Ever since the Mekons covered Kevin Coyne's brilliant song "Having A Party"
(a savage rebuke to Sir Dickie Branson the CEO of Virgin Records - a label which
Kevin and the Mekes worked their butts off for in the early 80s) plans have
been afoot for some sort of collaboration between these two multi-talented but
uncompromising camps.
Sometimes dubbed "the English Beefheart" Kevin Coyne's career as a writer, artist, composer and fiercely individual singer mirrors the genre-busting activities of painter, guitarist, activist and founding Mekon Jon Langford.
On December 15th the Old Town School Of Folk Music will host a joint Artshow
of Kevin Coyne & Jon Langford's paintings and drawings plus a concert performance
where the two legendary British songwriters and vocalists will be joined by
Kevin's guitarist son Robert Coyne, Langford's fellow Mekon Sally Timms plus
Pine Valley Cosmonauts
John Rice and Pat Brennan. They'll be debuting tunes from an album they're recording
together in Chicago this winter and revisiting songs from both their long and
unique careers.
The critically acclaimed British folksinger Charlotte Greig & guitarist Julian Hayman (who have contributed a track to the Pine Valley Cosmonauts' much anticipated Executioner's Last Songs Vol 2) open the show.
"He was, & is, one of my total heroes", says Langford, "Kevin Coyne's records were truly inspirational in those dark days before punkrock when I was still in short pants. It's great to see someone else who's in it for the long-run & still trying to make sense of sounds & paint & words with such reckless abandon"