That's Dishonest:  A Repository of Interviews with and Articles about Meat Puppets
  • Home
  • 2019
    • The Meat Puppets Unveil Their ‘Dusty Notes’ (2019)
    • Meat Puppets: Dusty Notes – album review (2019)
    • Some Reunions Are Worth the Fuss. Take Meat Puppets. (2019)
    • Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood: “Lead is just like playing air guitar on the real guitar for me” (2019)
    • Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood on New Album, George Jones, Nirvana ‘Unplugged’ (2019)
    • A CONVERSATION WITH MEAT PUPPETS (2019)
    • Review: Meat Puppets Remain Easygoing Psychedelic Country-Punk Gods on ‘Dusty Notes’ (2019)
    • Dusty Notes (2019)
    • IT’S HARD NOT TO FEEL LIKE AN ANACHRONISM THESE DAYS (2019)
    • Meat Puppets – Dusty Notes (2019)
    • MEAT PUPPETS Drummer Derrick Bostom Discusses the New Album ‘Dusty Notes’, Nirvana, John Frusciante, and Their Unmistakable Musical Legacy (2019)
    • Dusty notes, de Meat Puppets (2019)
    • But Then I Saw Meat Puppets (2019)
    • Meat Puppets: Creating Art, Then and Now (2019)
    • an interview w/ Meat Puppets on original lineup reunion, new album & more (2019)
    • Meat Puppets to perform May 17 at 3S Artspace (2019)
    • THE TOUR (2019)
    • Live Report: Meat Puppets - Rebellion, Manchester (2019)
    • Meat Puppets: Our 1986 Interview (2019)
    • Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in NY Is 25: The Meat Puppets & Bobcat Goldthwait Take Us Back (2019)
    • Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets says they've recaptured the chaos as reunion tour comes home (2019)
  • 2018
    • Catching Up With Derrick Bostrom: The Meat Puppets' Original Drummer Dishes on His Return (2018)
    • Meat Puppets Reunite With Original Drummer (2018)
    • In A Car by Jeff Schroeck (2018)
    • Meat Puppets Come Galloping Out Of The Stable With 'Warranty' (2018)
  • 2017
    • MEAT PUPPETS MAKE NOSTALGIC RETURN TO THE ECHO FOR SOLD OUT LA GIG (2017)
    • REVIEW: The Meat Puppets' sold-out show Monday was a mighty, messy joy (2017)
    • My Meat Puppets Misconception at The Echo (2017)
    • Meat Puppets’ Cris Kirkwood Was Shot in the Back and Imprisoned: Life's Magical (2017)
    • Concert review: Meat Puppets show why they’re alt-rockers for the ages (2017)
    • Meat Puppets Together for First Time in more than 20 Years (2017)
  • 2016
    • Meat Puppet Cris Kirkwood talks pre-Germs Phoenix cult band Exterminators’ 1st-ever LP (interview + song premiere) (2016)
    • The drugs that fueled the Meat Puppets’ first five LPs (2016)
    • Meat Puppets Bassist On What He Would Like For Christmas (2016)
  • 2015
    • Interview: Elmo Kirkwood Talks Meat Puppets, STP 1994 Tour & New Dance Project Supr3yes (2015)
    • Interview: Meat Puppets’ Shandon Sahm Talks Upcoming Tour With Soul Asylum (2015)
    • Gene Simmons ‘Hugely Influenced’ Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, According To Meat Puppets Drummer (2015)
    • Meat Puppets Drummer Was Told He ‘Most Likely Won’t See Scott Weiland, But The Other Guys Hang Out’ When Touring With STP (2015)
    • EASY ANSWERS: CRIS KIRKWOOD OF THE MEAT PUPPETS TALKS GRATEFUL DEAD (2015)
  • 2014
    • 2 Minutes with Meat Puppets (2014)
    • The AU Interview: Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets (Arizona) (2014)
    • Meat Puppets Bassist Cris Kirkwood Takes Us Through the Evolution of ‘Lake of Fire’ (2014)
    • Interview: Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood Talks Nirvana MTV Unplugged & Band With Krist Novoselic (2014)
    • Meat Puppets Making Most of a Second Chance (2014)
    • Fresh Meat With No Strings Attached: Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets (2014)
    • Cris Kirkwood Remembers Comforting Frances Bean Cobain At Nirvana MTV Unplugged, Talks Art (2014)
