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The Mekons
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The Mekons
The Mekons (stylized as mekons) are a British post-punk band formed in 1976 as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. Although the Mekons' lineup has changed from time to time over the years, the core line-up includes Jon Langford (vocals, guitar), Sally Timms (vocals), Tom Greenhalgh (vocals, guitar) and Susie Honeyman (violin).
The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of country music, folk music, alternative rock and occasional experiments with dub. They are well known for their exuberant live performances.
The band was formed in 1976 by a group of University of Leeds art students: Jon Langford, Kevin Lycett, Mark White, Ros Allen, Andy Corrigan and Tom Greenhalgh — Gang of Four and Delta 5 formed from the same group of students. They took the band's name from the Mekon, an evil, super-intelligent Venusian featured in the British 1950s–1960s comic Dan Dare (printed in the Eagle). mekons were described as a more chaotic version of Gang of Four; Lycett stated the band operated on the principle that "anybody could do it ... anybody could get up and join in and instruments could be swapped around; that there'd be no distance between the audience and the band."
By their second show, supporting the Rezillos at the F Club, they were approached with a record deal by Bob Last of Fast Product, and became the first band signed to the label. Their first single was "Never Been in a Riot", a satirical take on the Clash's "White Riot". The release was made Single of the Week in NME. Their second single, "Where Were You?" was released by the end of 1978, and sold out of its 27,500 copies. At this time, Last convinced the band to sign to a larger label—Virgin. The Mekons popularity peaked as they played on the same bill as other "new music" groups like Gang of Four, the Fall, the Human League, and Stiff Little Fingers.
For several years the band played noisy, bare-bones post-punk, releasing singles on a number of labels. Their first album, The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen, was recorded using Gang of Four's instruments, and due to an error by the Virgin Records’ art department, featured pictures of Gang of Four on the back cover.[additional citation(s) needed] After 1982's The Mekons Story, a compilation of old recordings, the band ceased activity for a while, with Langford forming The Three Johns.[citation needed]
By the mid-1980s (revitalised by the 1984 coal miners' strike) the band had returned as an active group. The band was now augmented by vocalist Sally Timms, violinist Susie Honeyman, ex-Damned member Lu Edmonds, accordionist/vocalist Rico Bell (a.k.a. Eric Bellis), and former The Rumour drummer Steve Goulding. They began to experiment with musical styles derived from traditional English folk (tentatively explored on the English Dancing Master EP prior to the hiatus), and American country music. Fear and Whiskey (1985), The Edge of the World (1986) and The Mekons Honky Tonkin' (1987) exemplified the band's new sound, which built on the innovations of Gram Parsons and blended punk ethos and left wing politics with the minimalist country of Hank Williams. Subsequent albums, such as The Mekons Rock 'n Roll, continued to experiment with diverse instrumentation (notably the fiddle, accordion, slide guitar, and saz).[citation needed]
The Mekons Rock 'n Roll, released by A&M Records in 1989, was the band's only album put out by a major label. It was not a commercial success, reportedly selling only around 23,000 albums in the U.S., but was met with critical acclaim. It was named eighth of the top 10 albums of 1989 in the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 1991, New York Times critic Jon Pareles called it "one of the best albums of the 1980s."
Around the time the Mekons began to gain critical appraisal, their relationship with A&M Records deteriorated, and they were dropped for being unable to fulfill commercial expectations. However, the band continued to record at a prolific rate, releasing such notable albums as 1991's Curse of the Mekons, 2000's Journey to the End of the Night, and 2002's OOOH! (Out of Our Heads) Natural moved the band to a more folk-flavoured sound. In April 2009 mekons returned to the studio to complete a new collection of songs, released in 2011 as Ancient & Modern 1911–2011 on Bloodshot Records, and, in a September 2010 interview, Jon Langford revealed that the band would tour the United States in 2011.
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The Mekons
The Mekons (stylized as mekons) are a British post-punk band formed in 1976 as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. Although the Mekons' lineup has changed from time to time over the years, the core line-up includes Jon Langford (vocals, guitar), Sally Timms (vocals), Tom Greenhalgh (vocals, guitar) and Susie Honeyman (violin).
The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of country music, folk music, alternative rock and occasional experiments with dub. They are well known for their exuberant live performances.
The band was formed in 1976 by a group of University of Leeds art students: Jon Langford, Kevin Lycett, Mark White, Ros Allen, Andy Corrigan and Tom Greenhalgh — Gang of Four and Delta 5 formed from the same group of students. They took the band's name from the Mekon, an evil, super-intelligent Venusian featured in the British 1950s–1960s comic Dan Dare (printed in the Eagle). mekons were described as a more chaotic version of Gang of Four; Lycett stated the band operated on the principle that "anybody could do it ... anybody could get up and join in and instruments could be swapped around; that there'd be no distance between the audience and the band."
By their second show, supporting the Rezillos at the F Club, they were approached with a record deal by Bob Last of Fast Product, and became the first band signed to the label. Their first single was "Never Been in a Riot", a satirical take on the Clash's "White Riot". The release was made Single of the Week in NME. Their second single, "Where Were You?" was released by the end of 1978, and sold out of its 27,500 copies. At this time, Last convinced the band to sign to a larger label—Virgin. The Mekons popularity peaked as they played on the same bill as other "new music" groups like Gang of Four, the Fall, the Human League, and Stiff Little Fingers.
For several years the band played noisy, bare-bones post-punk, releasing singles on a number of labels. Their first album, The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen, was recorded using Gang of Four's instruments, and due to an error by the Virgin Records’ art department, featured pictures of Gang of Four on the back cover.[additional citation(s) needed] After 1982's The Mekons Story, a compilation of old recordings, the band ceased activity for a while, with Langford forming The Three Johns.[citation needed]
By the mid-1980s (revitalised by the 1984 coal miners' strike) the band had returned as an active group. The band was now augmented by vocalist Sally Timms, violinist Susie Honeyman, ex-Damned member Lu Edmonds, accordionist/vocalist Rico Bell (a.k.a. Eric Bellis), and former The Rumour drummer Steve Goulding. They began to experiment with musical styles derived from traditional English folk (tentatively explored on the English Dancing Master EP prior to the hiatus), and American country music. Fear and Whiskey (1985), The Edge of the World (1986) and The Mekons Honky Tonkin' (1987) exemplified the band's new sound, which built on the innovations of Gram Parsons and blended punk ethos and left wing politics with the minimalist country of Hank Williams. Subsequent albums, such as The Mekons Rock 'n Roll, continued to experiment with diverse instrumentation (notably the fiddle, accordion, slide guitar, and saz).[citation needed]
The Mekons Rock 'n Roll, released by A&M Records in 1989, was the band's only album put out by a major label. It was not a commercial success, reportedly selling only around 23,000 albums in the U.S., but was met with critical acclaim. It was named eighth of the top 10 albums of 1989 in the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 1991, New York Times critic Jon Pareles called it "one of the best albums of the 1980s."
Around the time the Mekons began to gain critical appraisal, their relationship with A&M Records deteriorated, and they were dropped for being unable to fulfill commercial expectations. However, the band continued to record at a prolific rate, releasing such notable albums as 1991's Curse of the Mekons, 2000's Journey to the End of the Night, and 2002's OOOH! (Out of Our Heads) Natural moved the band to a more folk-flavoured sound. In April 2009 mekons returned to the studio to complete a new collection of songs, released in 2011 as Ancient & Modern 1911–2011 on Bloodshot Records, and, in a September 2010 interview, Jon Langford revealed that the band would tour the United States in 2011.
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