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Meat Puppets -- All "Sewn Together" Again
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Their first time around, the Phoenix-based band, Meat Puppets, attracted a relatively small but loyal group of followers who were seduced by their blend of punk, hard rock, folk, psychedelia and country on such songs as "Walking Boss," "Lake Of Fire," "Up On The Sun," "The Whistling Song," "Aurora Borealis," and dozens more. They had released almost ten albums in a career that spanned well over a decade.
"It's amazing that something like Meat Puppets got as far as it did because there are so many things that we just didn't do," Curt Kirkwood concedes. "We didn't stick to a certain style. We played really awful live sometimes." Despite some of their production sounding completely different from one album to the next, they maintained as a group, but they all knew that the band was coming apart at the seams. When a band is a trio and two of them are brothers, who (at one point) looked the same, it's impossible to tour or record under the same name they had gone by for so many years. The brotherly loyalty of Curt may have ended up saving his brother in the long run. The band obviously meant something more to him than just dollars ans cents. He easily could have gotten another bassist to learn the music, but instead decided to put the band on the shelf, hoping that one day his brother would make it back from the depths of Narcotic addiction. I never thought they would play again in the late 1990's and early 2000's. I had kept up with what was going on -- to a degree. In fact, at some point, I figured Cris had died after reading a few articles regarding the bassist's problems.
Since coming back, though, they've been welcomed with open arms by not only their fans, but also their musical counterparts. The Meat Puppets turned a corner when they were invited (by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth) to play at the annual Festival: A.T.P. (All Tomorrow's Parties). It's an exlusive invitation for bands and quite a compliment. Recently, bands who have been recognized as putting out a "classic" album," of sorts, have been performing them from beginning to end, in the exact order of the album. I believe this is what the Meat Puppets did during the small, exclusive "festival" in upstate New York. Supposedly they were asked to play Meat Puppets II, and they obliged.
I was lucky enough to get to see them just a few days later, as they opened for Built to Spill in Northampton, MA. Surprisingly, the show was undersold, so they moved it to a smaller location -- a ballroom. It was just fine for me and the other 200 or so people who got to see a great show by both bands for only $20. One of the most epic and intimate shows I've seen. They sure looked weird, but they've always been a band who marches to a different drummer, in many ways. They had a long list of songs they had prepared, too. They played songs from all different albums, with the highlight being a (folk standard) that the Grateful Dead turned into their own: "Tenesee Jed." Without stopping for applause, they went directly into The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows," off of Revolver. Not only did they "get by" playing these ambitious songs which most other bands wouldn't even consider doing, especially live. They managed to put their own southwest, psychedelic stamp on each of them. Not an easy thing for ANY band to do, let alone one who had to learn many of their songs all over again!
Of course Built to Spill played a hair-raising set, performing each unique song from arguably their best album: Perfect From Now On. Songs one through eight were sounded better than they do on the album and the intimacy of the fans with both bands helped create a comfortable feeling, as the bands fed off the crowd and vice-versa. Cris Kurtwood commented on the state of the band, as well as his brother's past personal problems in an two-year old interview with ChartAttack.com (a music site out of Urban Toronto): "He's had some ordeals and it got to the point where nobody who knew him would talk to him anymore because he was too dangerous," says the 47-year-old Kirkwood of his younger brother. "He has a colourful past and I tend to focus on the musicality and putting a good spin on what could have been a really ugly story, and really was for a long time."
The Meat Puppets have recently released their second album since 2007's Rise to Your Knees. Their first album in over a decade had to have been a strange process. Just leaarning for the second time how to play off of eachother, how to write, studio expecations, etc All of these things can cause lots of headaches and I haven't even mentioned expectations by their record company or their fans! They pulled off a solid effort; eighteen songs too! These days, a seven song recording can (and has) one album of the year by "respected" Rock and Roll magazines. Obviously, they still have things to sing about. Sewn Together has just recently been released and gives the brothers a reason to back on tour and I bet they're happy being right where they are!
The thing that makes me happiest is that, despite many dark periods the band has endured, especially their "colourful" bassist, thank God, they aren't back, as a VH1 "Where Are They Now" or "Bands: Reunited" sort of way. Saying this, my imagination drifts........ For the life of me, I cannot find the name of the former (apparently) Indian VJ anywhere on the Web (apologies to the politically correct -- I can't support that he descends from India!). Possibly because Viacom, owner of VH1, sends former VJ's off to pasture on "Temptation Island" once they've reached 35. This theory is mere speculation, though.
Anyway, I doubt that ta program with Cris Kirtwood would have turned out to be good family-fare, as I imagine this VJ locating Kirkwood in a roach motel with tin foil over the windows. Some things are best left off the television screen (such as some of the intrusive coverage of Michael Jackson's death -- but that's another story for another time.... Perhaps tomorrow!).
Video Meat Puppets album "Too High to Die"
courtesy of MTV (& Viacom)
www.chartattack.com/news/41601/curt-kirkwood-rambles-on-and-along-alone-and-with-the-meat-puppets
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