Live music listings: August 2006

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Tue 1st

The Luminaire presents
THE MEKONS
+ The Dials

Doors 7.30
£8 via WeGotTickets

The Luminaire is delighted to host the legendary Mekons after a three year abscence from the UK live scene.
The Mekons are a rollicking, anarchic and inventive punk rock/post punk band and one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk bands (being rivaled in both categories only by The Fall).
Leeds University art students Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh formed The Mekons in 1977, taking the band's name from the Mekon, a super-intelligent, totally evil and emotionless Venusian who featured in the British 1950s-1960s comic Dan Dare (printed in the Eagle).
The band first gained widepread popularity with the single 'Never Been in a Riot', a satirical take on the Clash's 'White Riot.' For several years the loose-knit band played noisy, bare-bones post punk in the vein of fellow Leeds students Gang of Four. Yet Langford and Greenhalgh never hewed closely to formulaic genre conventions, and by the mid-80s (now augmented by vocalist Sally Timms and violinist Susie Honeyman) they began to experiment with musical styles derived from traditional folk and country. 1985's watershed 'Fear and Whiskey', 1986's 'The Edge of the World' and 1987's 'Honky Tonkin' exemplified the band's unique new sound, which built on the innovations of Gram Parsons and blended punk ethos with the minimalist country of Hank Williams. This style, sometimes referred to as 'post-modern country', is a direct forerunner of the alt-country genre represented by bands like Uncle Tupelo.
Jon Langford has been busy as an artist and as founder of several solo and band projects: namely the Waco Brothers (a country-meets-Cash-like ensemble) and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts (exploring the music of Bob Wills, Johnny Cash and others). Besides his solo albums he has released cds with Richard Buckner and Kevin Coyne.
Subsequent albums such as 'The Mekons Rock and Roll', while containing several straightforward rock songs, continued to explore the boundaries of the punk genre by utilizing diverse instrumentation (notably the fiddle and slide guitar) and Timm's haunting vocals.
'The Mekons Rock and Roll' was the band's first major label release. Issued by A&M Records in 1989, 'Rock and Roll' was not a commercial success, but it was met with critical acclaim. Arguably the best album of their career (alongside Fear and Whiskey), it is perhaps the most accessible synthesis of their experiments in country, rock and punk.
Just as the Mekons began to grow in critical stature, their relationship with A&M Records became more tense, and unable to fulfull their commercial expectations they were soon dropped by the label. However, not only did the band remain intact, they continued to record at a prolific rate, releasing such notable albums as 1991's 'The Curse of The Mekons', 2000's 'Journey to the End of the Night', and 2002's 'OOOH!'.
Main support this evening are The Dials. Formed in Brighton three years ago, they fuse classic country rock with '60s psychedelic garage. With a line-up including Hammond organ, pedal steel guitar and banjo, The Dials have been described as “psychogaragebluegrass” [whatever that means] and their gigs as like “the drunk bones of Doc Boggs dragged up for one last gig with the faces”. The Dials have received national and international radio airplay [Mark Lamarr’s Best of 2005 Boxing Day Show, The Great American Music Hour on WRIR 973FM, Virginia, etc.] and are in the final stages of finishing their first album.
"The Dials turn a monolithic corporate space into an intimate roadhouse cafe on the dark side of town. Long may they ride" [Americana UK]
"There’s an old saying, ’If you’re going to steal, steal from the best.’ The Dials have taken this to heart. From the Beatles to the Byrds, from Cash to the Clash, they take a little bit from everyone and mix it all up into an exhilarating musical stew." [Jerry Jodice, WRIR 973FM Virginia]
"Opener, ’Lonely Boy’ is a splendid slice of '70s San Francisco style country, sweet melodies, pop hooks and sweeping lap steel." [Whisperin' and Hollerin']