Now that they’ve been out working in the limelight for a couple years, our old pals the Kirkwood brothers are once again delivering the goods on the interview circuit. This has been a welcome development for Meat Puppets fans of all stripe. Even if you no longer care for the music, the Kirkwood ink can still hold the power to inspire, enthrall and sometime even frighten — especially if you’re the interviewer. One thing’s certain about these two, when they go on tour, they like to leave their internal editor at home. You never know what they might say. The most important job of the journalist in attendance is to keep his head down and try to stay out of the way.
When I put together the “Classic Puppets” retrospective for Rykodisk, I excerpted extensively from my collection of print interviews, creating in effect a chronological collage of quixotic quotes (sorry), but I’ve barely begun to delve into those interviews in my collection taped from the radio. With this post, I attempt to work on this imbalance with a couple of recordings from the early 80s.
The first one is from Corvalis, Oregon, during our tour with Black Flag in the summer of 1983. Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski and I do most of the talking. Chuck slides comfortably into the alpha chair at first, not realizing that the Puppets don’t ever willingly relinquish the spotlight. It doesn’t take long before both Kirkwoods work to challenge the Black Flag dominance. For my part, I’m content to just hang out with Chuck and enjoy his rap (if you’ve ever witnessed it, you know what I mean). But almost immediately Curt steps in: “I’d just like to say that I’m not happy to be here and I think you’re all fucked.”
This was Curt’s only on-mike contribution, but it sets the tone for the rest of the session: it prompted an angry call from the station manager who got Curt on the phone (off the air) and bawled him out personally. Cris takes a more effective approach, going out to the pay phone in the parking lot and placing a prank call to the station. At first, the Flag guys think it’s one of their own crew. But when they fail to recognize the voice, they assume it’s a legitimate caller. Cris leaves both Chuck and drummer Bill speechless.
The second interview takes place in NYC during the fall of 1984. Curt had tried to find something to eat before the interview, but there hadn’t been time. The deejay takes it lightly, saying we have “more important business” to attend to. But as we were to learn in later years, to ignore Curt’s ectomorphic calls for food was to risk sending him into a blind torrent of abusive rage. But he manages to hold it together here long enough to offer one memorable quip. When the deejay prods him to admit that he drops acid on stage, Curt replies, “the only liberties we take with our freedom is to occasionally inflate our tires with milk.”
In both interviews, it’s clear that Bostrom is a poor comedian. He seems content to believe that people actually want to hear about the band’s history, and he goes about trying to pass on the correct details. The Kirkwoods obviously find this approach tiresome, and actively work to keep the facts succinctly soundbytable, so as to leave more room for zaniness. And the zaniness continues right up to this day.
(Note: These files are presented “as is.” Meatpuppets.com does not offer tech support, nor can we mail them to folks unable to download them. Please be advised that this is a large file, and slower ‘net connections may be unable to handle it. The files have been tested on both Macintosh and Windows platforms and they work fine. Good luck, and happy listening!)
thanks! this is why i check this site even during the off-seasons.
I’d love to hear more of this stuff. I had a tape from the mid-eighties of you and Curt playing records and talking and singing along to “moody blue”
you guys were my favorite band (hands down) of the eighties, and one of the best comedy troupes around.
I was listening to some interviews that you had posted from the nineties that we’re hilarious. YOu guys we’re blabbering about how you’re deveolping a grey Barney for the twenty-somehting crowd.
Also, Random Question: Is there any possibility of outtakes/b-sides from Forbidden Places or Too High To Die being posted, or, are there any links to where I could acquire theese. I already have the Rare Meat Compilation.
That possibility exists.
tee-hee! more meat to eat! thanks for the interviews derrick!
any possibility of “Alive in the Eighties” DVD? (please say yes…)
Wow, these are a lot of fun to hear. I figured you had tons of gems in your collection, but I never thought about old radio interviews.
Cris really threw a curveball to Black Flag…Dio!
Do you have a date for a show at WOW Hall in Eugene from early ’84? An older relative recalls seeing you guys play there around that time.
You guys cultivated a great sense of humor over the years.
That’s why I like your music, it’s always fun, never a downer!
I think it was May 2, 1984.
