Meat Puppets original lineup - Curt and Cris Kirkwood and returning drummer Derrick Bostrom - are back with Dusty Notes (Megaforce), marking their first album together since 1995's No Joke!. The Puppets' US tour begins April 4 and tickets are on sale now.
"[The Meat Puppets] cemented for me that punk rock music doesn't have to be about loud guitars and, you know, aggressive vocals," says Krist Novoselic in Rolling Stone's feature on the album. "There's a lot of diversity within that music. I thought the Meat Puppets record [II] was as good as any Neil Young record..."
The Meat Puppets' story begins with three kids, enamored of music and immersed in the psychedelic drug culture of Arizona in the '70s, who find their way to punk rock and painstakingly become one of the most important bands of the American underground. "We began to make such a hellacious racket that we knew we were on to something," says returning drummer Derrick Bostrom. The Puppets went on to achieve mainstream rock stardom, with a hiatus and resurrection follow.
At their induction into the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2017, lineup joined together onstage for the first time in over two decades. Throughout a set that included era-defining songs like"Lake of Fire," "Plateau" and "Backwater," the chemistry was more than promising. "It was the psychedelic fin' time machine," adds Cris. "Mind-blowing."
Dusty Notesalso features keyboardist Ron Stabinsky, a jazz-trained virtuoso adept at any style, and Curt's son Elmo, whose old-school rock-guitar grit ideally complements his father's spacier explorations. Intuitive, inspired and overflowing with genuine musicianship, it's the sort of band that can transform what Curt describes as "simple yet engaging" songs into maiden voyages each night on the road. "I can ignore my vocal and listen to the other four guys play," Kirkwood laughs. "They're all so good."
Dusty NotesTour
+ Neil Hamburger
^ All Souls
# Sumo Princess, Stephen Maglio
April 4 Mill Valley, CA Sweetwater Music Hall +
April 5 San Francisco, CA The Independent + SOLD OUT
April 6 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour ^ SOLD OUT
April 7 San Diego, CA Soda Bar ^ SOLD OUT
May 8 New York, NY Mercury Lounge # SOLD OUT
May 9 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Bowl #
May 10 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts #
May 11 Asbury Park, NJ Asbury Lanes #
May 13 Woodstock, NY Colony #
May 14 Hamden, CT Space Ballroom #
May 15 Portland, ME Port City Music Hall #
May 16 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall #
May 17 Portsmouth, NH 3S Artspace #
May 18 Jersey City, NJ Monty Hall # SOLD OUT
June 7 Belfast, IR Empire
June 8 Limerick, IR Dolan's Warehouse
June 9 Dublin, IR Whelan's
June 10 Leeds, ENG
June 11 Manchester, ENG Rebellion
June 13 Eeklo, BEL N9
June 14 Rijkevorsel, BEL
June 15 Arnhem, NL Luxor Live
June 16 Den Haag, NL Lpaard Van Troje
June 17 Amsterdam, NL Paradiso Noord
June 18 Frankfurt, GER Zoon
June 19 Norwich, ENG Arts Centre
June 20 London, ENG Ulu Live
June 22 Bilbao, SP Azkena Rock Festival
Tickets information can be found here.
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