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Most of you will know the Meat Puppets through their appearance on
Nirvana's 'Unplugged In New York' show.
Indeed, Kurt Cobain cited the Pup's second album as a major influence
on his musical career, choosing to play three songs from that record for
the MTV acoustic gig.
But before this impromptu acknowledgment from
Cobain, the Meat Puppets had been ploughing their own musical furrow for
more than a decade.
Formed in 1980, in Tucson, Arizona, this trio, consisting of Curt
Kirkwood (vocals and guitar), brother Cris Kirkwood (bass) and Derrick
Bostrom (drums), started life as a punk thrash outfit, having an
allegiance to the LA hardcore scene.
It wasn't until the 1983 album, 'Meat Puppets II', that the Puppets'
musical identity began to unfold. Combining punk's raw dynamics with the
stylings of country, this record sounded like nothing on earth. It proved
to be their calling card.
Their unique musical stance was continued in 1985's 'Up On The Sun',
with Curt experimenting with jazz chording and funk-guitar sounds. With
subsequent releases spanning diverse genres such as psychedelia and desert
roots rock, the Puppets never matched the creative heights of those two
landmark records.
With the recent re-release of the back catalogue on Rykodisc, the Meat
Puppets left behind a rich musical legacy that was untouched by passing
trends, but remains a document of a band following gut instinct, living an
insular creative life. With just Curt remaining in the band and new Meat
Puppet material imminent, isn't it about time you caught up?
Did moving from a hardcore sound to a country style seem extreme at
the time?
"I was learning more about the studio and also getting
disillusioned with the way hardcore was perceived. I thought it was too
much Star Wars. It was fun and really compelling music, but the shows
started turning into knuckle-dragger affairs. It was hard on the band so
we started doing what we wanted again, but the country thing was a natural
progression."
You created some very brave clean
guitar sounds on 'Up On The Sun'
"It was all planned out. I
recorded it all on a 16-track and had notes. Cris was really instrumental
in getting me to do cleaner sounds - sounds you could hear more in the
headphones and focus on. Stevie Wonder's 'The Secret Life of Plants' was a
particular influence - the way he pulled sounds around in the headphones -
and in my own primitive way I tried to do that."
There was a funk element to the record too?
"That album was
right on the tail of Purple Rain and cool Duran Duran stuff - music and
songwriting that I considered cool in the face of people struggling to
figure out what was cool. We were like 'who cares what you think?' And
being a Roxy Music fan I couldn't help but like Duran Duran. We were lucky
enough to have the opportunity to do exactly what we wanted."
Around 1987 you began moving away from the country sound, toward
psychedelia and rootsy rock. Why was that?
"To a degree, we were
playing around with a sound we figured we could play live. We were playing
larger venues at the time, supporting successful acts, so we looked
towards a live sound, because a lot of our intensely intricate stuff
wouldn't work. We couldn't play 'Mirage' (1987) live because it was too
complex, so we were looking for a bit of cohesion and direction. It was a
very strange period because I didn't think the records we were making
would make much difference anymore.
"I didn't think I'd be talking to you about 'Huevos' (1987), years down
the line. If I thought a little more about a back-catalogue situation, I
would have put a lot more into it. But there are highlights on 'Huevos'
and 'Monsters' (1989) that I think are cool."
Was it
an honour to play with Kurt Cobain?
"I wouldn't take it as honour
in the traditional way. I got my fill of honour by reading Macbeth.
Personally, it was a cool collaboration. Next to George Jones, I couldn't
think at the time of a more enigmatic character to do my stuff. To tell
you the truth, I was more confused. I've been at it a long time and I knew
the first show Cobain ever saw was a Blag Flag/Meat Puppets gig. He was
one of many kids like that. I was more honoured to see David Bowie live
when he had Mick Ronson playing with him. I'm just a fan of Nirvana and
it's really hard to get to that next level. It took playing with them to
get a musical connection, though. When I saw the cool acoustic show, I
really got the Leadbelly shit."
Do you miss playing with Cris and Derrick?
"I miss their
company but I don't miss the stress. It got too heavy, what with the
drugs. Derrick is a good-natured and easy-going, but my brother has
something in him that both of us could never figure out. He's been in the
slammer for God knows how long and has too many problems to begin to
discuss. It's just awful - the weirdest shit - and not a day goes by that
I don't think: "what in the fuck happened?" But when you look at it
objectively, the guy was so fucked up that he would've had trouble getting
along with anyone. We were a fucking fantastic band, but I don't miss the
hit and miss element of back then."
Nick
Renshaw | 