Haha, these go right along with one of Cris’ new interviews. The interviewer asked something along the lines of if he felt like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the mountain since getting back into life. Cris’ response: “None. If I couldn’t get it up one time, then I’m done.” The interviewer said “That’s not a very exciting response.” So, Cris goes, “Okay, well, you’d better watch out, ’cause I’m going to kick that boulder right off the mountain, and nothing’s gonna stop me!” That exciting enough? Priceless. I should have bookmarked that. Those aren’t actually quotes, just random paraphrases. It’s along the same lines.
I think that’s this one:
http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/the-meat-puppets-magic-brother-missing/16803/
Yeah, that’s it. I was off a bit.
Hi Derrick. Any chance of you posting audio files of the two Meat Puppets songs from the “Basic Sampler” cassette? They’re the only non-album tracks not available on the reissues or the Rare Meat compilation, or elsewhere on your site. Thanks!
Hey derrick, i was just wondering if you still keep in touch with the Kirkwoods?
hey derrick, i bought a drum kit a a couple months back and i’ve been playing along to Up on the Sun…
which got me thinking about the new meat pups drummer ted…
and he’s ok, i’m sure he’s an alright guy and all that…
but he’s missing something. it doesn’t really seem like he has the ability to lock into the groove as well as you’ve managed and he doesn’t seem to have the same subtle touches or feel… he sounds a bit… clanky or somethin’ i don’t know..
this is just a theory but..
i get the impression that ted hasn’t smoked nearly enough marijuana or chowed down on enough (or any) peyote buttons to have the ability to channel magical creative energy from other worlds and dimensions.
and that’s a key meat puppets component, is it not?
anyways..
these interviews were great. thanks so much for taking the time to post stuff like this.
Derrick, I have to say I love your hair from the Mirage era. Very…unique! I was just watching a home movie type video for Get On Down. Weird.
RE: Ted: It’d be tough for anyone to come into as tight a groove as the Puppets’ and fit perfectly right away. The original trio had a three-way groove, and now it’s kind of a two way groove with a drummer. It’ll take Ted a while to really integrate himself. He’s certainly got the talent to make that happen. I would agree that a good shortcut to that integration would be for the three of them to trip together a lot, but that’s harder to do when you start to get up there in age.
I’ll be seeing Meat Puppets tomorrow in the same place I last saw the original lineup about 13 years ago. I saw the current incarnation this past spring as well. I wasn’t sure what to expect after so long, but I was impressed.
If anybody’s interested in a new-ish band that sometimes sounds a lot like mid-80s Puppets, I might suggest Oxford Collapse. They’re from Brooklyn (I know, I know; somebody get a rope) but the bass breakdowns have a Cris Kirkwood-meets-Mike Watt thing going on, and occasionally the clean guitar sounds right out of Up On The Sun. Pretty cool, IMHO, if you like that sort of thing. I do.
excuse my snobbishness, but ICK! those dudes should get on their knees and beg the meat puppets for a lil’ droplet of their fluids so they might know what it feels like to have some true creative juices flowing through their bodies!
but, anyways…
have a great time at the show! i’m sure it’ll be awesome! wish i could be there too…
derrick, thanks for the insightful response!
Man, they tore the roof off. Those Kirkwoods sure can work their respective gee-tars.
Man. Listening to all of the albums and visualizing the creativity there, reading articles and hearing about the myth-like proportions of this band, looking at the amazing album art and the funny streams of consciousness there, checking out the many old and new Meat Puppets videos online, hearing the intelligent comments and funny observations on these radio programs… it all paints a very real and very desirable picture for the viewer/listener.
I think that the Meat Puppets wit and creativity can be found in a lot of other artists out there, but the collage of ideas in that trio always amazes me. All of the albums, radio shows and art grow on me over time, and I am continually called back to when I first first picked up their albums or listened to a particular cover song (the first version I heard by the Meat Puppets and then heard on the radio). I distinctly remember riding a horse on a vacation to Phoenix and as I bounced uphill looking at the rocks and cacti around me, I said to myself, “hey, this is the beat that ‘Seal Whales’ goes to”… and for me, it did.
I’ll shut up now. But MP’s rule.
Thanks for the kind words, Keith!
if you have a moment for “name that tune”:
is “Far Beyond The Stars” a Kirkwood tune? It has cropped up on various 8o’s tapes, ’90′s shows, and Curt’s solo tours.
I would easily call it Kirkwood, but it has a magical world of Disney movie feel to it, but I can’t find any trace of it anywhere.
I think that song is from some early Disney cartoon, but I don’t know which one.
It’s not an original.