the new Mekons album DESERTED (2019)

Seattle on the 25th for me

last time I saw them was... 1992? Heatmiser opened. Not a very good show iirc.

I'm road tripping to the Madison show, can't wait.

Wasn't able to catch any of the shows, but apparently sounding same as they ever were/good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSc4b_f8xe4

so psyched for Seattle!

i'll be the (mostly) bald guy asleep on my feet, curmudgeon

Seeing them tomorrow in a backyard in Rhode Island! Will be a sweat fest.

X-post— Wife and I were watching the Brooklyn show from upstairs, near where longtime music fans Dennis & Lois were. I am balding too. Fun 2 hour show of old and new songs. In addition to shoutouts to Dennis & Lois , I heard Langford mention Ira and Georgia ( Yo La Tengo). I didn’t see them but I guess they were there.

Morb, hope you liked the show too.

I saw Ira in the downstairs bar immediately after arriving. (He was the sound engineer at Maxwells for the first Mekons show I saw in '86.) I stood on that little raised are right at the lip of stage left so I could lean against the wall when I got tired.

"I'm senile as well as arthritic." - Sally after skipping a verse of "Millionaire"

Jon suggested that on Saturday they would be "eaten alive by ticks in a swamp in Rhode Island."

Hopefully SF will be a good relief for them from that, then. And the venue has AC.

I love Greenhalgh's voice so much.

always happy to hear "Chivalry"

as I think I've mentioned before, in the '80s he was the sexiest skinny bloke alive

"I'm senile as well as arthritic."

I hope Timms works this line into a lyric.

also she said to Langford (grinning jokily) "I pretended for the longest time to hate you, and then I realized I really do hate you."

JL: "I'm a very hateable person."

Those two are the funniest.

Looking forward to this

Great interviewing @TheMekons (alongside @DougHenwood & @lfeatherz) last night about punk antifascism in the 70s, musicians’ role supporting the epochal mineral strike, how to turn 300 years of English working class history into a pop song, the radical roots of country and more! pic.twitter.com/dJJMl1qLeZ

— ☭🕷️🐬The Antifada🐬🕷️☭ (@the_antifada) July 20, 2019

whoa

Shot these last night — playing in someone's backyard on the hottest day of the year. Swamp Stomp 12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-en9id8EZJ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOLJEeAkjQQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTeL5EgCiJk

That's awesome. I wish I got to see them this time around, though they do seem to have settled on a pretty consistent "hits" set. But what "hits"!

How many people were in the backyard?

They sold 200 tickets, I believe.

New album has been growing on me— Lawrence of California sounded great live.

Saw them last night in LA, great show (tbh I thought the Rhode Island performances linked above were a little low energy).

prob cuz it was over 100 degrees

That's what I guessed, tho the LA show was pretty warm by the end. The A/C was overwhelmed.

https://twangville.com/artist-q-and-a/sally-timms-explains-how-the-mekons-dont-function-like-a-normal-band/

Sally Timms interview from May

Saw them last night in LA, great show (tbh I thought the Rhode Island performances linked above were a little low energy).

prob cuz it was over 100 degrees

My phone didn't capture the sound very well. Also, true on the second point. They were also getting eaten by bugs.

yo Seattle ilxors, I will be at the Tractor Tavern tomorrow night wearing a black Dog Faced Hermans t-shirt, say hi!

Oh rad, will do! A couple weeks ago a coworker in a different office recognized my Jon Langford shirt during a meeting, turned out he'd seen them 6 times before.

I spotted you for a brief moment, I’m wearing a paisley shirt over a green Hollow Earth Radio t shirt

sorry I missed ya! holy shit that show was great

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-mekons/2019/tractor-tavern-seattle-wa-239e14e3.html

how did I miss Little Sparta?!?!?

https://littlesparta.bandcamp.com/

Huh. Very little info about them elsewhere, thanks for the tip!

(Sally, Susie, and two other guys)

Why is it described as "LITTLE SPARTA are a London based three piece featuring Alan D. Boyd, Susie Honeyman and Scott Skinner," when it's a four piece, with Sally on vox?

Sally's not on all their releases, at least one has another vocalist and another is instrumental.

RIP Dr. Morbius

Just listened to 2020 Mekons album exquisite for first time. It’s on bandcamp and not on Spotify. More dub and experimental but some rock tunes. They recorded this one from their own locales and shipped songs around electronically, rather than trying to travel and record together during Covid

I really love 'Buried Treasure' and there's some other great songs too

looks like it just got released again on vinyl and is now sold out on vinyl

Exquisite
by Mekons that is

New tour just announced: Europe in April and USA in July (I've got just got a ticket for the London gig). Also new album out next year.

(not April, it's May - I got mixed up with 2019)

More tour discussion on OPO: Mekons thread

OPO: Mekons