Meat Puppets line up early 2009 headlining dates

Alt-rock trio Meat Puppets have lined up dates for next month and early 2009 as the band prepares to continue the comeback it began with last year's "Rise to Your Knees" LP.

The group--which continues with its reunion lineup of co-founding brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood, along with new recruit Ted Marcus on drums--launches the headlining trek Dec. 11 in Hoboken, NJ. Following a break for the holidays, the 11-city outing resumes on the West Coast, kicking off Jan. 13 in San Diego. Details for the tour are included below.

Last year's "Rise to Your Knees" was the first new Meat Puppets album since 2000's "Golden Lies," and the first in a dozen years to feature guitarist/singer Curt Kirkwood paired with his brother, bassist and Puppets co-founder Cris Kirkwood, who left the band in 1995 due to substance abuse issues.

"This record is very much a return to our '80s approach," Curt Kirkwood said of the album in the band's bio. "It cost next to nothing to make, and everything on it is a first take. My attitude now is that I refuse to spend a lot of money on this, I refuse to overthink it, and I refuse to let other people impose their own agendas on my band.

"Now, if I can get away with it, I'll make a record as cheap as I can and put as little work as I can into it, which is what we did with this one," he added. "I don't like putting a lot of time into it. We cut a track, and if we've played it halfway right, we're done with it."