Cris Kirkwood of The Meat Puppets - more photos... photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |
The Meat Puppets
Hometown: Austin, Texas
http://www.themeatpuppets.com
Meat Puppets Concert Photos
Friday , June 1st, 2007
Republic of Texas Bike Rally(Austin, Texas)
Also:
Podunk,
Butcherwhite
With a stiff wind blowing from the east and channeled down 6th Street like a great air conditioner sweeping the heat of the day away, I arrived at the main stage for the downtown portion of the Republic of Texas Bike Rally. It was a 10 block walk from where I had parked, and I was hot and tired after lugging 70 pounds of camera gear and wheedling through the thousands of motorcycles parked between my truck and the stage, hoping desperately not to clip one and send a stack of bikes over like some nightmarish domino set.
On arriving, it became obvious that there was no green room, no real backstage, and no way for me to do a video interview with Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets with the roar of motorcycles competing aggressively with the sounds of the bands playing. I would have to be satisfied with just filming the concert instead. I had already cleared filming the show with Curt earlier and was able to get the assistance of some helpful audience members to get a good, bump free, spot to set up our video camera.
Duncan Isenhower of Podunk - more photos... photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |
I had arrived at the stage in the middle of Podunk's set, just in time to see photographer Jay West hopping around the back of stage and sniping at the band with his Canon. Depositing my equipment on the ground and gearing up with the Nikons, I slipped around the stage taking stills as well. Podunk is a longtime local Austin band with a big following and they have a good sound live, having had the opportunity to polish it over the course of many hundreds of live gigs. With guitarist Duncan Isenhower's hair flowing in the wind making him at times appear to be "Cousin It" with a guitar, they blasted through songs like "Dashboard Mary" showing their 80s rock roots.
Butcherwhite - more photos... photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |
Next onstage is another local band, Butcherwhite, that is garnering a solid local following. A little older than the guys in Podunk, they seemed to match the audience of rowdy bikers a bit better. With a seemingly perpetual cigarette dangling from his mouth, Ken Kemp's bass lines drove a pretty solid ensemble, and the crowd they had drawn was full of their fans. This was definitely some grind it up and spit it out rock and roll, the kind where you might do well to count your teeth before you leave the bar.
Finally, the Meat Puppets. I've been waiting to catch a whole Meat Puppets set for quite a while. I'd caught their teaser when they showed up and played at the Army of Anyone show earlier in the year, and had planned to catch their full set during this year's SXSW before being felled on the last night of the festival and missing it. While not of the same genre of their two opening acts, they had drawn their own audience, anxious to hear them perform classics like "Touchdown King" and "Plateau," and they weren't disappointed. I set up my video camera and began rolling the tape, slipping out from time to time to take some stills. They played at least an hour and 15 minutes; my tape ran out with three songs to go. They were about to launch into another song when the stage manager cut them off.
The Puppets sounded great, and it's good to see Curt and Cris playing together.
The Meat Puppets - more photos... photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |