Interview: Cris Kirkwood from the Meat Puppets

Cris Kirkwood is the bassist for the Meat Puppets, which released the indie rock classic albums Meat Puppets II in 1984 and Up on the Sun in 1985. They hit their commercial peak with 1994’s album Too High to Die, which featured the minor hit “Backwater.” Their visibility was helped immensely around this time by Kurt Cobain proclaiming the Meat Puppets to be one of his biggest influences, and by brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood joining Nirvana onstage at their MTV Unplugged performance of three songs from Meat Puppets II. But things crumbled shortly thereafter, in large part because of Cris’ escalating substance abuse problems.

This interview was conducted over the phone on 1/8/09, and formed the basis of a preview article for the Meat Puppets concert at SOhO. Be sure to read Cris’ hilarious answers to “The MOJO Questions” at the end.

Concert Review: Meat Puppets

Review of Meat Puppets concert on 1/15/09 at SOhO in Santa Barbara

Concert Preview: Meat Puppets

Preview of Meat Puppets concert on 1/15/09 at SOhO in Santa Barbara, with brief interview with Cris Kirkwood

Advice From Musicians

Songwriters and musicians answer the question: What advice would you give to an aspiring songwriter/musician? Responses from:

Pete Seeger
Sir George Martin
Jeff Barry
Todd Rundgren
Ted Nugent
Billy Corgan
Ray Manzarek
Paul Kantner
Country Joe McDonald
Jonathan Richman
Van Dyke Parks
Steve Vai
Cris Kirkwood
Mike Watt
Henry Rollins
Mark Tulin
Ian Underwood
Billy Cox
David Freiberg
Steve Young
Justin Roberts
Black Francis
Alex Ebert
Al Kooper
Ira Kaplan