Meat Puppets

Meat Puppets recently finished up a tour in support of their most recent LP Lollipop which came out this past April. After a couple dates with Soundgarden at the end of the month, the Meat Puppets will take a short break before playing a few more dates this fall. Their last string of dates never came through NYC, but this one will on November 4 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets are on sale now. All tour dates are listed below.

Meat Puppet Curt Kirkwood recently spoke to JSOnline about their tour and Nirvana, who they played with at Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance, and whose seminal album Nevermind celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The Meat Puppets recorded a cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for Spin's new Nevermind tribute album, Newermind. The album also features contributions by EMA (who has shows coming up soon), The Vaselines, JEFF the Brotherhood, Amanda Palmer, Titus Andronicus, Surfer Blood and others. The album will be available for free download on Spin's website starting July 26. Tracklist below.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Nevermind, Universal is also releasing a deluxe edition of the album on September 19. The reissue includes a 4 CD/1 DVD boxset with rarities, B-sides, unreleased recordings, BBC radio appearances, and an unreleased concert on DVD.

Universal will also reissue 1991: The Year Punk Broke on DVD on September 6. The film documents a Sonic Youth tour with Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Ramones, Babes in Toyland, and Gumball. The reissue includes a bonus film titled (This Is Known As) The Blues Scale, which features live footage of Sonic Youth and Nirvana.

Meat Puppets dates and video of them with Nirvana at MTV Unplugged in 1993, below...

Continue reading "Meat Puppets announce dates, appear on SPIN Nirvana tribute, 'Nevermind' is turning 20"

by BBG

Over the past few months, we've been busy jamming, writing and hanging out together - exploring the creative aspect of being Soundgarden. It feels great. We have some cool new songs that we are going to record very soon. Thank you for all of the support!

Loudest of Love,

Ben, Chris, Kim and Matt

Coheed & Cambria (who is also scheduled to play a free show at Williamsburg Waterfront) will join Soundgarden at both NYC-area dates, July 8th at Prudential Center in Neark and July 9th at Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh, NY. Tickets for Prudential Center and Jones beach go on Fan Presale at 9AM and 7AM PDT (aka noon and 10AM EST) respectively, while regular sale for both Prudential Center and Jones Beach kicks off at 10AM on 5/13. They also play Mohegan Sun in CT on July 6th and the Borgata in Atlantic City on July 14th. All dates are listed below.

The Mars Volta play the Atlantic City date, but neither of the NYC-area shows, so maybe they'll announce their own NYC show soon? Omar and Cedric last played NYC together in March.

In related news, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden recently contributed guitar to the new record by A Storm of Light, As The Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade. Check out that track/a recent interview with Josh Graham.

All tour dates, some with Queens of the Stone Age and Meat Puppets too, are listed below...

Continue reading "Soundgarden announce tour, some shows w/ Mars Volta, others w/ Coheed & Cambria (dates)"

words by Rachel Kowal

Dent May @ BV-CMJ 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

A few nights earlier, I tried and failed to see Dent May at a late-night show, but I figured I'd give it another shot, so I headed over to the Cake Shop after the BrooklynVegan CMJ show at MHOW Thursday night, and was delighted to see that they were running on schedule. I thought I was tired at that point, but I've got to hand it to Dent May and his friend Bobby for their dedication to the cause. "We drove 20 hours straight to be with you. Our car got towed. We've been threw a lot of shit, and we love it," May said by way of introduction. A quick look at Bobby's zombie-like stare as he sat, waiting for the show to start, revealed just how tired he was. In addition to their lengthy sojourn to New York, it was their last show of the week and the third of the day. Luckily, their music is upbeat and undeniably catchy. When they started to play, they sprang to life, and many of the people in the audience began to dance.

Dent May doesn't have any more dates on his schedule, but he is on the lineup of the just-announced All Tomorrow's Parties curated by Animal Collective taking place May 13th-15th at at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, UK. Full initial lineup announcement below...

