Wayward Q&A: Interview with Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets

Q&A BY DANNY R. PHILLIPS

Since the early 1980s, the Meat Puppets have been confusing critics and influencing followers with their acid-fueled, psychedelic, country-punk freakouts. Few bands in the history of rock have so openly challenged existing boundaries like the Pups. Any given album (or song, even) features elements of punk, bluegrass, straight -ahead rock and beat poetry style lyrics.

Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, and now based in Austin, the band was formed by twin brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood on guitar and bass, respectively, plus drummer Derek Bostrom. Slightly ahead of the ’90s grunge movement, the trio became a benchmark to bands like Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., the Lemonheads, Built to Spill and Mudhoney. The fact that the band has only had one hit single (1993’s “Backwater”) only adds to its fringe, counterculture mythology.

The Wayward Blog caught up with Curt Kirkwood by phone from his Austin, Texas home as he recovered from an opening slot on Stone Temple Pilots latest tour in support of the Meat Puppets’ new album, Sewn Together (Megaforce).

What was the music scene like around Phoenix when you formed the Meat Puppets?

Kirkwood: Well, I had been in some bar bands then started playing for myself with Derek Bostrom and my brother Cris. There were others that had their punk bands, at least that’s what they called them. Some were punk and others were just weird. After a while, it all just kind of dissipated. I don’t really know what happened. We mostly just did our own thing.

Your first couple records were on SST, a punk label. Do you think the Puppets were a punk band at the beginning?

We were a bedroom, backyard band when we started out. We always just thought we were a rock band. That’s more of a broad term and many things can fit into it. We found a place in the punk scene were we could play original music. We kinda showed our colors on the first two records. We just wanted to show we could play fast or slow and that we were interested in playing live.

There’s a touch of country and bluegrass throughout your music. Were you always interested in those styles or did you pick it up later?

I was around it quite a bit. We moved to Phoenix when our mom married a guy that had race horses for a profession, so I spent a lot of time at the racetrack, and he always had the country station on. We watched The Johnny Cash Show, Hee Haw, so I got a huge dose of it. I didn’t know from genres growing up, though. I loved the Beatles, the Monkees. I bought Anne Murray’s “Snow Bird.” I really liked when the Dillards were on Andy Griffith.