Meat Puppets
The Fleece, Bristol | June 2nd
Familiar to most as ‘The Brothers Meat’ from Nirvana’s Unplugged show and subsequent album, Curt and Cris Kirkwood as Meat Puppets have been carving a unique brand of ‘Country Punk’ since 1980. During their underground years, an early habit of changing styles just to piss off the crowd has blossomed into a career of over 30 years making uncompromising rock music. New album Rat Farm is their 15th and explores a more subtle, folkier side to their approach.
Support tonight comes from Bristol’s own Schnauser, who from the outset are intent on getting weird. Their psychedelic, woozy carnival tunes are an exciting and fun experience – there’s nothing like a theremin solo to get the synapses firing – with endearing vibes which are a perfect balance of 60s pop and 70s prog.
Meat Puppets begin the set with a good ol’ hoedown in the form of whistling song The Monkey And The Snake, and with feet a tappin’ the crowd are hooked. The rocky Touchdown King leads us nicely to one of tonight’s obvious highlights, Oh Me. It sounds heavy, helped along by some incredible solos by singer/guitarist Curt. Along for the ride on this tour is Curt’s son, Elmo. He looks ever the Meat Puppet with his curly long hair, adding rhythm guitar and beefing out the songs.
Stand out tracks tonight include the riffy I’m A Mindless Idiot, the sublime Plateau as well as two wholly unexpected covers: The Beach Boys’ Sloop John B and The Everly Brothers’ Cathy’s Clown, which fit perfectly in the set beside the best song of the night, Lake Of Fire, with its epic solos and end of set wig-out. The rough edges of these guys only heighten their likability and the crowd are utterly beholden to them for such a fine evening’s music.
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Words: Philip James Allen
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