The best concert I have ever attended in my life was at
UCLA’s Ackerman Union hall in 1985 – a trifecta never to be equaled in modern
American rock – the Minutemen, followed by Meat Puppets, followed by Husker
Du. All 3 bands launched by landmark
punk label SST earlier in the 80s, these 3 juggernauts all tore through
spectacular material at the height of their respective games. The Minutemen’s songs were maturing way
beyond their 70 second sonic blurts into fully developed, politically charged
rock n roll anthems from their double cd opus Double Nickels on the Dime; the
Meat Puppets were touring to support their spectacular Up on the Sun album,
where their trippy psychedelically tinged, rootsy punk coalesced into
brilliance; and Husker Du were riding the crescendo of their creative peak,
playing an endless parade of high quality songs from their stellar albums Zen
Arcade and New Day Rising, and debuting new single Makes no Sense at All ,
foreshadowing a newfound power pop sensibility.
Where are they now?
Sadly we lost Minutemen guitarist and frontman D Boon to a tragic tour
bus accident not a year later, the group disbanding immediately, and Husker Du
dissolved a few years later after the brilliant Warehouse – Songs and Stories
double album to leave an influential legacy without which we do not know a
litany of high achieving bands that we take for granted. But the Meat Puppets? Well, they are not just still around, they
are thriving and killing it live. Having
released over a dozen albums throughout their 3-decade plus career, they
continue to tour regularly around the country, and their recent headlining stop
at Silverlake’s Echoplex revealed a band that can still kick out the jams in
most impressive fashion. Choosing what
seemed like one song from practically every record they’ve released, their
extended jams on Up on the Sun’s enchanting instrumental “Seal Whales” and the
particularly intense “Lake of Fire’ (made famous of course by Nirvana’s
unplugged version) were breathtaking.
Hailing originally from Phoenix, what an apt synergy,
because bass player Cris Kirkwood’s is truly one hell of a success story,
having risen from the depths of heroin addiction and incarceration 10 years ago
to take center stage as the far more animated of the two brothers, older
brother Curt content to convey a chill vibe and focus on delivering his
pleasantly quixotic lyrics and mindbending guitar solos. It’s Cris whose elfish figure draws the eye’s
attention, his good natured and quirky facial contortions keeping pace with his
solid fretwork, blasting to smithereens the Entwistle/John Paul Jones-inspired
theory that the bass player stands still like a steady ox caught in the vortex
of hyperkinetic lead singers and uber type-A guitar heroes. At his left flank on stage was yet another Kirkwood, young Elmo,
whose long flowing locks and overall mojo clearly betrayed a family resemblance
and conjured up images of his lineage from that concert decades ago.
On stage before the Meat Puppets was Ford Madox Ford, the
new band from SoCal music scene veteran Chip Kinman, whose 1980s band Rank and
File with (speaking of brothers) Tony made some noteworthy inroads into local
lore with solid radio-friendly “cowpunk” tracks like “The Conductor Wore Black”
and “Amanda Ruth”. The new band sounded
very accomplished indeed given their short history – after Chip playfully
announced he was gonna play some punk, they launched into a mighty fine set of
energetic blues and rockabilly-influenced rootsy rock that called to mind more
“Brand New Cadillac” than “White
Riot”. Look out for their debut release
this summer on Porterhouse Records, recording as we speak.
-Rhythm Slayer
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