    • Nirvana's 'MTV Unplugged' 20 Years Later: Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood Looks Back (2014)
    • The Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood Talks About His Love for Disney and Old Musicals (2014)
    • Elmo Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets Has Pop Ambitions (2014)
    • The Most Influential Arizona Punk Records: #5 - Meat Puppets, Untitled Seven-Inch EP (2014)
    • Graded on a Curve: Meat Puppets, Lollipop (2014)
  • 2013
    • Meat Puppets Announce New Album Rat Farm SEt for April 2013 Release (2013)
    • Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets (2013)
    • Meat Puppets Announce UK Tour In June 2013 With Mudhoney (2013)
    • Meat Puppets Expand with Rat Farm (2013)
    • Too High To Die: Meet The Meat Puppets by Greg Prato (2013)
    • The Meat Puppets are Still Rockin' (2013)
    • More Meaty Music from the Puppets (2013)
    • Meat Puppets Let Instinct Pull the Strings (2013)
    • Interview: Meat Puppets (2013)
    • 20 Questions: Meat Puppets (2013)
    • Interview: Meat Puppets - The Flesh of It (2013)
    • Meat Puppets (2013)
    • Meat Puppets : Interview (2013)
    • Exclusive Interview: Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood on His Relationship with His Brother, Nirvana, and Touring 30 Years Later (2013)
    • Meat Puppets I: “A Lawn Mower in the Process of Unclogging Itself” (2013)
    • Meat Puppets Now 31 Years Since First Album (2013)
    • Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood: I'm probably not cut out for a regular job (2013)
    • Esquire Live Sessions: The Meat Puppets on Their Nirvana Unplugged Performance (2013)
    • Long-Haul Grunge Gods (2013)
    • The Mystery of Meat (2013)
    • Phoenix Artist Derrick Bostrom Opens Photography Exhibit at Green New American Vegetarian (2013)
    • The Meat Puppets on Unplugged In New York: The Extended Interviews The full Q&As with the Brothers Kirkwood and producer Alex Coletti. (2013)
    • Interview with Curt and Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets: Influences, Live, Playing with Nirvana, 20th Anniversary of In Utero (2013)
    • Meat Puppets Interview: Louder Than War Talk To Curt Kirkwood (2013)
    • Talk: Curt Kirkwood, Meat Puppets | Interview (2013)
    • Meat Puppets [Interview] (2013)
    • My People Call It Weed: Meat Puppets Get Happily Twisted (2013)
    • 2 Minutes with Meat Puppets (2013)
    • Meat Puppets – At The Rat Farm With Curt Kirkwood (2013)
    • Meat Puppets: Just a Band (2013)
  • 2012
    • Peer Inside the Colorful World of the Meat Puppets' Cris Kirkwood at Carly's Bistro (2012)
    • Finding Out What Makes the Meat Puppets Tick with a New Oral History (2012)
    • Curled Up with a Good Book (2012)
    • Los Históricos Meat Puppets Avanzarán en Diciembre Nuevos Temas de su Próximo Disco en su Primera Gira Española (2012)
    • Meat Puppets Announce Release of 14th Studio LP (2012)
    • Curt Kirkwood nos habla de Meat Puppets (2012)
    • La Semilla del "Grunge" (2012)
    • Meat Puppets, Las Raices y el Punk que Marcaron a Kurt Cobain (2012)
    • Mas Raros que un Perro Verde (2012)
    • Meat Puppets (2012)
    • Meat Puppets, Valencia, 18/12/2012 (2012)
    • Meat Puppets, Influx Emocional (2012)
    • Valley’s Elmo Kirkwood and His Dad, Meat Puppet’s Curt Kirkwood, to Team Up For Father’s Day Show (2012)
    • Too High to Die: an Interview With Curt Kirkwood (2012)
  • 2011
    • Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood on Making New Album 'Lollipop' and Their Summer Plans Plus: Band 'completely inebriated' while recording 'Meat Puppets II' (2011)
    • Meat Puppets with Roky Erickson (2011)
    • One Tough Question: Meat Puppets' Cris Kirkwood (2011)
    • Shandon Sahm Meets Meat Puppets (2011)
    • Meat Puppets Relive Gonzo Past, Open Up about Cris Kirkwood's Addiction (2011)
