Curt Kirkwood is a man of many words and, for the first time ever, he sang some of them on an album released under his own name last fall.
After founding the groundbreaking Meat Puppets with his bassist brother Cris and drummer Derrick Bostrom in 1980 and releasing 10 albums over the next 20 years, the singer/songwriter/guitarist teamed up with veteran producer Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Thelonious Monster) to create Snow. The record captures Kirkwood's interests in rock, pop, country, folk, blues and jazz and, to a large degree, sounds like a mellower Meat Puppets album.
"He asked me if I wanted to do it because he had the label [Little Dog Records] and the studio to do it," Kirkwood says of Anderson's role in putting the album together. "He produced it and paid for it.
"All I did was write the songs, and then I sang them and played the guitar. Then I just pretty much sat back and watched him put the rest of the thing together. He put all of the other instruments on after."
Kirkwood, who has laid claim to inventing alternative country, pondered putting out the album under the Meat Puppets moniker, but held back. That name is being saved for his next album, which he's been working on with his brother and Primus drummer Tim Alexander.
"I'm doing a record with my brother again, and that's definitely Meat Puppets when I play with him — in his eyes anyway," explains Kirkwood. "That's what he wants. We could call it the Turkey Fuckers for all I care."
Bostrom is apparently enjoying "price-coding at Whole Foods" and declined the invitation to rejoin the band, but Cris has returned to the functional world after a decade of heroin abuse. During that time, he saw his Quebec-born wife overdose and die, he was shot and spent time in prison after an altercation with a post office security guard, and he ostracized his friends and family members, including Curt.
"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 first time around, the Phoenix-based band attracted a relatively small but loyal group of followers who dug their blend of punk, hard rock, folk, psychedelia and country on such songs as "Walking Boss," "Lake Of Fire," "Up On The Sun," "Swimming Ground," "I Can't Be Counted On" and "Look At The Rain."
They were later introduced to a more mainstream audience when Nirvana took them on tour and played three songs from Meat Puppets II with them on the MTV Unplugged In New York album. After that, the Meat Puppets scored their first and only commercial hit, "Backwater," from 1993's Too High To Die.
"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," Kirkwood concedes. "We didn't stick to a certain style. We played really awful live sometimes."
Kirkwood released two more albums under the Meat Puppets name and then briefly teamed up with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh in Eyes Adrift.
"I probably could have convinced Krist and Bud into calling it Meat Puppets if I had got them drunk enough," Kirkwood asserts.
He also joined Gaugh in the short-lived Volcano (which he wanted to name Pine Cone, but was outnumbered when it came to a vote). Don't expect to see either group return from the ashes, Kirkwood says.
"Both Krist and Bud quit playing music, at least for the time being. Krist is an author and a politician, and Bud just needed to take a break. He said he had anger issues."
Kirkwood is currently on the road opening for The Handsome Family, and his son Elmo is along to play guitar. Pop might even let the young man play a few of his own songs if the circumstances are right.
"We'll see how drunk we get before some of the shows," says the elder Kirkwood.
After this outing, Kirkwood will return to his adopted hometown of Austin, Texas to finish the Meat Puppets album and consider release options. It should come out next year and, while he likes what they've done so far, he holds no delusions of grandeur about the band's place in the 21st century music industry.
"I keep telling my brother that things have changed a lot in 10 years and maybe nobody will care, so don't get your hopes up."
Kirkwood will play Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern on Saturday night.
Curt Kirkwood is a man of many words and, for the first time ever, he sang some of them on an album released under his own name last fall.
After founding the groundbreaking Meat Puppets with his bassist brother Cris and drummer Derrick Bostrom in 1980 and releasing 10 albums over the next 20 years, the singer/songwriter/guitarist teamed up with veteran producer Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Thelonious Monster) to create Snow. The record captures Kirkwood's interests in rock, pop, country, folk, blues and jazz and, to a large degree, sounds like a mellower Meat Puppets album.
"He asked me if I wanted to do it because he had the label [Little Dog Records] and the studio to do it," Kirkwood says of Anderson's role in putting the album together. "He produced it and paid for it.
"All I did was write the songs, and then I sang them and played the guitar. Then I just pretty much sat back and watched him put the rest of the thing together. He put all of the other instruments on after."
Kirkwood, who has laid claim to inventing alternative country, pondered putting out the album under the Meat Puppets moniker, but held back. That name is being saved for his next album, which he's been working on with his brother and Primus drummer Tim Alexander.
"I'm doing a record with my brother again, and that's definitely Meat Puppets when I play with him — in his eyes anyway," explains Kirkwood. "That's what he wants. We could call it the Turkey Fuckers for all I care."
Bostrom is apparently enjoying "price-coding at Whole Foods" and declined the invitation to rejoin the band, but Cris has returned to the functional world after a decade of heroin abuse. During that time, he saw his Quebec-born wife overdose and die, he was shot and spent time in prison after an altercation with a post office security guard, and he ostracized his friends and family members, including Curt.
"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 first time around, the Phoenix-based band attracted a relatively small but loyal group of followers who dug their blend of punk, hard rock, folk, psychedelia and country on such songs as "Walking Boss," "Lake Of Fire," "Up On The Sun," "Swimming Ground," "I Can't Be Counted On" and "Look At The Rain."
They were later introduced to a more mainstream audience when Nirvana took them on tour and played three songs from Meat Puppets II with them on the MTV Unplugged In New York album. After that, the Meat Puppets scored their first and only commercial hit, "Backwater," from 1993's Too High To Die.
"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," Kirkwood concedes. "We didn't stick to a certain style. We played really awful live sometimes."
Kirkwood released two more albums under the Meat Puppets name and then briefly teamed up with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh in Eyes Adrift.
"I probably could have convinced Krist and Bud into calling it Meat Puppets if I had got them drunk enough," Kirkwood asserts.
He also joined Gaugh in the short-lived Volcano (which he wanted to name Pine Cone, but was outnumbered when it came to a vote). Don't expect to see either group return from the ashes, Kirkwood says.
"Both Krist and Bud quit playing music, at least for the time being. Krist is an author and a politician, and Bud just needed to take a break. He said he had anger issues."
Kirkwood is currently on the road opening for The Handsome Family, and his son Elmo is along to play guitar. Pop might even let the young man play a few of his own songs if the circumstances are right.
"We'll see how drunk we get before some of the shows," says the elder Kirkwood.
After this outing, Kirkwood will return to his adopted hometown of Austin, Texas to finish the Meat Puppets album and consider release options. It should come out next year and, while he likes what they've done so far, he holds no delusions of grandeur about the band's place in the 21st century music industry.
"I keep telling my brother that things have changed a lot in 10 years and maybe nobody will care, so don't get your hopes up."
Kirkwood will play Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern on Saturday night.
