To have Cris Kirkwood back as the bassist of the Meat Puppets is nothing short of a miracle. The band he founded with his guitarist/vocalist brother Curt in 1980 broke up in 1996 due to Cris’ addiction to heroin and crack cocaine. In the ensuing years, Cris’ life spiraled far out of his control as he lost his wife to a drug overdose and spent 18 months in prison for attacking a post-office security guard. Now, almost four years clean and sober, Cris is gearing up to hit the road in support of the band’s 12th studio album, Sewn Together. Before he does, Cris will spend the week guest editing magnetmagazine.com. Read our new Q&A with Cris and our 2007 career overview of the Meat Puppets.
Cris Kirkwood: At the end of the Meat Puppets’ first European tour, in the fall of ’87, we tried to visit Stonehenge, but we were mysteriously kept from it by a hurricane that the gods had sneakily hurled at the British Isles—a fairly rare occurence, apparently—that didn’t make much of an impression in the States ’cause it was the at same time that little Baby Jessica chose to wedge herself in that well. Well! Anyhow, the storm was a serious trip. We ended up stuck out in the English countryside in the middle of the night, our way blocked by fallen trees, and took shelter in the graveyard of a medieval church. Shades of Macbeth. As chance would have it, last fall—lo these many years later—on our way to the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival on the southern coast of Merry Ol’, we came over a rise and there they were, the mighty triptychs. Patience is a virtue.
