Four Decades Of The Meat Puppets’ Up On The Sun
Photo: Lisa Haun
Nearly half a decade after the Atomic Bomb Club first formed in the late 1970s, what would eventually become the beloved Phoenix-based band of brothers, Meat Puppets, soon settled on their iconic name in the summer of 1980, and would go on to release their third album, “Up On The Sun”, after the group’s legendary two-part debut and sophomore releases in the years prior. While creatively capturing the culture’s minds and eager ears through their bombastic brilliance and tonal transportation to some faraway land where the sexuality of the skies meets the Dionysian dynamics of the desert, the band was coming into their own against the punk and new wave backdrop of the decade, with a spiritual sound that would go on to define another generation’s artistic approach to their craft. Hailing from the same scene that brought you the monstrous minds of Sun City Girls, Mighty Sphincter, J.F.A., Poet’s Corner, Killer Pussy, to name a few, the brothers of Meat have left their melodic mark of madness on the public’s prolonged psyche for nearly half a century, and the band’s third album is quite the trepidatious transition from their early work as the revolution of rhythm meets the radiation from the their sun drenched dynamics, and psychedelic performance. Recorded in late January 1985 and released later that spring, the band returned to Studio Total Access in Redondo Beach, California, where they recorded their previous album “2”. “Up On The Sun” initially set out to be this "psychedelic epic" that would be carefully captured on an 8-track tape recorder within the sonic spirituality of the DIY methods the band’s generation had officially mastered in their artistic approach and anarchic attitudes towards their medium.
Photo: Lisa Haun/Michael Ochs Archives
Similar to slaying a Gothic ghost at the stroke of midnight, just as the moon’s galactic glow pours over the earth below, its rudimentary rays casting a sinister shadow on the town folk below, their true analog approach would come with some misfortune, as the equipment that possessed the original recordings was unable to play back the tracks they initially made, thus allowing them to extract all their hard work that lived within the magnetic tape in all its polyester, and Mylar plastic glory. The band immediately ditched the initial vision for the album, made a drastic detour, only to find the new cosmic coordinates would soon land them at the front door of reality, and someplace deep in Arizona’s vibrant volcanic mountain ranges where the Kirkwood brothers spent their youth dancing under the ancient sun. With no time spent on wondering what could have been, where things would be if the damage were reversed by some medieval magician who grants its vulnerable victims three wishes under conditions that are as muddy and disfigured as the United States government, the band quickly recorded the album before the metaphysical wore for good, and the rest is history. Focusing on elements and topics such as fatherhood and desert youth, “Up On The Sun” unleashes the band’s legendary traditions of instrumental intensity, sonic sequences, and prog rock timing within their captivating core as a trio. Featuring tracks like“Hot Pink”, “Swimming Ground”, “Two Rivers”, and the album’s sublime opening title track, the music is soaked in sophisticated substance, spiritual style, and the timeless edge of one of the greatest decades. The Meat Puppets are a classic institution of American rock and roll, and thank God we have their catalogue to fall back on during the best of times and the worst of times.