Continue reading "Dent May played CMJ, playing Animal Collective-curated ATP "

Memorial Day Weekend officially opened the summer, and for those in the Pacific Northwest it also brought Sasquatch Music Festival (pictures from all three days are coming soon). Now the lineup for its Labor Day cousin, Bumbershoot 2010, has been announced. That fest, happening at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center September 4th-6th, will include headliners Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Rise Against, Neko Case, The Decemberists, J. Cole and "one more very special guest to be announced soon."

Tickets (including non-Mainstage 'economy' passes) are on sale now. The rest of the lineup (by day) for the seven-stage festival is posted below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2010 lineup (Bob Dylan... Hole... Mary J Blige)"

photos by Ryan Barkan

Just as everyone at the SXSW Music Festival was finding their groove Wednesday, news of the death of Alex Chilton hit. "Austin's in shock about Alex," read one of the countless social media memes. On Saturday, heartsick Big Star fans got to hear Chilton songs performed by a cast of guest musicians sitting in on the regularly scheduled Big Star showcase, held down by the remaining members of the band's current incarnation, Jon Auer, Ken Stringfellow and Jody Stephens...

But first a letter from Chilton's widow, Laura, who the 59-year-old musician had only recently married, was read by publicist Heather West [video below]...

...Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets lumbered through "In the Street," otherwise known as the theme song for That 70's Show. M. Ward of She & Him croaked an elegant "Big Black Car." Mike Mills of R.E.M. found his religion with "Jesus Christ." John Doe of X dispatched a crystal clear "I'm in Love with a Girl." And in what was the night's biggest surprise, Sondre Lerche provided an intense, harmonic "The Ballad of El Goodo."

And that's how it went for the entire hour and a half, with guest musicians including Chris Stamey, Chuck Prophet, Evan Dando, Amy Speace, the Watson Twins, Susan Cowsill, and original Big Star member Andy Hummel (who came in from Lithuania for the show) all getting a chance to pay tribute to Chilton. A rendition of the classic "Thirteen" was one of the final songs of the night, the lyrics of which encapsulated not only the special moment that was taking place in the storied Antone's blues club, but the entire SXSW Music Festival: "Rock & roll is here to stay/ Come inside where it's okay." [Rolling Stone]

Continue reading "Big Star members & many special guests paid tribute to Alex Chilton Saturday night @ SXSW - pics, video & setlist"

The Neave: How was it playing alongside bands like the Meat Puppets and the Thermals? What artists or bands, if any, would you like to play/collaborate with in the future?

Mayhaw Hoons of The Shaky Hands: To me, the Meat Puppets tour was the best of all time. We had done five shows with The Shins a few years back, and that was amazing, but I feel like we never had a good connection with the fans. They were playing places like the Greek Theatre; an awesome experience, but kind of strange for us. With the Meat Puppets, we were having great shows every night to the best music fans ever. Plus, getting to know the band was a dream come true.

Thermals fans were a bit harder to crack. They are rabid kids. Some nights were amazing; some nights it was crickets. They wanted to get to their beloved Thermals and crowd surf. Every audience is different, but The Thermals themselves were always great to be around, and as I said earlier, we had an awesome time on the road with them.

We would love to tour with the Puppets again. Other great bands would be Big Business, Tom Petty or, I don't know, Shakira?

Their two-week, NYC-to-Cali tour kicks off Wednesday, December 2nd at Knitting Factory Brooklyn, with Takka Takka, Joshua Wise/Eyeses and tourmates US Royalty . Tickets are on sale.

US Royalty will be joining the band for a few of those tour dates before being replaced by The Rural Alberta Advantage (in who are in NYC this January).

All tour dates and Shaky Hands' video for new song "Already Gone" are below...

Continue reading "The Shaky Hands kicking off December tour (dates)-- Wednesday night in Broolyn w/ Takka Takka, US Royalty"

Meat Puppets

Meat Puppets have a slew of upcoming tour dates: In September, they go across the West Coast with Athens grunge-rock band Dead Confederate, who also joins them on on their October dates in the South (which include a Halloween-in-Houston show with Those Darlins). Meat Puppets then spend November touring the Midwest and East Coast before heading to NC & TN. They visit NYC on east coast leg of that tour for a show at Bowery Ballroom on November 25th. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 11th at noon.

