ARTS
Wednesday, May 22, 1985 The Michigan Daily
Page 5
Kirkwood: Confessions of a cow-punk
Tonight at 10p.m., SST recor-
ding artists The Meatpuppets will
be appearing at Detroit's Lieder-
nacht theatre. The band is presen-
tly touring to promote their new
album, Up On the Sun.
Vocalist/guitarist Curt Kirkwood
spoke to Daily staff writer, Beth
Fertig from a pay-phone booth on
Manhattan's West 48th street.
Daily: Where are you calling from?
Kirkwood: New York. Right on the
street where all the music stores are.
D: 48th street?
K: Yeah.
D: What made you guys change
from the hardcore music of the first
album to a more country western
style of the second album?
K: I don't know, really. We always
played like that. We always played
country-western. We just turned the
stuff up real loud on the first album
(Meatpuppets) ... That's kinda like
now we're getting into disco more,
and funk, and pius putting just a little
hit of everything, keyboards, stuff
like that.
D: Where do you see yourselves
going now? Are you looking for a
signing on a major record label in-
stead of SST?
K: No, not really. We're looking for
autocracy, and more self respect.
D: So, then you intend to stay with
SST?
K: As long as they do us right. If
they don't get some albums in the
stores I'm going to get upset pretty
soon, It's not their fault, it's a finan-
cial thing 'cause they're small. This is
their most commercially successfully
album as far as radio play and that
kind of stuff goes. And I think that if
they could find a way to back that up
they could do real well with us. That
would please me. We haven't ever
looked for a major contract at all.
D: You're coming to Detroit Wed-
nesday night - to the Liedernacht. I
was told it could get real rowdy. Do
you think that's all going to change as
soon as you guys start playing? I
mean, if people come and expect a
hardcore act ...
K; I think that anybody that really
appreciated music for the same
reasons that most people appreciate
music-it's spiritually uplifting, or
whatever-will enjoy it. And we have
4'
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k
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have real precise arrangements, and joke. The hardcore thing is a joke.
all that. But, we don't have a lot of We're not jocks or skin heads, or
time, so we go in and record it and nothing like that. Meatpuppets is
find our-we say, "okay, that's representative to us of our outlet for
satisfactory. It's time, necessity, the classics. We tried to roll
mother of invention," kind of like. everything all up into one with this
And I think we don't really have the band. Hardcore is definitely-well,
next album planned all that well-yet.
No, I don't think it will be anything
like this album, at all. I won't record
in that way, I won't make music that
panders in anyway.
I don't feel our audience wants us to -I
pander to them. I feel that want us to
do what we do, and that's what we're
going to do. Just keep experimenting
and going out as far as we can. W E K
D; I noticed a lot of stuff onthe
second album sounds a little like Neil
Young or Grateful Dead. Do you have
any influences that you either mock
or work off of in some way?
K: Yes, I'm real heavily influenced
by Hank Williams and Johnny
Cash . . . Elvis. And it's more those
influences than Neil Young or
Grateful Dead, really. If you listen to"
Elvis'hband during the 's or early goREGIST
70's, the Dead stole his arrangements
so heavily. Elvis' band is so good,
they're just fantastic. James Burdon A 14 foot Ho
is probably my biggest guitar in- ' $ Pr/Ze $2700 - one t
fluence. And although I love The
Grateful Dead-I don't listen to them, A Hobie bea
but I think that what they do is pretty 2nd Prize be given awi
cool-I used to, anyway. I think Neil
Young is alright, too. Not necessary to be present to v
I think people tend to get that in-
fluence messed up mostly because we
were real hardcore rockers that star-
ted playing country music, and they
thought-I mean, like I said, we've all
lived in Arizona or Texas all our lives.
Kirkwood And there's nothing but country
... leaves hardcore behind music there. So that's all we ever
a lot of good experiences with just all heard.
kinds, even hardcore people. It D: Okay, so you're playing Wed-Wheta. 0 lsi
depends on the town; say, some of the nesday,
towns are really backwards and still K: (Are we) playing Ann Arbor?
believe that it's 1977. And some towns D: No, you're playing Detroit.
the hardcores have followed what K: We played Blind Pig last time.
we've done through all three albums we were in town. It was real nice. Is .
and it's no problem at all. They slam wish we could do that again, but we i . "
dance to all the songs and it's real have a different agent this time.
funny. That's why we're hardcore this time.
D; Okay - about the new album. We're with SST's booking agent.
It's slowed down alot from the second Yeah, but you can put that it's a
album. Do you think you're going to
continue in that vein?W
K: Uh, well, I don't know about u.mn Oto
that, necessarily ... We rely a lot on, PRICES GOOD
it's sort of like 'found music. We EMONDAY, MAY
20THRU
542 LS Bulding SATURDAY
for me hardcore was the Germs and
the Sex Pistols. I don't know.
D: Where does the name come
from, by the way?
K: We made it up. We just wanted
something that people would remem-
ber.
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