For some these are the two records that turned them on to the Mekons, for others these started alt .country. In any case they are essential.

Fear & Whiskey
and
Edge of the World
will be reissued on September 20th. Here are buy links for them:

https://mekons.bandcamp.com/album/fear-and-whiskey

https://mekons.bandcamp.com/album/the-edge-of-the-world

Deep video feat Albert Kuvezin and Brenna MacCrimmon – “for eternal light, one minute of darkness”…

Superior Viaduct announces the re-release of “The quality of mercy is not strnen” on vinyl. It’s their third release after last year’s RSD release of “Where were you” and “Never been in a riot”. New liner notes are by Simon Reynolds.

From Frankfurt, Reutlingen and Bad Saulgau here are 22 songs the Mekons played during these shows. Only Andromeda is missing – but that one was far away from perfect, unless you want to watch the Mekons watch each others lips. Only Tom had a cd card to read the words.

I had a few problems filming because my equipment fell apart – at least partially. So in Bad Saulgau I had to cover all the songs I had missed before. As you can easily see that show was different. The camera was so close to the stage, that the sound got distorted, but the Mekons had the most of fun. I hope you can see that in the filming.

There are two parts. The first contains:

Mekons in Germany, Frankfurt, Reutlingen, Bad Saulgau
April 10-14
Pt.1
Lawrence of California
Heaven and back
Tina
Diamonds
Millionaire
Harrar 1883
Simone on the beach
Jerusalem
Fantastic Voyage
Shanty
Wild and blue
Orpheus
Last dance
Ghosts
Hard to be human
How man stars

Pt. 2 is completely from Bad Saulgau and contains the second part of the show, which was the encore in the former shows. Riot was the only real encore they played in Bad Saulgau.

Songs are:

Beaten and broken
Weimar Vending Machine
Memphis
Curse
Where Were You
Never been in a Riot

@ Franziskaner Bad Saulgau, 2019 April 14

Mekons played a fantastic show at the Franziskaner. This is the first example of more to come. On Easter Monday I’ll upload a complete show with excerpts from Frankfurt, Reutlingen and mainly Bad Saulgau. Watch out!

Truly a nice read. So I thought you should have it

Unbound. Unfound, though not for lack of trying. After all, this is the band that gave high-priest critics like Greil Marcus (“they still play as if they are discovering their music”) and Lester Bangs (“the most revolutionary group in the history of rock and roll”) wet dreams.
Formed in 1977 as a self-described art project by Leeds university students, the Mekons suckled punk’s nipple while members stumbled in and out of the collective, taking winking jabs at the bands like The Clash while dancing on, and often tripping over, sumptuous chaos. Following their hearts rather than trends with members dispersed across continents, they drank mescal dreams of Hank Williams, took day jobs and bought third-hand touring vans to create a whole damn mud, spit and dirt superhighway, which major label deals unsuccessfully tried to pave. The Mekons’ bottomless rampancy is occasionally acknowledged by the mainstream, like when the documentary Revenge of The Mekons was worshipped by big media outlets in 2013, or when one of their oldest songs “Where Were You?” turned up in a car commercial in 2016.
Many of their catchy, anthemic songs sound like natural-born hits, but they spring from a band that doesn’t follow formulas or colour inside the lines — they do whatever they want, following a thread of passion, humour and love of the underdog. Flowing from rousing, can’t-shut-my-mouth sing-along choruses to spare and emotional musical moments in a single verse, the Mekons go wherever they want in their quest to uncover the prosaic poetry of our lives. Do yourself a favour — go with them.