Fans hope for a well-done Meat Puppets' performance
OnMilwaukee.com
By Molly Snyder
Associate Editor
Published July 5, 2011 at 4:09 p.m.
The Meat Puppets play the U.S. Cellular Stage on Saturday night at 8 p.m.
American band The Meat Puppets formed in 1980, and although the group has traveled on a rocky road at times, the band is intact today and plays a show at Summerfest on the U.S. Cellular Stage on Saturday, July 9 at 8 p.m.
The Meat Puppets is comprised of brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood, along with drummer Shandon Sahm. The group recently played its 1985 album "Up On The Sun" at the All Tomorrow's Parties Music Festival in England, curated by Animal Collective. The festival, founded in 1999, was started as an alternative to corporate music festivals and to showcase old and new indie and hip hop bands.
Cris' high-profile legal and personal problems created a rift in the band for a while, but the group reformed in 2006. In April, the Meat Puppets released "Lollipop" on Megaforce Records.
OnMilwaukee.com recently caught up with Curt who was en route to Omaha, Neb. to play a show and asked him about his music, his brother and his thoughts about Milwaukee.
OnMilwaukee.com: How was All Tomorrow's Parties?
Curt Kirkwood: It was a lot of fun. It's a beautiful place and we had a blast.
OMC: Did you hang out with other bands while you were there?
CK: We got to meet the Animal Collective guys, but mostly, we got in there, did our bit and got out.
OMC: So did you enjoy the experience of playing "Up On The Sun" again?
CK: It was great, but we had to rehearse it a good amount. It's not something we would normally do.
OMC: Do you consider yourself to be punk rock or were you part of the punk or post-punk movement at one time?
CK: No, I never did consider us punk. We have and always did all kinds of stuff. When we got started, we played a lot of punk rock shows but that was just because of the venue and other punk bands got into us and then we got categorized as "punk" even though we really weren't. We have been categorized as this or that for years, but it's just a rock band. That's what I always said. It's hard to describe us.
OMC: What's you favorite Meat Puppets record?
CK: It's usually the current one, if you could call it a favorite, because it's the one I am the most focused on. So, "Lollipop," I guess. There's something I like in all of them; I have never really been able to pick out a favorite. I'm prejudiced.
OMC: You guys broke up and then reunited a few times. What always brings you back together?
CK: Drug abuse and prison made a hiatus necessary. That's the only reasons, though. I've always been kinda loose about putting out albums with the other guys and willing to weather it out and see what happened.
OMC: Do you spend a lot of time with your brother outside of the music world?
CK: No, we live in different towns. I live in Austin and he lives in Phoenix. We do a lot of our practicing at gigs or in the studio.
OMC: Which album covers did you draw?
CK: "Up On The Sun," "Huevos," "Monsters" and the first two ("Meat Puppets 1" and "Meat Puppets 2").
OMC: I bought my first Meat Puppets album, "Up On The Sun," because I thought the name was cool. Where did the name originally come from?
CK: Actually, it was a song name before it was our band name. When we were trying to come up with a band name, we decided to use it because it was a cool name.
OMC: So what is a "meat puppet?"
CK: They're just people.
OMC: What comes to mind when you think of Milwaukee?
CK: Those Usinger's sausages. And Schlitz: the beer that made Milwaukee famous.
OMC: Thanks for not saying "The Fonz" like most people do.
CK: Who?
Accessed 7/8/11
http://onmilwaukee.com/seasonal/festivals/articles/meatpuppetsinterview.html?26727
OnMilwaukee.com
By Molly Snyder
Associate Editor
Published July 5, 2011 at 4:09 p.m.
The Meat Puppets play the U.S. Cellular Stage on Saturday night at 8 p.m.
American band The Meat Puppets formed in 1980, and although the group has traveled on a rocky road at times, the band is intact today and plays a show at Summerfest on the U.S. Cellular Stage on Saturday, July 9 at 8 p.m.
The Meat Puppets is comprised of brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood, along with drummer Shandon Sahm. The group recently played its 1985 album "Up On The Sun" at the All Tomorrow's Parties Music Festival in England, curated by Animal Collective. The festival, founded in 1999, was started as an alternative to corporate music festivals and to showcase old and new indie and hip hop bands.
Cris' high-profile legal and personal problems created a rift in the band for a while, but the group reformed in 2006. In April, the Meat Puppets released "Lollipop" on Megaforce Records.
OnMilwaukee.com recently caught up with Curt who was en route to Omaha, Neb. to play a show and asked him about his music, his brother and his thoughts about Milwaukee.
OnMilwaukee.com: How was All Tomorrow's Parties?
Curt Kirkwood: It was a lot of fun. It's a beautiful place and we had a blast.
OMC: Did you hang out with other bands while you were there?
CK: We got to meet the Animal Collective guys, but mostly, we got in there, did our bit and got out.
OMC: So did you enjoy the experience of playing "Up On The Sun" again?
CK: It was great, but we had to rehearse it a good amount. It's not something we would normally do.
OMC: Do you consider yourself to be punk rock or were you part of the punk or post-punk movement at one time?
CK: No, I never did consider us punk. We have and always did all kinds of stuff. When we got started, we played a lot of punk rock shows but that was just because of the venue and other punk bands got into us and then we got categorized as "punk" even though we really weren't. We have been categorized as this or that for years, but it's just a rock band. That's what I always said. It's hard to describe us.
OMC: What's you favorite Meat Puppets record?
CK: It's usually the current one, if you could call it a favorite, because it's the one I am the most focused on. So, "Lollipop," I guess. There's something I like in all of them; I have never really been able to pick out a favorite. I'm prejudiced.
OMC: You guys broke up and then reunited a few times. What always brings you back together?
CK: Drug abuse and prison made a hiatus necessary. That's the only reasons, though. I've always been kinda loose about putting out albums with the other guys and willing to weather it out and see what happened.
OMC: Do you spend a lot of time with your brother outside of the music world?
CK: No, we live in different towns. I live in Austin and he lives in Phoenix. We do a lot of our practicing at gigs or in the studio.
OMC: Which album covers did you draw?
CK: "Up On The Sun," "Huevos," "Monsters" and the first two ("Meat Puppets 1" and "Meat Puppets 2").
OMC: I bought my first Meat Puppets album, "Up On The Sun," because I thought the name was cool. Where did the name originally come from?
CK: Actually, it was a song name before it was our band name. When we were trying to come up with a band name, we decided to use it because it was a cool name.
OMC: So what is a "meat puppet?"
CK: They're just people.
OMC: What comes to mind when you think of Milwaukee?
CK: Those Usinger's sausages. And Schlitz: the beer that made Milwaukee famous.
OMC: Thanks for not saying "The Fonz" like most people do.
CK: Who?
Accessed 7/8/11
http://onmilwaukee.com/seasonal/festivals/articles/meatpuppetsinterview.html?26727