In July, Meat Puppets opened some shows for Stone Temple Pilots which I think is as good a way as any to segue into a mention of "Alice in Chains" who played Irving Plaza in NYC last night (9/8)...

"New vocalist William DuVall (well at this point he's not really new anymore, but I guess he's new-ish) didn't just sing the phrase "Again and again and again" - he belted it, jumping up onto the monitors to give himself just a little extra boost in the rockstar god department. Then, as it came time for him to grunt and signal the start of the "Doo-doo, doo-doo" sing-along section (and sing along the crowd did), DuVall lept off the monitor and started pumping his fist in the air, prompting the audience to do the same. As he finally turned to face drummer Sean Kinney, Kinney started grinning; and then the grin spread across the stage like an infectious disease, and by the end of the song, guitarist Jerry Cantrell and bassist Mike Inez were smiling, too." [Metal Sucks

Continue reading "Meat Puppets touring (dates), 'Alice in Chains' played Irving "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Fol Chen - No Wedding Cake (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fol Chen - Cable TV (Liars remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: An Horse - Camp Out (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: An Horse Postcards (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Telekenisis - Coast of Carolina (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Esser - Headlock (MP3)

The Meat Puppets

While for many area music fans (especially ones, like me, who live in Williamsburg or Greenpoint) the Northside Festival is going to be the main attraction (by guide to Day One, HERE), there are a lot of other things going on. Even other festival type things.

You may already know about Todd P's Unamplified Acoustic BBQ 2009 which happens on Sunday (6/14) at Fort Tilden Beach, featuring somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 performers. As the weather's supposed to be partly sunny, high of 80, this could be a great way to spend the afternoon... and you could still make it back to catch some Northside Performances.

On Saturday (6/13) there's the Exit 44 Festival which will be held at Wonderland in Astoria, Queens. Headlined by Tigercity and Project Jenny, Project Jan, the fest also features Action Painters, My Teenage Stride, Schwervon!, The Specific Heats and more. (See the flyer below for a full list of bands. Tickets are $10 in advance or $13 at the door.

The Meat Puppets are at Mercury Lounge this week - Thursday (still tickets available) and Friday. Their new album Sewn Together is the mellowest thing the band have ever released, but it's unmistakably a Meat Puppets album, with Curt Kirkwood guitar style, those distinctive harmonies and some really nice songs. (To be fair, the Meat Puppets have been pretty mellow since 1985's Up on the Sun.) And you know they're going to lean heavy on their classics -- Meat Puppets II, Up on the Sun, "Backwater." And getting to see them somewhere small like Mercury Lounge will be a real treat.

Fol Chen

L.A.'s Fol Chen are playing their first-ever NYC show this Sunday (6/14) at Mercury Lounge. If you haven't heard them, there are a couple MP3s at the top of this post. There's a little bit of Grizzly Bear/Animal Collective density in their sound, but Fol Chen are poppier, sunnier, befitting a West Coast disposition. (They sorta remind me of Psapp if you know them.) Their debut, Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made, came out back in February on Asthmatic Kitty without much of a splash but the band have recently started to get more attention, especially in the UK, where the band are currently on a whirlwind, 6-day/7-show visit to London. The Mercury Lounge show will be them barely off the plane. Hope they won't be too jetlagged. Tickets are on sale.

That Mercury Lounge show is solid all around. Headlining are Brisbane, Australia's An Horse who recently released their debut, Rearrange Beds. It's one of those unassuming records that isn't particularly groundbreaking and doesn't hit you at first, but then you find yourself coming back to it a lot, or saying "oh what's this?" when it comes up on shuffle. Sort of the same reaction I had with Wye Oak, another seemingly unassuming duo. The sound is so simple you have a feeling they're going to be pretty good live.

An Horse are on tour with recent Merge signees Telekinesis whose self-titled record I also like a lot. Produced by Chris Walla, the album kind of feels like Merge's greatest hits all in one band: a little New Zealand pop, a little of Superchunk's anthemecism, solid pop hooks (take your pick of their roster)... it's good stuff. I didn't catch them the last time they were in town but may have to this time. In addition to the Mercury Lounge show, Telekinesis and An Horse also play Union Hall on Saturday (6/13).

