The Meat Puppets did a lot of upgrading in 1987. We bought new equipment, new vehicles, even a new practice space. We also started buying new costumes. Of course, Cris’ girlfriend had been dressing up her Puppet as early as 1984. But I resisted for the most part (though even I succumbed to the pressure of a goth girlfriend for a couple of months). But while in London in 1987, I willingly visited the famed tourist traps at Carnaby Street and threw down per diem money on some unfortunate fashion choices.

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Art, Photos | 22 Comments »

A couple years back, I struck up an email correspondence with a guy named Chris King, who worked for the AAA Auto Club magazine “Car & Travel.” He prodded me to submit a puff piece for publication. Since I’ve logged lots of time in a touring vehicle, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think his audience might find a few hastily cobbled-together band anecdotes mildly diverting. Chris’ boss didn’t agree, however, and even though the article actually got as far as being formatted for print, the fabled Page 40 wound up with the axe. Chris was decent enough to send me a copy though, along with a modest kill fee. He no longer works for “Car & Travel,” so the whole episode is pretty much a dead issue. I leave it to the readers of this website to contemplate the greater wisdom of the powers that be, who noticed that — in their words — the article is “not funny enough.”

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Words | 28 Comments »

“Meat Puppets II” was completed in three separate stages. The recording was spread over two sessions at Total Access studio in Redondo Beach, California in the Spring of 1983. First, we recorded the instrumental tracks; a few weeks later we laid down the vocals. Six months after that, we finally executed the final mixes at Chaton studio in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Recently, Jon Boshard sent me a copy of the rough mixes from that first session. I have a lot of tapes of the band from the early 80′s, but somehow this one never made it into my collection. In fact, I’d forgotten it even existed until Jon brought it to my attention. Jon probably got the tape from his business partner Joe Carducci, the man responsible for bringing us to SST Records in 1981.

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Music | 52 Comments »

In January of 1993, I conducted a unique phone interview. Instead of garnering me column inches or sound bytes, this one provided background for a PHD dissertation by one Matthew Lahrman who was then going to school in Illinois. He was exploring the experiences of young rock bands and the transformation of their idealism as it broke or did not break upon the rocks of music business reality. As a band who had recently signed to a major after ten years of of “independence,” we were a natural fit. Plus, we were one of Matt’s favorite bands.

It took Matt about three years to finish his book-length dissertation, which he titled “Selling Out: Constructing Authenticity And Success In Chicago’s Indie Rock Scene.” Though little, if any, of the interview made it into the final version, Matt was gracious to send me a copy anyway. Recently, he was also kind enough to send me his transcript of the interview itself. The going is kind of slow, since this is a faithful transcription of the interview. But once you wade through all the ellipses, you’re left with a typically cavalier yet fatalistic Yours Truly, well on my way to disillusionment, but still defending the band’s direction.


Interview with Derrick Bostrom, drummer for the Meat Puppets.
The interview takes place over the phone. Derrick is at his home in Arizona on January 23, 1993

Derrick: So this is a dissertation about…
Matt: About rock. It’s mainly about local rock bands, in Chicago… authenticity and success.
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Words | 18 Comments »

The following story is another excerpt from my piece in “Tales from the Rock N Roll Highway” by Marley Brant.

Unfortunately, this was not our only run-in with international authorities. Since my passport was not revoked, my band mates and I managed to get ourselves to another border: the gateway from Switzerland into Italy. I was no longer using controlled substances to enhance either my performances or any other aspect of my life. But on our little tour bus, I was definitely in the minority. We’d had no problems previously in any other part of the European Community, so our border preparations had grown somewhat lax. The designated smugglers just kept their stashes in their hands, figuring they’d just fake-cough their way out of any trouble. But the Italians were on to our tricks, and they were quick about it. They had the cuffs on before anyone got their hands anywhere near their mouths.

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Art | 17 Comments »

This is a tape of a show from about midway through our first tour for the Mirage album.

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Music | 34 Comments »

I’m pretty sure these are the last of the old photos sitting on my hard drive. Assorted live shots and some odds and ends.

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Photos | 31 Comments »