MEAT PUPPETS JOIN FERGIE & MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 29, 2008

Buy your tickets today

MEAT PUPPETS JOIN FERGIE & MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
FOR 2008 CIRCLE K TEMPE MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Meat Puppets, a born and bred Phoenix-based group who have been credited with inspiring bands such as Nirvana and Soundgarden, have been added to the rock-solid lineup of the 2008 Circle K Tempe Music Festival, Arizona’s largest music festival. This year, the award-winning event, which is being headlined by Fergie, My Chemical Romance and Puddle of Mudd, will take place on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29 at Tempe Beach Park. Tickets are limited and on sale now through Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The Meat Puppets will play on Saturday.

The core of the Meat Puppets is Curt and Cris Kirkwood, a pair of brothers born and raised in Phoenix. As teenagers, the Kirkwoods played in local rock & roll bands, primarily playing mainstream rock and hard rock. After graduating from Brophy, the brothers formed the Meat Puppets in 1980 with drummer Derrick Bostrom. Unlike the Kirkwoods' earlier bands, the Meat Puppets were directly inspired by punk rock; they were so committed to keeping the music punk that they refused to rehearse. Out of all of the bands that made SST Records a towering force in the American underground during the mid-'80s, the Meat Puppets lasted the longest, surviving where other bands fell apart. Not only do they play hard, loud, and fast, but they also have elements of the blues-rock of ZZ Top, the ambling folk-rock of the Grateful Dead, and Neil Young's country-rock and hard rock. As they grew older, the band has matured musically, developing an accomplished instrumental technique and moving closer to the traditional hard rock that was always underneath their punk. But they never quite abandoned their punk roots, even when they briefly broke into the mainstream in the early '90s.

Now in its 6th year, the Circle K Tempe Music Festival has grown to be more than music and is the largest music festival in Arizona. This year, the event boasts three stages of entertainment featuring national, regional and local acts including Fergie, My Chemical Romance, Puddle of Mudd, Cowboy Mouth, the Chris Parker Project, Dorsey and many more. The Big Bang Dueling Pianos will also have their own stage in the thick of the crowd at this year’s event on both days where they will be entertaining the crowd between sets.

In addition to the 30+ musical acts performing on the three stages over the weekend, the event boasts a number of sports, musical and kid-friendly attractions as well. These include: the Bud Light Sports Lounge with plenty of flat screen televisions so festival attendees won’t miss a minute of NCAA March Madness action; the Gatorade Sports Village with a free interactive sports area that includes foosball, pop-a-shot basketball, air hockey and foose ball; the SRP Lil’ Rockers Area with hands-on interactive instruments and music-related arts and crafts as well as karaoke and a children’s musical museum; the Rockstar Rockin’ Vert Ramp with extreme sports demonstrations; the Dillard’s Rock’n’Roll Fashion Show; the Landshark Lounge; and several interactive media booths.

The event is sponsored by Circle K, the City of Tempe, the Tempe Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Dillard’s, SRP, Cox Communications, Arizona State University, Desert Ridge Marketplace, Tempe Marketplace, Gatorade, Budweiser, Landshark Lager, Rockstar Energy Drink, Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, Southern Comfort, Barefoot Wine, Pepsi, Talk and Go Mobile, Frito Lay, Mentos, the Arizona Republic, College Times, AZ Central, Amp AZ, 104.7 KISS FM, 98.7 The Peak FM, 99.9 KEZ FM, 101.5 JAMZ FM, 103.9 The Edge FM and T.E.A.M.

For more information about the Circle K Tempe Music Festival, please visit http://www.tempemusicfestival.com/ or call the information hotline at (480) 970-FEST (3378).