An Horse

A couple good shows at the Bell House this weekend. Friday night (6/12) is that Posies show where they're doing their classic 1993 album Frosting on the Beater in its entirety. New Zealand's lovely The Brunettes open and tickets are still available. The Posies will do it again at the Gramercy Theater on Saturday.

Speaking of The Brunettes, they were also just added to a Thursday Northside Festival show at Pete's Candy Store.

Then Saturday (6/13) at the Bell House is Columbus, OH-based webzine The Agit Reader's One Year Anniversary Party. Columbus, OH's Times New Viking are the official headliners, but the real draw of the show is their '90s lo-fi punk elders The Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, who began playing again a couple years ago after nearly a decade of inactivity. This will be thier first non-Columbus show since getting back together. In case you don't remember them, I defer again to The Trouser Press:

Most of the bands operating under the Luddite doctrine that's been dubbed "lo-fi" are quiet...sweet-tempered...pussycats even. This Columbus-spawned quartet -- the brainchild of former Great Plains frontman Ron House -- makes like that same pussycat injected with a goodly dose of the rabies virus, tearing apart the shabby confines of its 4-track studio with glee. The Slave Apartments (to use the shorthand preferred by the band) spent a few years releasing limited-edition singles -- including one that never went on sale at all; you had to write House directly with a good reason for him to send you one for free. The edition "sold" out quickly, and from the exhausting rush of Bait and Switch, it's easy to see why. House's high-pitched whine gives an oddly vulnerable edge to self-deflating tracks like "My Mysterious Death (Turn It Up)" and a reprise of the prior EP's "You Can't Kill Stupid" (which addresses the singer's early-'90s battle with cancer), while Bob Petric's splatter-punk guitar riffs action-paint the margins of pieces like the spot-on cover of "Cyclotron" (from the catalogue of Cleveland proto-punks Electric Eels) with unremittingly chaotic abandon. The topper, however, is the revolutionary screed "RnR Hall of Fame," which tosses verbal firebombs at the very concept of the Cleveland rock hall, advocating that someone "blow it up...before Paul Westerberg gets in." Bait and switch? Duck and cover is more like it.

As mentioned before, So Cow is swinging back through NYC before heading home to Ireland. In addition to the Monday show at Union Hall we already posted about, he's playing Sunday night at Brooklyn's newest DIY venue, Shea Stadium, along with Knight School, The Specific Heats and The Gusties.

Esser

And finally, moving slightly into next week, UK artist Esser makes his NYC debut at Le Royale on Monday (6/15). Those who follow the NME scene closely (very very closely) might remember Ben Esser as one third of short-lived group LadyFuzz. Looking like he stepped out of 1982, Esser mixes bubbly synthpop, 2-Tone ska, Lord Kitchener style calypso with a hint of '90s Britpop. He's been releasing a string of downloadable singles since last year, many of them were very good and one of which, "Headlock," made my Top Ten Singles of 2009. You can download it at the top of this post. All of those singles, and about four other songs, are on his debut album, Braveface, which is out now in the UK. I caught him at SXSW and despite some technical difficulties and playing under less than ideal conditions, he was pretty good. And the show at Le Royale is free with RSVP.

Videos, flyers, and tour dates after the jump...

Continue reading "This Week in Indie - NON-Northside edition (Esser, Meat Puppets, Fol Chen, Telekenisis, An Horse, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, So Cow, Exit 44 Fest & more)"

by Andrew Frisicano

As previously reported, Meat Puppets have a new album coming out - their 12th full-length studio record - and two NYC shows scheduled on their May/June US tour which has since been fully announced. The NYC shows, June 11th (tickets) and June 12th (tickets) both at the Mercury Lounge, are on sale now (still no info on openers).

