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: Talk about slavish ass-lickery of the mighty and exalted: One time me and my girl went to see another of my all-time favorites, the mighty George Jones, and were able to sneak into the front row. I was a giddy little thing watching George stroll through song-that-I-so-fucking-dig after song and decided I needed to let him know what huge fans the Meat Puppets were, so I wrote him a note saying as much with the intent of, well, I don’t know, tossing it onstage or something. I mean, we were in the front row and the guy is like seriously one of my—well, shucks—heroes. Anyway, before I could toss the thing, my girl grabbed it, jumped up onstage and handed it right to him. He gives it a look, then, pretending to read it, says, “Get out of town by 10 o’clock?!” I ’bout shat. YouTube video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMoGQX5I_Bo