    • eMusic Q&A: The Meat Puppets (2011)
    • Meat Puppets: "We Built 'Lollipop' Like a Lego Toy" (2011)
    • Tonight: The Meat Puppets on the River (2011)
    • Curt Kirkwood's Tinker Toy Still Life with the Meat Puppets (2011)
    • Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets on the Band's Legacy and His Vivid Lyrical Imagery (2011)
    • Fans Hope for a Well-Done Meat Puppets Performance (2011)
    • Headed Back to the Slaughterhouse (2011)
    • The Meat Puppets Kill Chelsea's (2011)
    • Meat Puppets Survivor's Tale (2011)
    • The Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood (2011)
    • Q&A: Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood On Arizona Punk, SST Records, His Brother Cris Being Clean, and Not making it into "Our Band Could Be Your Life" (2011)
    • Meat Puppets Interviewed by Most Beautiful Losers (2011)
    • [LP Review] Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets (1982) (2011)
  • 2010
    • Interview: Cris Kirkwood from the Meat Puppets (2010)
    • TS5Q: Derrick Bostrom (2010)
    • Meat Puppets 1982-88: Acid Rock Baked by Desert Grunge (2010)
    • MEAT PUPPETS 1982-88: Acid rock baked by desert grunge (2010)
  • 2009
    • Q&A with the Meat Puppets' Cris Kirkwood (2009)
    • Meat Puppets Sewing it Together (2009)
    • Reunited Meat Puppets Evolved, But Still Intense (2009)
    • Meat Puppets Interview (2009)
    • The Meat Puppets' Name is Cool, and That's the Entire Story Behind It (2009)
    • Meat Puppets on Display (2009)
    • Lost in the Zone [Meat Puppets] (2009)
    • Interview with Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets (2009)
    • The Meat Puppets are still half-assin' it After All These Years (2009)
    • Meat Puppets Still "Sewn Together" After Nearly Three Decades (2009)
    • Rock City: Tourist Stop Helped Get Meat Puppets Frontman's Artistic Juices Flowing (2009)
    • Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets Speaks (2009)
    • Q&A with Shandon Sahm of Meat Puppets (2009)
    • Meat Puppets: "We Got to Do What We Wanted to Do" (2009)
    • The Meat Puppets (2009)
    • From the Chip Midnight Archive: Meat Puppets 1994 Audio Interview (2009)
    • A Testament to the Strength of the Human Gullet (2009)
    • Meat Puppets: Out Of The Weeds (2009)
    • No robots, no Celine Dion for Meat Puppets (2009)
  • 2008
    • Very Human (2008)
  • 2007
    • Meat Puppets Get a Major-Label Education (2007)
    • Meat Puppets Return to Their Trippy Psych-Rock Roots (2007)
    • Meat Puppets: On Your Feet (2007)
    • Lake of Fire: Meat Puppets Rise to Their Knees (2007)
    • Meat Puppets Reviewed (2007)
    • Reunited in Rock (2007)
    • New Day Rising (2007)
    • Reunited Kirkwood Brothers Help Meat Puppets Rise to the Occasion (2007)
    • Meat Puppets (2007)
    • Meat Puppets: O Brother, Where Art Thou (2007)
    • Who's Got My Extra: Curt Kirkwood (2007)
    • Stereogum Q&A: Meat Puppets (2007)
    • Back on the Sun (2007)
    • Interview: Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets (2007)
    • A Lean Night for the Meat Puppets (2007)
  • 2006
    • Meat Puppets Spring 1984 (2006)
  • 2005
    • Curt Kirkwood, "Snow" (2005)
  • 2002
    • Derrick Bostrom - 2002 (2002)
  • 2001
    • Puppet Show (2001)
  • 2000
    • Meat Puppets: Back From the Lake of Fire, the "New" Meat Puppets Feel the Love (2000)
    • Golden Lies (2000)
    • Meat Puppets Desert Desperados (2000)
  • 1999
    • What is This? (1999)
    • Fresh Meat for Rotting Puppets (1999)
    • Meat Puppets’ Cris Kirkwood Jailed On Drug Charges (1999)
  • 1998
    • Shooting Star (1998)
  • 1995
    • Meat Puppets: Swimming in a Lake of Fire (1995)
    • Meat Puppets: The Morning After (There's No Business Like Show Business) (1995)
    • The Meat Puppets (1995)
  • 1994
    • Rockers for Pot '94 (1994)
