Taking their name from the arch enemy of the British Symbol of the Cold War, the hero "Dan Dare"; their name probably tells us enough about them.Though perhaps not! - The Mekons are one of the most unique, complex, overlooked, underestimated collectives from the classic era which people define as punk/new wave. For three decades now the Mekons as a collaborative group have created art, music and writings under one moniker.Coming out of the same leftish circles as The Gang of Four and Delta 5 from Leeds, perhaps through coincidence or was it because of the fact all the groups attended the Leeds universities fine art department at around the same time.T.J. Clarke a lecturer there at the time was a member of the Situationists International, one of the few British members of this organisation; was it his influence in his art teachings. [Hmm ... Could it have anything to do with the fact that half the Gang of Four and 3 regular participants in the early Mekons including Tom had earlier spent a lot of time in the art department of the same mid-ranking public school in Kent, headed by the father of one of them? Some of the younger teachers in the school had clearly been influenced by the ferment of the Sixties, and there were interesting discussions in class about the Prague Spring, the Vietnam War etc etc.There was also a wider scene, with many drawing together around the Rock Against Racism banner and therefore to some extent influenced by the IS/SWP. However another Marxist tradition was represented in the broadly 'radical' bands which came out of this period in Leeds - Scritti Politti, apparently reflecting the interest in Gramsci then found amongst Eurocommunists! Webmaster] The formation of the Mekons was inspired after seeing the Sex Pistols perform at Leeds Polytechnic in 1976. They would take the route a lot of art students did in this golden era of using music as an extension of art away from its increasing turgid, toothless form. The rules of music had changed; artists were formed out of audiences anyone could "get up and have a go". The Mekons would follow this route, as with the punk attitude of being a working class movement, anti- fascist and with a radical criticism of society, royalty and at the start keeping at arms length from the rock industry it wanted to destroy. It was also one of the movements to push women to the front of music. Examples of this can be seen through countless material produced by the Mekons. The first single, produced on the indie label Fast Product called Never Been in a Riot symbolises a riot where neo-nazis attacked their radical gay club. The b-side to this 32 Weeks was a left handed screech about the number of weeks it take to save up for an everyday object like a refrigerator. After their second classic single 'Where are you?' they signed and made a compromised album on the Virgin label. More excellent material was produced in 1979 Work all Week again a song describing the reality of working class life and in 1980 Teeth. But with the movement running out of steam a lot of bands unfortunately became mainstream and a shadow of their former selves. The movement that didn't want to become fashionable had become part of fashionable pop music. The Mekons did not, and in 1980 signed to the indie label Red Rino and to this day have recorded some fine material on various labels. The latest being Mekons United (Quarterstick/Touch and Go album) 1996 (23-track CD with a history book of the Mekons) available from Ellipsis London Ltd, 2 Rufus Street London N1 6PE, and ME; 14 track CD album (Quarterstick QS53CD) So I'll leave you with a quote from the 1980 single Teeth: "We sit in pubs, and talk of times, "Of groups we knew, and all the signs, "Of war and money, oppression and more" Interview with Tom Greenhalgh of the Mekons "The Mekons" formed while studying at the fine art department at Leeds University. Could you describe some of the highs and lows of this period? The highs: The feeling that suddenly anything was possible... anyone could form a band [or whatever] there and then, it was like 'year zero' also a strong sense of collaboration and community, pooling resources and ideas.The lows: The attempts by the BNP/National Front to muscle in on the scene - arguments and problems with local promoters etc not being prepared to do anything about it. "The Mekons" have been described as the original D.I.Y. band which typified the music from the punk/new wave era. Could you comment on the way, where and why they adopted this approach? It seemed that the do-it-yourself, think-for-yourself thing was the loud and clear 'message' of punk, if there was any 'message' at all. Things happened the way they did because it seemed the obvious way to go about it. Were the "Mekons" influenced by the head of Leeds University fine art department teacher T.J. Clarke who was one of the few British members of the Situationists International? If so how? The Leeds art school scene in the late 70's was a weird blip of highly radicalised activity with a lot of marxist and feminist teachers who certainly upset the institutions they worked in as well as some of the students. It's hard to imagine this happening nowadays.For me personally at the time I wasn't bothered and took it for granted and only a lot later began to read T.J Clarke for myself. I think we were influenced a lot by Terry Atkinson who had been involved with Art & Language, who was also at Leeds, who dealt with issues of cultural practice and the implications of trying to operate within capitalist modes of production and distribution.