Curt Kirkwood

Last updated

Curt Kirkwood
Curt Kirkwood.jpg
Curt Kirkwood in 2006
Background information
Birth nameCurtis Matthew Kirkwood
Born (1959-01-10) January 10, 1959 (age 65)
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • artist
Instrument(s)
  • Guitar
  • vocals
Years active1980–present
Labels
Website themeatpuppets.com

Curtis Matthew Kirkwood (born January 10, 1959) [1] is an American musician, best known as the guitarist, singer and primary songwriter for alternative rock group Meat Puppets, and for playing with Nirvana on MTV Unplugged in New York.

Contents

Biography

Curt Kirkwood formed the Meat Puppets along with his brother Cris on bass, and drummer Derrick Bostrom. The trio went in a hiatus in 1996 after a long career where the band became hailed as one of the premier and innovative indie bands as well as briefly achieving mainstream success in the early 1990s. As the group's lead vocalist and primary songwriter (including solely penning most of the band's best-known songs: "Plateau," "Oh, Me," "Lake of Fire," "Up on the Sun," "Backwater," etc.), Curt is the sole member of the original trio to have played in all of the band's incarnations since 1980.

He re-formed the Meat Puppets in 1999 with Kyle Ellison (guitar), Andrew Duplantis (bass) and Shandon Sahm (drums) to complete one studio album, Golden Lies , released in 2000. The new lineup disbanded in 2002 after the departure of Duplantis. After the Meat Puppets, Kirkwood toured as a solo act before banding together with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh to form Eyes Adrift. They released a self-titled album in 2002 and toured the United States. After Novoselic's departure, Kirkwood and Gaugh formed another band, Volcano, which released a self-titled album in 2004 before Kirkwood decided to focus on his solo career. His first solo album Snow was released in October 2005.

He is also an artist and created the cover art for several Meat Puppets albums and merchandise, as well as for Stephen Beachy's novel The Whistling Song. In 2006, the Meat Puppets re-formed with Cris back on bass and drummers Ted Marcus and Shandon Sahm serving as replacements for Derrick Bostrom until he returned to the band in 2018. Since reforming, the band has released five new albums, Rise to Your Knees (2007), Sewn Together (2009), Lollipop (2011), Rat Farm (2013) and Dusty Notes (2019).

Kirkwood was extensively interviewed for the 2012 book, Too High to Die: Meet the Meat Puppets, by author Greg Prato. [2]

Personal life

Kirkwood is the grandson of Carl W. Renstrom, who was owner of Tip-Top Products and a multi-millionaire from Omaha, Nebraska. [3]

Discography

Meat Puppets

Nirvana

Eyes Adrift

Volcano

Solo

The Dean Ween Group

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat Puppets</span> American rock band

Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood (guitar/vocals), his brother Cris Kirkwood, and Derrick Bostrom (drums). The Kirkwood brothers met Bostrom while attending Brophy Prep High School in Phoenix. The three then moved to Tempe, Arizona, where the Kirkwood brothers purchased two adjacent houses, one of which had a shed in the back where they regularly practiced.

Eyes Adrift was a three-piece rock supergroup consisting of Krist Novoselic, Curt Kirkwood, and Bud Gaugh. They released a self-titled album in 2002, which was a mixture of punk, grunge, and country, taking all of their previous backgrounds and putting them together. They toured the United States in mid-2002. They later broke up in 2003, after their debut album flopped. Kirkwood and Gaugh went on to form the supergroup band known as Volcano. The album is currently out of print. Novoselic went on to record songs with Foo Fighters and become a political activist in Seattle, Washington, before forming Giants in the Trees.

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References

  1. ↑ Rose, Mike (January 10, 2023). "Today's famous birthdays list for January 10, 2023 includes celebrities Rod Stewart, Sarah Shahi". Cleveland.com . Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  2. ↑ Greg Prato (2012). Too High to Die: Meet the Meat Puppets. Greg Prato Writer Corp. ISBN   9781105640537 . Retrieved December 6, 2023.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  3. ↑ David Holthouse , "Shooting Star", Phoenix New Times, November 12, 1998. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
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