Meat Puppets | Interview

Story by Jacob Fricke 

| Published Apr 5, 2011

Curt Kirkwood and his band, the Meat Puppets, have seen and done pretty much everything imaginable. From multiple lineup changes to band breakups, and heroin abuse to jail time, almost every situation he has seen in his three decades of making music has been a few steps away from tragic.

And yet their new album is called “Lollipop.” Could a delectable children’s treat be any less appropriate?

“The cover, [artist] Jamie Butler did it,” said Kirkwood. “I had a painting and she took a picture of it and just swirled it around. I thought it looked like a lollipop. There it is. Nothing more to do with it than that.”

Founded in 1980, the band has run the gamut from hardcore punk, psychedelic rock and country. The one constant, however, has been Curt Kirkwood.The guitarist/lead singer for the band has always been known for taking things in stride. He has been the band’s sole consistent member and “writes most of the stuff.” His brother, bassist Cris, left the band in 1999 to deal with a heroin addiction. Original drummer Derrick Bostram left around the same time.

Kirkwood kept the band going with new members, and he certainly isn’t looking to apologize for it.

“Cris went away, I ignored him. Derrick kind of went away,” he said. “We just weren’t doing it. We never said ‘we’re not doing this anymore.’ I was always writing, and when it became apparent that Cris couldn’t do it for a while, I got the other guys to play. In my mind it was never a thing that I had to overcome.”

Kirkwood, however, barely skips a beat when talking about his brother’s history of heroin addiction, personal tragedy and prison.

“I don’t like the fact that Cris was in prison, but it doesn’t really weigh that much on my mind,” Kirkwood said. “By the time he got there, I hadn’t seen him in a long time and he’d been caught in his habit for a long time, and that was a conclusion of all of that. Ironically, it was the start of him getting better. In some ways it’s kind of cool that he got locked up.”

Cris returned to the group in 2006 after serving time for assault. Also returning to the group is Shandon Sahm, who joined the group in 1999 and left after their second breakup in 2002. Krikwood said he “just slid right back” into the group dynamic.

“We didn’t really give him a chance to practice or anything,” a chuckling Kirkwood said, “but he knew the stuff.”

But really, how much of this new stuff matters? For the rest of their existence and long after, the band will be best known for appearing with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana on their 1994 “MTV Unplugged” appearance and album. For some vain musicians this would be a problem. Kirkwood sees it as an asset.

“I think it’s one of those things that is a slightly different take on notoriety. You can look at it as coattail riding,” he said, “but they are our songs. It’s not something I could help. They asked me to come on MTV and record three songs on an unplugged thing. Not my idea. I guess I could have said no, but they would’ve played them anyway, probably.”

“Lollipop” is their third album since reforming, and Kirkwood’s outlook has never been brighter, especially for a band that has been through so much.

“Life is wonderful. There’s more inspiration then I could ever grab,” he said. “It’s right under your nose anytime… It seems like after this long I’ve only just scratched the surface.”

And ultimately, that’s why “Lollipop” is a fitting title: a childlike enthusiasm has been rekindled.