The band recently played SXSW. A video from that show, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Meat Puppets - updated 2009 tour dates, SXSW video "

Meat Puppets @ Stubb's, Austin, TX (SXSW) - Mar 19, 2009 (andycarvin)

"After meeting back up with M, who had eaten dinner during her movie (Alamo Drafthouse Ritz), we dropped back into Le Cafe Crepe where I ate for the second time that day. We then headed on over to Antone's to catch the Doug Sahm tribute by various artists. First up was Jimmie Vaughan, who played 3 or 4 songs. When he left the stage, they began setting up for the next band (The Gourds), and M stayed here while I headed over to Stubbs to catch several acts there, beginning with the Meat Puppets. I was a big fan back in the late 1980's - early 1990's, but hadn't seen them in a long time. I believe this was my 7th time seeing them. They were still fun to see, although I thought the bass was mixed too loudly relative to everything else. :-/" [DNC Austin]

Last time the band was in NYC, it was Maxwell's (Hoboken) and Music Hall of Williamsburg (Brooklyn). Before that it was ATP NY and Terminal 5.

Meat Puppets @ ATP NY 2008 (more by Abbey Braden)

Stubb's in Austin is like Roseland Ballroom in NYC, except it's outdoors, it's conveniently located downtown near all the other venues, and you actually want to go see shows there (in my experience anyway). A lot of the "big" SXSW shows happen there. Last year Stubb's hosted R.E.M. and Motorhead. Metallica is still rumored to be playing there on the Friday night (which may or may not be the same show Jane's Addiction is or isn't playing). It's where the Decemberists will play their new album for the first time on that Wednesday, and it's where Andrew Bird is playing on the Thursday. PJ Harvey plays there that Saturday.

Each Stubb's bill has up to seven artists, and I think more than any other venue, they put together some... interesting combinations. Gomez is playing before Andrew Bird who is playing before Ben Harper. PJ Harvey and John Parrish are opening for... The Indigo Girls who are opening for... Third Eye Blind. AND, last but not least, The Meat Puppets are playing after... KATY PERRY. View the whole schedule, as it currently stands, at SXSW's site.

There are a couple of other big bands playing SXSW this year that I wanted to mention. The first is New York Dolls - they're playing Friday March 20th at 12:30 AM at Smokin' Music. The second is Echo and the Bunnymen - the UK band that recently headlined Radio City Music Hall have THREE official showcases scheduled in Austin, and they're scheduled to play the annual SPIN party at the 2500 (approx)-capacity Stubb's on Friday, March 20th, in the afternoon. Glasvegas, Passion Pit, Hot Leg (Justin Hawkins from the Darkness), Black Lips, and Cut Off Your Hands are also on SPIN's (invite only) bill.

Hot Leg also plays an official showcase Saturday night at Emo's Annex.
Videos below...

Full SXSW schedule at SXSW's site.
Lots more SXSW coverage right here at BrooklynVegan.

Continue reading "Katy Perry vs. Meat Puppets -- Stubb's -- New York Dolls, Echo & the Bunnymen, Hot Leg and other SXSW stuff"

photos by Toby Tenenbaum

Meat Puppets and Oakley Hall played their first of two NYC-area shows together, last night (12/11) at Maxwell's. Their NYC one is Saturday at MHOW. More MP dates HERE. More pictures from last night below...

Continue reading "Meat Puppets & Oakley Hall @ Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ - pics"

"Oh Me by the Meat Puppets - In late 1993, when Nirvana played their famous "MTV Unplugged" show, they were on tour with Curt and Chris Kirkwood, the brothers who made up the heart of the Meat Puppets. At this point, Cobain was using pretty heavily, and barely made it through soundcheck. During the taping, the Meat Puppets joined Nirvana for three songs, all Meat Puppets originals.

Each band gave a gift to the other that night: Nirvana, by bringing an influential but essentially underground band up to play with them; the Meat Puppets by basically surrendering those wonderful songs to Nirvana, specifically to Cobain. Obviously, having those songs on Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged" album provided the Meat Puppets with some pretty fair publishing royalties (Allah be praised!). At the same time, thanks to that legendary concert, those songs become Nirvana's -- specifically they are associated with Kurt Cobain and that performance. That's got to be an honor for the Meat Puppets. But who knows, maybe it also stings.

