Meat Puppets' Cris Kirkwood Gets a Second Chance

Posted on Apr 3rd 2009 12:00PM by Mike Ayers
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When the original Meat Puppets resurfaced in 2007 with 'Rise to Your Knees,' it would've been a reasonable assumption that this was just a one-off return. Bassist Cris Kirkwood's well-documented legal and personal affairs didn't exactly bode well for the band in the '90s, but, as he told Spinner, he's feeling quite optimistic about his second chance in playing music with his brother, Curt.

"There was never any plans to stop doing what we were doing," Kirkwood tells Spinner. "That was just me f---ing everything up. That wasn't a group decision -- that was my fault ... bad decisions, bad behavior. But judging strictly from one project to another, it was really satisfying to hear me come back to my own."

The group reconvened last year (with newly added drummer and longtime Meat Puppets fan Ted Marcus) to record 'Sewn Together,' their second album this decade with Cris and Curt at the helm. "I noticed when Curt and I started playing together again, that there was still something there," he says. "We didn't practice at all. Some of the s--- we get into is just badass. Some of the singing that we've done, for me, is some of the coolest we've ever done vocally."

Indeed, 'Sewn Together' continues forging the country-roots path the group has steered down over the last several records, with songs such as the whistle based 'The Monkey and the Snake' and the banjo-based 'I'm Not You,' demonstrating that the once purveyors of grunge are still adept songwriters. And for old dudes, their voices don't sound a day over 35.

"I'm a born screamer, really," he says. "We're not f---ing choir boys. On this project, Curt was open to the layered harmonies, which I've always been a sucker for -- the Beach Boys, the CSN side of things. I just love that kinda s---."

'Sewn Together' is due May 26 via Megaforce Records.

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