During those insane hardcore years, a gazillion brilliant (and I mean truly BRILLIANT) pickers came to light. But most of them were strange, esoteric creatures, the stuff you couldn't lay to straights and have them go "whoa." Most were really outsider players, ignoring the "rules" and with no real base in what I refer to the common banality of the player echelon.
Except for one dude:
There was a lot of Meat Puppet fans here in Edmonton in the mid-late 80s. There was a kindred spirit: this band from an isolated city, trying to get their ideas heard. Maybe Phoenix isn't as isolated as Edmonton (it's only a third as long to the coast), but they got their word out in a massively inspiring way.
With the Puppets, the playing, if you get right down to it, is pretty "straight." The songs could really get out there, but the sonic references weren't as obtuse as say the Minutemen or No Means No. They were just a killer band that, like many, stumbled into the hardcore movement. And could hang:
What always slayed me about Kirkwood's playing was his use of delay, probably the greatest master of it in the 80s (save for maybe East Bay Ray). When I rank on guitarists who don't know how to use delays, I point to Kirkwood, the master of the time-based wash.
I still constantly listen to the 80s trifecta of Huevos, Mirage, and Up on the Sun, where that nutty ZZ Top groove started slipping in all over the place, and often unexpectedly:
And the 90s grunge influence stuff was killer too:
Except for one dude:
There was a lot of Meat Puppet fans here in Edmonton in the mid-late 80s. There was a kindred spirit: this band from an isolated city, trying to get their ideas heard. Maybe Phoenix isn't as isolated as Edmonton (it's only a third as long to the coast), but they got their word out in a massively inspiring way.
With the Puppets, the playing, if you get right down to it, is pretty "straight." The songs could really get out there, but the sonic references weren't as obtuse as say the Minutemen or No Means No. They were just a killer band that, like many, stumbled into the hardcore movement. And could hang:
What always slayed me about Kirkwood's playing was his use of delay, probably the greatest master of it in the 80s (save for maybe East Bay Ray). When I rank on guitarists who don't know how to use delays, I point to Kirkwood, the master of the time-based wash.
I still constantly listen to the 80s trifecta of Huevos, Mirage, and Up on the Sun, where that nutty ZZ Top groove started slipping in all over the place, and often unexpectedly:
And the 90s grunge influence stuff was killer too:
When a lot of the bands I dug back in the day get back together, I tend to bum, buncha dudes usually trying to pay taxes/mortgages instead of trying anything seriously new. But after the crazy soap opera of the Puppets, it was great to see them coming around again, and still bringing it:
Oh yeah, and Kris is a motherfucker of a bassist, and another deep influence.
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