    • Meat Puppets' Drummer Derrick Bostrom Interview from 1994 (1994)
    • A Vignette from the Early Years by Derrick Bostrom of the Meat Puppets (1994)
  • 1992
    • Meat Puppets: Cris Kirkwood Interview (1992)
  • 1991
    • Music Meat Puppets (1991)
  • 1989
    • Meat Puppets Interviewed (1989): Disney Avant-Metal Rock (1989)
  • 1987
    • Meat Puppets--Mirage (1987)
  • 1984
    • The Meat Puppets (1984)
    • Meat Puppets: The Ultimate Fusion Band (1984)
  • 1983
    • Meat Puppets (1983)
  • 1982
    • I Met the Meat Puppets and Lived to Tell About It (1982)
  • Audio-Video Articles and Interviews
    • 2019 >
      • MEAT PUPPETS Derrick Bostrom talks new material (2019)
      • The Making of "Dusty Notes" (2019)
      • Kyle Meredith with... Meat Puppets (2019)
      • Pianist Ron Stabinsky Interview with Rusty Hassan WPFW (2019)
      • Meat Puppets Dusty Notes CD unpackaging (2019)
      • Radio Phoenix Broadcast of It’s Not Our Fault: Derrick Bostrom Part One (2019)
      • 100 Meat Puppets "Mirage"w/ Derrick Bostrom (2019)
    • 2018 >
      • 013: Meat Puppets - Forbidden Places (1991) (2018)
    • 2017 >
      • RSR077 – DERRICK BOSTROM – THE MEAT PUPPETS & NIRVANA (2017)
      • Meat Puppets albums worst to best (2017)
      • Meat Puppets - Induction Video Az.Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame (2017)
      • Acoustic Storm on KSLX Radio Promo for the Meat Puppets (2017)
    • 2016 >
      • Episode 12: Meat Puppets and Peter Kuper By Westerino Show (2016)
      • Interview Sneak Peak with Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets (2016)
    • 2015 >
      • Cris Kirkwood Interview (2015)
      • Dad Rock: Cris Kirkwood on life in Meat Puppets (2015)
    • 2014 >
      • Meat Puppets - Cherry Rock 2014 - Part 1 (2014)
      • Meat Puppets - Cherry Rock 2014 - Part 2 (2014)
      • Meat Puppets - Cherry Rock 2014 - Part 3 (2014)
      • The Meat Puppets Q & A @ Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne (27th May 2014) (2014)
      • Meat Puppets Documentary -- Rough Pass (2014)
    • 2013 >
      • Curt Kirkwood Interview w/ Larry Flick (2013)
      • Meat Puppets Concert Review/Album Showing (2013)
      • Meat Puppets - Interview (Bing Lounge) (2013)
      • WTF with Marc Maron, Episode 428 - Curt Kirkwood (2013)
    • 2012 >
      • The Andy Derer Show Ep #51 with Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets (2012)
    • 2011 >
      • Q&A with the Meat Puppets (2011)
      • Meat Puppets Interview Live in the Bing Lounge (2011)
      • Interview with Cris from Meat Puppets (2011)
      • The Meat Puppets interview w/ Across The Board radio show.wmv (2011)
    • 2010 >
      • Meat Puppets - What's In My Bag? (2010)
      • Meat Puppets: Bumbershoot 2010 Interview (2010)
    • 2009 >
      • Serene Dominic Show Episode 11 with Meat Puppets Curt Kirkwood (2009)
      • Amplified from ABC News Now : Meat Puppets (2009)
      • Amplified from ABC News Now : Meat Puppets, Part 2 (2009)
      • MEAT PUPPETS Interview and Soundcheck "Legendary Status.. Should Inspire Massive Guilt" (2009)
      • Meat Puppets Interview (2009)
    • 2008 >
      • Tempe Music Festival TV - Meat Puppets (2008)
    • 2007 >
      • How the Meat Puppets got their Name (2007)
    • 2005 >
      • Curt Kirkwood Interview (2005)
    • 1995 >
      • Meat Puppets Interview (1995)
      • Meat Puppets on Howard Stern, 9/11/95 (1995)
    • 1994 >
      • Meat Puppets - Conan 1994 (1994)
      • Cris Kirtwood Interview of The Meat Puppets May 26th, 1994 (1994)
      • Meat puppets interview 1994 (1994)
    • 1988 >
      • Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) Interview Segment (1988)
      • 1988 Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) Full Interview (1988)
    • 1984 >
      • Meat Puppets, 1984, Music View w/ Todd Miller (1984)
A CONVERSATION WITH MEAT PUPPETS

Now is as good a time as any for an official Meat Puppets reunion. Brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood are back with founding drummer Derrick Bostrom for the first time since 1995’s No Joke!, the Arizona-bred trio’s impolite London Records send-off. And given Cris’ epic struggles with addiction, we could easily be talking post-mortem tribute right now. But this tale of excess has a relatively happy ending, beginning with his eventual recovery in the late 2000s and continuing with his reconciliation with big brother Curt. 

And then there’s the new Dusty Notes (Megaforce). It’s the band’s first studio release in six years, and it was worth the wait. Curt has simplified his songwriting, cleaned up his vocals and eased up on the guitar histrionics. That’s opened up space for virtuoso keyboardist Ron Stabinsky and Curt’s guitarist son Elmo, who brings a more conventional rock grounding to his dad’s intricate Billy-Gibbons-by-way-of-Jerry-Garcia overlays. 
With just a couple months to go before their first U.S. tour in 20 years, Curt and Bostrom explain the band’s recent bout of productivity.

Dusty Notes is easily the Meat Puppets’ most keyboard-heavy album. Ron Stabinsky’s contributions are huge.

Curt: Ron had been coming to our shows for years. I didn’t even know he was a musician until he handed me a CD. We got together and played a little in Austin when he was in town with one of his bands. From there, I came up with a few easy little tunes we could play. That came out real nice, and it gave me some direction as to what I wanted to do with this album. And this is also the first album that Elmo is on.
Bostrom: Elmo’s shit is my favorite part of the record. It just kills. His parts are more classic rock, where Curt’s got that weird spaciness.
Curt: The first four songs are all Elmo on lead guitar. He can play a lot of different stuff—more than I can. You don’t hear me doing a lead on this album until the actual “Dusty Notes” song.
Bostrom: Curt kept the songwriting simple to give us a maximum amount of space. The whole process was so organic. I added my parts in pretty much one day. We recorded it in Phoenix with Cris’ friend Jeremy (Parker). Jeremy has helped out Cris a lot. The fact that he could talk his big brother into recording the album with his buddy, and having it come out as good as it did, is so cool.
Curt: There really wasn’t a lot of planning. It was kind of accidental—very fluid.

There’s a certain warmth and mellowness to this album.

Curt: Yeah, there’s not a lot of overt rock ’n’ roll. One of the big things is that we tracked acoustic guitars first. I also did that with Snow, my solo record with Pete Anderson. For this one, Elmo and I just laid down nice solid acoustics on everything. Drums got tracked to that, and then keyboards.
Bostrom: These songs do head to more of an Americana place—they sound a little bit more classic. Some of it sounds like gospel; some of it sounds like Stephen Foster; some it sounds like Tom Petty or Fleetwood Mac. But it’s still Meat Puppety.