I say this only because the originals are so good; indeed, my own preference is for them, especially the fully electric version of "Oh Me," with its fuzz and building distortion and feedback. Curt Kirkwood's soloing is so haunting and sad on this, growing until the sound is profoundly huge. It's a song that deserves to be heard, especially during a season that is supposed to be about giving."
[Charles Bock's holiday playlist of non-holiday treats]

Continue reading "Charles Bock lists songs, updated Meat Puppets tour dates"

Meat Pupeets @ ATP NY (more by Abbey Braden)

Although they just completed a tour that included two shows at Teriminal 5 in NYC with Built to Spill and Dinosaur Jr. and a stop at the first annual All Tomorrow's Parties festival in upstate NY, Meat Puppets have scheduled two more NY-area shows this year. Tickets go on sale Friday for a December 13th Music Hall of Williamsburg show and tickets are on sale now for one happening two days earlier at Maxwell's. In October, MP are going on tour with Stone Temple Pilots (again). All dates below...

Continue reading "Meat Puppets - 2008 Tour Dates (STP, MHOW, Maxwell's)"

Built to Spill @ ATP NY (photo by Abbey Braden for atp 2008)

...played Terminal 5 last night, will again tonight.

photos by Abbey Braden for atp 2008

Dinosaur Jr. @ ATP NY

The Meat Puppets @ ATP NY

Sep 24 - Dinosaur Jr & Om @ the Stone Pony (tonight)
Sep 24 - Built to Spill & Meat Puppets @ Ram's Head Live (Baltimore)
Sep 25 - Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets & Built to Spill @ Terminal 5 (TICKETS)
Sep 26 - Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets & Built to Spill @ Terminal 5 (SOLD OUT)
Sep 27 - Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets & Built to Spill @ Orpheum Theatre (Boston)

Built to Spill performed Perfect From Now On at ATP on Friday. Meat Puppets performed Meat Puppets II on the same night. Dinosaur Jr. didn't perform an album, but they did also play ATP. On Thursday and Friday of this week all three bands perform on the same bill at Terminal 5 in NYC. Dates above. More ATP pics, including one of the DJ setlist, below....

Continue reading "Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets & Built to Spill played ATP (pics), about to hit NYC (and other places)"

photos by Zach Dilgard, words by Black Bubblegum

Zach & BB are up at Kutscher's this weekend for the first-ever NY All Tomorrow's Parties festival...

Patton Oswalt

"I feel like David Lynch would walk into this place and say 'This is perfect! Production designer, you're fired.'"

Leave it to Patton Oswalt to say exactly what I was thinking.

"I half expect to walk by a room and see a guy getting blown by somebody in a bear suit."

Kutscher's Country Club is an odd "resort"... a decaying, frozen-in-time artifact from the 60s with shag-carpeted walls, pale pink wall paper, musty smell, and brown water showers to prove it. But let's get real, no one came to Kutscher's for the surroundings.... It was for the sights, sounds, and overall vibe and in that respect, the location for the New York version of All Tommorrow's Parties delivers in spades.

Tortoise

Due to more traffic traffic than I anticipated, I ended up missing both Bardo Pond and Meat Puppets, sliding into Kutscher's slightly before Tortoise hit the main stage, the Stardust Room, on Friday (Sept 19, 2008).

The Stardust Room is circular, comparable in size to NYC's Nokia Theater and also tiered, presumably for dinner-shows. It's painted black and covered in stars and while it may have passed for "class" in the age of the beehive, in 2008, Stardust feels more like a rejected set from Star Trek. Where it counts though, the sound, I was definitely impressed, and from all viewpoints.

words to be continued. more assorted photos from Friday below....

Continue reading "ATP NY part 1 - BB & ZD arrive, Patton Oswalt jokes - pics"

DOWNLOAD: The Drones - The Cockeyed Lowlife Of The Highlands (live) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Drones - I Don't Ever Want To Change (live) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Drones - Dekalb Blues (live) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Drones - Jezebel (live) (MP3)

The Drones are visiting the United States from Australia to play some shows. That includes a spot at ATP NY and a Septemer tour with Built to Spill and the Meat Puppets who are both also playing ATP. That does NOT include the two shows Meat Puppets and BTS are playing at Terminal 5 though. Dinosaur Jr. is the third band on those bills, but that doesn't mean the Drones won't hit NYC. They will, twice. Tickets are on sale for a September 11th show at Union Hall and for one two days later at Pianos.

