The Meat Puppets / Beaten Awake

Over the course of their nearly thirty year career, the Meat Puppets have released twelve albums and performed a countless number of shows, influencing bands such as Dinosaur Jr., Nirvana, and Pavement along the way. From Arizona, the Meat Puppets are known for their unique blend of punk, country and psychedelic rock. The band was formed in 1980 when drummer Derrick Bostrom and guitarist Jack Knetzger started a band called Atomic Bomb Club. Later they added Cris Kirkwood on the bass, and although the band broke up the three continued to rehearse with Cris's brother Curt. The band's self-titled debut was released in 1982 by SST Records and featured a hardcore sound. They began experimenting with country and acid rock for their second album, 1984's Meat Puppets II, which helped establish the cow punk genre. The band stayed with SST until 1991, when they released their major-label debut, Forbidden Places, with London Records. It was around this time that the band started garnering more mainstream attention-Kurt Cobain had seen the Meat Puppets open for Black Flag and invited them to perform with him on MTV Unplugged. In 1996, drug problems forced the band to go on hiatus, although Curt Kirkwood formed a new band that released two EPS under the Meat Puppets name for legal reasons. The band included Curt on vocals and guitar, Kyle Ellison on guitar, Andrew Duplantis on bass, and Shandon Sahm on drums. The band broke up in 2002 only to return in 2006 the original lineup, minus Bostrum, who was replaced by drummer Ted Marcus. They released Rise to Your Knees later that year, and their most recent album, Sewn Together, was released in May of 2009.