Curt, your vocals are surprisingly clear—almost pristine.

Curt:
 It was the right microphone for me—but I can’t remember what it was. The warmth of the vocals is really apparent. I generally didn’t sing with a whole lot of overt emotion. I mostly wanted to hurt people’s feelings—even if it was screaming nonsense. I never intended to sing. With my first few bands before the Meat Puppets, I was only the guitar player. Then there was just the three of us, and we thought about having a lead singer—but we decided, “Nah, that’s annoying.” 
Bostrom: Curt used to like to come up with a bunch of words, and then if it got a little too close to home, he’d change them so they were nonsensical. He didn’t really do that this time. To fuck with people, I’ve been telling them that these new lyrics hold the key to understanding all of his old lyrics.
Curt: Once I started doing solo shows in the early 2000s, I began to see how much weight the words had. I realized that people like to hear them, though I never really thought about it until then. 

When the original lineup first disbanded in 1996, where did that leave you, Derrick?

Bostrom: I was never a huge fan of the whole rock shtick. It’s really easy when you’re sitting in the back of a van as the drummer in another guy’s band. I learned a lot about myself. I got a good opportunity to grow up, get married and get a job—I do IT for all the Whole Foods stores in Phoenix. Once we got a bunch of cats, I put the drums away. I never wanted to play with anybody else.

So what brought you back?

Bostrom: This whole thing with the Arizona Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. They’d wanted to induct us for a few years, and finally one of our heavy-hitter local promoters got on the phone with Curt, and we played the ceremony. I stayed in touch, but they already had a drummer (Shandon Sahm). Last April, I got I call from Curt saying [Sahm] had decided to move to Europe. He’d already recorded his tracks for the album, but Curt sent me the roughs and gave me the opportunity to compose new parts.

In going back through your ’80s work, I always seem to latch onto 1989’sMonsters. It has two of my favorite Meat Puppets tunes: “Light” and “Touchdown King.”

Curt: That was the last SST album. Atlantic made us a really good offer for it once it was done, and I wanted to give it to them. It was recorded for super-cheap, and they liked it. That led to the rift between us and SST.
And then, of course, you follow that up with your first major-label release (1991’s Forbidden Places), produced by—of all people—longtime Dwight Yoakam collaborator Pete Anderson.

Curt: 
Pete knew who we were because he and Dwight had opened for us a number of years before. We learned so much from him, and that learning rubbed off when we made (1994’s) Too High To Die. He’s very methodical, and we’d never had a real producer. We’d never spent more than like eight grand on a record. (1984’s) Meat Puppets II was done in four days; (1985’s) Up On The Sun was literally 36 hours straight of recording and mixing. Once we played—if we played it right—it was done. 
​
I was a grad student at Arizona State University when I first saw you guys 30 years ago. If I recall correctly, Cris was wearing a kilt, and he taped his face to the mike stand for most of the show. My girlfriend was terrified. I was both horrified and fascinated by the whole display.

Curt: 
Yeah, that wouldn’t have been too strange. I lot of the stuff we did was the result of the boredom we experienced between soundcheck and having to go onstage. We’d sit around and draw on ourselves, or whatever. There was very little you could do back then that was going to help or hurt your career in that scene. It was what it was—and it wasn’t really going anywhere.
Bostrom: If we couldn’t chase the audience out, we weren’t doing something right. We’ve never been about going onstage and doing what we know we can do. It’s always been about putting ourselves in the position to allow the X factor to occur—and that’s exactly why I returned. In this day and age, it just seems so fucking obvious that America has gone in a crazy direction. From all sides, people need to get a lot less comfortable with their assumptions. There are worse things in the world than having people not know what they think, because usually what they think is wrong to begin with.
—Hobart Rowland 

​http://magnetmagazine.com/2019/03/12/a-conversation-with-meat-puppets/?fbclid=IwAR0fhiZUzqf60kqOclCe6fGp65JXheNqITKZGV1-A6meNupXE9KxTJ8fRgY

Accessed: 3/12/19

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