Meat Puppets

Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood played in a number of hard and mainstreams rock and roll bands. After graduating from a Jesuit prep school the brothers created The Bastions of Immaturity before changing the name to Meat Puppets and enlisting the help of Derrick Bostrom on drums. The sound that ensued was undeniably punk rock and their debut EP “In a Car” remains their loudest and noisiest release, fusing hardcore punk with a propensity for the avante-garde.

After its release head of SST records and lead guitarist of the enviable Black Flag, Greg Ginn, offered the band a contract through which they released their full-length self-titled debut in 1982. Their sophomore album was where the band really found its feet and developed a distinctive sound; mixing punk with country and psychedelic rock influences.

The mid-80s saw Meat Puppets' gradual shift into more mainstream publications and a softening of their punk rock tone. In 1987 the band released the album “Mirage”, which was critically acclaimed and earned the band a cult-like following within the American underground circuit, with regular airplay on college radios. This critical success was cemented with their follow-up “Huevos” unlike its successor “Monsters” which took the band in a more straightforward rock trajectory, to the displeasure of many of their fans.

After a disbanding and re-forming Meat Puppets signed to the major label London Records and released “Forbidden Place” (1991) which can only be described as a flop. In 1993 none other than Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain invited the Kirkwood brothers to join him on stage at MTV Unplugged after listening to their music when he was younger. The event became a turning point for both Cobain, who would die 138 days afterwards, and Meat Puppets who were taken to new commercial realms.

The band’s subsequent album “Too High To Die” sold over 500,000 records and outlines some of the extensive drug use by Cris and co. including heroin, crack cocaine and LSD – his wife would later die of overdose. The follow-up album 1995’s “No Joke!” was the last album to be recorded with the original line-up and wasn’t a particular success.

In 1996 the band split and fractioned off with drummer Bostrom recording under the name Today’s Sounds and Curt moving to Austin, Texas, U.S. and performing under the band name the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra. The band eventually took the Meat Puppets name and signed to Breaking Records and Cris Kirkwood returned after a 7-year struggle with drug use. Meat Puppets released “Rise to Your Knees” in 2007 followed by a gigs at SXSW festival and ATP New York Festival.

Since then the band has released “Sewn Together” in 2009, “Lollipop” in 2011 and “Rat Farm” in 2013. Despite the band’s dissonant line-up and history, they proved to be a figurehead alternative music, they have influenced bands such as Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and Pavement and are continually invited to play alongside artists like Animal Collective, Dead Confederate and Dave Grohl.