.

Excerpt from Stoogeypedia‘s full interview with Mike Watt…

Geeks of Doom: So what are your top five records of all time?

Mike Watt:

• Cosmo’s Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival, but in my boat, with Creedence, you are going to get all six of them [laughs].
• Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids
• Tyranny and Mutation by Blue Oyster Cult
• Pink Flag by Wire
• For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder by The Pop Group
• …and a sixth, Tres Hombres by ZZ Top

[Regarding ZZ Top:] I like that record by them [Tres Hombres], and Fandango. That’s some fucking power trio, tiny little band, making a big noise. We saw Aerosmith get taken apart by ZZ Top. Listen, this was before the pink cowboy suits, okay? When ZZ Top was just a little shit kicking trio, “I Heard It On The X” and “Jesus Done Left Chicago” and all this shit [sings a little of it], and it was just guys playing guitar, bass, and drums, and such an amazing thing how many different ways there is to do that.

And in fact, I am still in love with trios. My third opera, Hyphenated-Man, I wrote it on D. Boon’s Telecaster. There’s something about the power trio that I am always going to dig. There’s more room in the van [laughter].

Geeks of Doom: So the only power trio that ever made you fall asleep was Rush? [In an earlier part of our interview, Watt talked about seeing Rush in the 1970s and then again a few years ago, and while he thinks they’re great musicians, he did indeed fall asleep during both of those shows].

Mike Watt: [laughs] Yeah, I feel asleep with Rush. Twice. Thirty years apart [laughter]. So they still got the magic. I got to meet the guitar man [Alex Lifeson] because I toured with Primus and Les [Claypool, Primus bassist] likes him a lot. Look, Rush are good musicians, don’t get me wrong, they can play like motherfuckers. But we can’t all like the same guys [laughs].

Geeks of Doom: So Hendrix then, Cream, all those guys?

Mike Watt: Yeah, those are super great trios, too.

Regarding Record Store Day, Watt says it’s something “put together with people where they can support the idea of record stores and vinyl and that kind of older culture.” Be on the look out soon here at Geeks of Doom for Stoogeypedia’s full interview with Watt, where the musician talks more about his favorite bands and players, past and future gigs, his thoughts on analog vs. digital, and more about the soporific effects that the music of recent Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Rush has on him.

Here’s a list of some of the special releases for the day, so be sure to visit the Record Store Day venue page to find a participating store, and then head out and get yourself some cool vinyl!