eGigs talks to Cris Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

eGigs sneaks in a quick interview with bassist Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets after a rare UK show.

How's the tour going?
It's not really a tour; it's just a couple of gigs. We played at that ATP thing last nigh. It was fun, playing to a bunch of people who have been getting drunk and high for four days straight, it was goofy, and we had a blast.

Did you choose tonight's support bands?
No, but it was a good combo though.

Curt posted a bulletin asking if anyone was interested in a reunion of the Meat Puppets, did you have many requests to rejoin before this, or was it your idea?
I dunno. The many fans?! What prompted it is that Curt wanted to play some electric music and we never really broke up, I just "checked out" for a while and now we're suddenly back into it and capable of playing some more.

'Rise To Your Knees' is a lot different from say the album 'II', not as fast paced. In fact all of your albums are very different.
Curt and I hadn't played together in a long time, so we just went into the studio, we didn't practice, we didn't have a drummer, we just went in to make a record and start playing together again. It just captured the moment, of him and I playing together again for the first time in a long time, which is really neat. We've been playing with Ted (drummer) for a while now, so we'll see what the next thing sounds like.

Did ATP contact you to play at ATP Vs Pitchfork?
They contacted us. Them and all those fans!

Was it your first time at a Pontins campsite?!
Yes it was, as a matter of fact! I always wanted to go to Pontins....

To me a fun element comes across in your music. Are there some deep influences for your work, or is it all about having fun and playing what feels natural?
There are deep influences; also I'm influenced by the way I feel, I think, musically there's all sorts of influences, but we're definitely a rock band, with the guitars, it's all influenced by that style of noise-making. I like to bring in other elements as well, taking in whatever I can at the time. I'm pretty brain damaged, that's what makes me worthwhile!

You have 'new' drummer Ted Marcus; did you approach him or did he find you?
We were in the studio and this friend of ours Joseph Cultice wanted to make a documentary about Curt and I getting back together and stuff, and Ted was doing the audio for it, he's a sound engineer from Manhattan. Curt was doing the drumming, and one day Ted like “I'm gonna check out that drum kit”, and he opens his bag and he's got sticks. “Look at you , the little drumming elf! ” We asked him if he wanted to to play drums on this record, and he did. We asked him if he wanted to play some songs live and he did, and we started playing live together. It was really serendipitous, you know, it just happening like that, it was weird.

Does he appear to like touring and fit in more than Derrick Bostrom?
Derrick never liked touring at all, he's a truly anti-social punk rocker, he wasn't faking it. He's had a job, he wasn't a social guy, but he was a very key part of the band, it was hooking up with Derrick that made everything possible. We asked him if he wanted to do this record, but he said no.

FUTURE GIGS

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