Kirkwood brothers reuniting in Meat Puppets

NEW YORK (Billboard) - For the first time in more than a decade, Meat Puppets principals Curt and Cris Kirkwood will work together on a new album, a project described by Curt as "sonic pyramids made out of garbage."

The brothers, who haven't seen each other in years while Cris has dealt with a heroin addiction and an 18-month prison stint, will soon begin rehearsing new material as a precursor to hitting the studio.

"I've got the album written already. I'm going to record it on my own and then see who wants to put it out," Curt Kirkwood told Billboard.com. "It's epic. It's big Meat Puppets stuff."

The Kirkwoods last worked together on the 1995 album "No Joke!" That came out a year after the Meat Puppets' breakthrough "Too High to Die," which featured the rock radio hit "Backwater."

Cris Kirkwood's tumultuous last 10 years have been well documented. In 2004, the bassist was shot during an altercation with a security guard while on probation, and subsequently served 18 months in prison for assault. The Puppets released one album without him, 2000's "Golden Lies," before folding.

"I haven't seen my brother since like 1998, but I'm talking to him a lot," Kirkwood said. "He's (been) clean for more than two years and he's all raring to go. Cris' resurrection is no less than miraculous -- it's like a Lazarus-type thing. I was just like, 'If Cris is back, I know his frame of mind.' If he's upright and walking, it's hard to knock him down."

Although he was asked to participate, original Meat Puppets drummer Derrick Bostrom will not be involved in the reunion. Primus drummer Tim Alexander will replace him behind the kit.

"Tim and Cris have the same dentist, and the dentist said, 'Hey, I've got this guy...,"' Kirkwood said. "Ironically, that was the last tour that Cris and I did, opening for Primus (in 1995). I think it's going to be a really decent take on the whole thing."

The plan for the Kirkwoods and Alexander is to record the album and then hit the road. "The fact that I don't have a contract is actually better, because I don't need to hear anybody else's opinion about the Meat Puppets at this point in my life," Kirkwood said. "It's fun to see where this will fit in, in this present state of the business."

Kirkwood is also on the road in support of his 2005 solo debut, "Snow," with upcoming West Coast dates as support for Son Volt and Drive-By Truckers.

Reuters/Billboard

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