[this is quite a big subject... just to say... my final show was all pictures of T.J.Clarke as the paradigm of the radical academic... but I have a great deal of respect for the man and his work... its interesting that since he fled the UK and gone to Berekeley he has become good mates with Greil Marcus...] For those that don't know, where did the name for "The Mekons" come from? In the old fashioned comic 'The Eagle' there was a strip called 'Dan Dare - Space Pilot of the Future' created by Frank Hampson. Dan Dare's arch enemy was the Mekon who was an evil alien with a big green head and a little body who flew around the universe on a tiny flying saucer... With the quality of material produced by "The Mekons"; why did they never have a big hit? Would "The Mekons" have wanted a big hit? Basically we never knew what we were doing we always managed ourselves and never really had the resources or distribution required for a big hit...On one level I suppose it might have been nice to be on top of the pops but then all you're ever known for is that one hit unless you're fantastic like ABBA. We ended up doing whatever we wanted and paradoxically perhaps not being commercially successful meant we had more freedom to do what we wanted. Punk/new wave bands were being snapped up by big labels as you were yourselves. Was it because the scene was "trendy" at the time or do you think some labels were actually interested in the music? Were bands encouraged to change/compromise their art and politics? It was the traditional 'tin pan alley' approach of throw it at the wall and see what sticks - you can be absolutely certain that no major label [in our case Virgin] gives a toss about music.Unfortunately bands have a tendency for self-censorship if there's a whiff of cash about... can you blame them? well... yes and no. Lu Edmonds (ex P.I.L., The Damned) was a member of "The Mekons". There have been various other Mekons, and so called deputy Mekons. What is the relationship between band members in the past and now? Because as I already said we ended up ploughing our own furrow... there was never any money about to pay people properly so naturally they sometimes had to do other things so occasionally someone else would have to be drafted in... usually they end up staying in the band. Also as you know we're pretty spread out so not everyone can be in the same place at the same time so it's good to have a 'pool' of people to draw on. We are all good friends. I regard "Where were you" as one of the classics from the punk/new wave era; what song do you regard as a classic from that time and why? 'Anarchy in the UK' because ignoring the way things can become clichés over time it was absolutely amazing at the time that this was in the charts. How important do you think art is to "The Mekons" and what is the view of art described by "The Mekons"? I don't think ART is important... For the mekons mixing things up is part of trying to break down boundaries and categories that come up as when things are commodified in this society art is a speculative commodity. What was the Leeds scene like in the late 70's/early 80's, what was life like for yourselves? It seemed a good scene with a big mix of different people: art students, gay & lesbians, lefties of every stripe, druggies, nutters and weirdos it was a laugh. "The Mekons" were involved in the Miners Strike during the mid 80's, what was your reaction and "The Mekons" reaction to the Strikes? Just before that time the original band had semi split up and the few who were left had deliberately decide to stop playing live and concentrate on studio experimentation then. We were approached to play benefits because we'd done a lot of Rock Against Racism stuff so we got a live band together [with Steve Goulding and Lu Edmonds joining on drums and bass] and played as much as possible.I got involved with the local miners support group in Lambeth putting on benefits as well and all the other things to support the strike it was a crucial turning point in British politics and life in general that leads staight to Blair - if the strike had won things would now be very different. The art and songs of "The Mekons" over the years have criticised society, what do you think of modern society? How would you like to see this society? How do you think it could change for the better? These are very big questions any 'sound bites' I could give are kind of obvious: society is run to benefit the few, democracy is a con, class struggle goes on.You just have to keep on doing what you can and talking to people around you, I don't think there are any simple answers I'm interested in Marxism but it's not a religion, it's an approach that should change and develop all the time and it doesn't really matter what you call it unless you're referring to that specific tradition. I'm also interested in philosophy and complexity of how things work in history and culture but people have to find their own way of dealing with these things even if its not in an obviously Political way - on one level though everything is political. The word Punk means different things to different people. Do you agree with Greil Marcus that it is another example in the history of revolutionary movements like the Ranters of the English Civil War, the Cabaret Voltaire, the Situationist International? What is your idea of the punk movement? I think its good that people like Greil Marcus put things in a wider context that you might not be aware of - I don't really have an idea of the punk movement as such, it's become another youth cult cliché like Teddy Boys or Mods and Rockers, for me it was a spark of freedom and rebellion very specific to time and place, things have long since moved on. What does the future hold for "The Mekons"? Who knows? We're working on a new album called "I" due out early next year and working on another art show called "OOOH" also for next year. This Mekons material belongs to Mark, except for comments by the webmaster! _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