"Havilah is The Drones highly anticipated 4th studio LP, it will be released through ATP Recordings and MGM Distribution on September 20th, 2008." More info on the album and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Drones - new album, 2008 Tour Dates (ATP, NYC), MP3s"

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the two Built To Spill/Dinosaur Jr/Meat Puppets shows happening at Terminal Five in September.

Meat Puppets @ Pianos, NYC - Oct 17, 2007 (CRED)

Meat Puppets played one of their three NYC-area shows yesterday afternoon at Pianos - part of the BrooklynVegan series of free parties happening during CMJ this year. Meat Puppets played their official showcase at Lion's Den later that night. Download a lossless version of the Pianos show from NYCTAPER.

...they entertained a packed room with a loose and playful set that featured several improvisational segments. The highlight was the 12-minute version of "Up on the Sun" that began with an introduction jam that melded neatly into the song.

Continue reading "Meat Puppets @ Pianos for BV CMJ -- nyctaper taped it"

DOWNLOAD: Meat Puppets - Look at the Rain (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mudhoney - Halloween (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Melvins - Going Blind (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nirvana - Even in His Youth (MP3)

Meat Puppets formed in 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Melvins formed in the early 80's too - in Montesano, Washington. Mudhoney formed in 1988 - out of the ashes of Green River, and with Matt Lukin (who had recently left the Melvins) on bass - in Seattle, Washington. Nirvana became Nirvana in 1988 too - in Aberdeen (or Seattle), Washington (Dave Grohl joined in 1990).

Mudhoney cites Meat Puppets as an influence. Nirvana was influenced by Mudhoney & the Melvins. Kurt Cobain even unsuccessfully tried out to be in the Melvins. The Melvins' Dale Crover played drums with Nirvana for a bit, and then the Melvins' Buzz Osborne eventually introduced Dave Grohl to Nirvana. Kurt Cobain later became a fan of Meat Puppets after seeing them open for Black Flag.

Meat Puppets and Mudhoney both opened for Nirvana at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona on October 18, 1993. In November 1993, members of Meat Puppets appeared on MTV Unplugged with Nirvana - the Meat Puppets were then mainstream. Kurt Cobain died on April 8, 1994. Meat Puppets went on their first hiatus in 1996. Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) and Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) later formed a short-lived band called Eyes Adrift. The Melvins, Meat Puppets & Mudhoney are all currently active bands (again).

Upcoming shows in NYC/NJ, 2007
Oct 05 - Melvins @ Irving Plaza (info)
Oct 06 - Melvins @ Luna Lounge (info)
Oct 17 - Meat Puppets @ Pianos (BrooklynVegan free day show)
Oct 17 - Meat Puppets @ Lion's Den (info)
Oct 18 - Meat Puppets @ Maxwell's (info)
Nov 30 - Mudhoney @ Maxwell's (info)
Dec 01 - Mudhoney @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (info)
Dec 02 - Mudhoney @ Bowery Ballroom (info)

Tickets are now on sale for two upcoming NYC-area (reunited) Meat Puppets shows - October 17th at Lion's Den in the West Village (CMJ), and October 18th at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Do you like Lion's Den better than Kenny's Castaways? Stay tuned for related show announcements. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Meat Puppets - 2007 Tour Dates (CMJ)"

The Meat Puppets @ Windjammer - July 21, 2007 (CRED)

The list of bands confirmed for this year's 2007 CMJ Music Marathon in NYC (Oct 16-20) is growing. The latest list includes M.I.A. (which we knew about and is at Terminal 5), Band of Horses (who would fit right in w/ their Sub Pop labelmates at Bowery Ballroom), Celebration (who have a new album coming out on 4AD), and The Meat Puppets (who are also playing NYC TONIGHT & TOMORROW). The whole list, below...

Continue reading "More 2007 CMJ bands announced ++ Meat Puppets tonight"

One of them is being performed in McCarren Park next weekend....

Continue reading "'10 landmark albums that made indie rock'"

First SXSW, and now Chris & Kurt Kirkwood are touring together again as The Meat Puppets - for the first time in eleven years. Tickets are on sale for two NYC shows at Knitting Factory in August - the 29th & 30th. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Meat Puppets - 2007 Tour Dates (2 NYC shows)"