The Meat Puppets are returning this spring with what frontman Curt Kirkwood has dubbed “real blown-up folk music.” (For what it’s worth, we described the Phoenix punks sound as a fusion of “country, psychedelia, and early hardcore” when we named Kirkwood one of our 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.)
According to Slicing Up Eyeballs, the Meat Puppets will put out their 14th studio album, Rat Farm, on April 16 (via Megaforce Records). A U.S. tour, including as-yet-unannounced shows at this year’s South By Southwest Festival, will precede the release of the 12-track follow-up to 2011’s Lollipop.
Currently, the Meat Puppets are a four-piece consisting of brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood (guitar and bass, respectively); Curt’s son, Elmo Kirkwood (guitar); and Shandon Sahm (drums), who is the son of Tejano music icon Doug Sahm.
Regarding Rat Farm, Curt Kirkwood said in an official statement that the upcoming record is more pared down than the band’s previous work. “I tried to write stuff that would stand on its own,” he said. “Just the chords and the melodies, and play it kind of straight. I think that was the guiding boundary that I gave myself. It was one of those things where a lot of times, in the past especially, Cris would go, ‘Well, that’s all there is? Let’s put a prog rock part in the middle.’ But I tried to hold it off as much as I could.”
Scroll down for the track list to Rat Farm and the Meat Puppets’ upcoming U.S. tour dates. The group’s European gigs and South By Southwest appearances will be announced in the coming weeks.
Rat Farm track list:
1. “Rat Farm”
2. “One More Drop”
3. “Down”
4. “Leave Your Head Alone”
5. “Again”
6. “You Don’t Know”
7. “Waiting”
8. “Time and Money”
9. “Sometimes Blue”
10. “Original One”
11. “River Rose”
12. “Sweet”
Meat Puppets 2013 tour dates:
March 28 – Shreveport, LA @ VooDoo Lounge
March 29 – Birmingham, AL @ Bottle Tree
March 30 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt
April 1 – Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club
April 2 – New Hope, PA @ John and Peter’s Place
April 3 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
April 4 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
April 5 – Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt
April 6 – Rochester, NY @ The Club at Water Street
April 7 – Columbus, OH @ Skully’s
April 9 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
April 10 – Lexington, KY @ Cosmic Charlie’s
April 11 – Nashville, TN @ High Watt
April 12 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia
April 13 – Jackson, MS @ Martin’s
