Legendary British punk/country/folk/post-whatever vets The Mekons, in the midst of a rare full-band tour, play Johnny Brenda’s on Thursday July 18th in support of their fresh-from-the-oven new album, Deserted. Mekons mainman/cult leader/lovable madman (and visionary painter) Jon Langford said of the album’s inspirations:
“The idea was to go to a brand new studio our bassist the Baron had set up just outside the Joshua Tree national park in Yucca Valley CA and see what happened – we were in the middle of a hectic tour and had been attempting to write material first by email and then in the van… Most of what we wrote was abandoned after arriving at the Los Gatos compound. The desert is not unlike the ocean (just drier) and equally inspirational to old pirate punk rockers. The harshness of the environment, the bold and embattled plants and creatures that live there are metaphorical for us perhaps. Have you seen the desert after the rain? There are deserts everywhere. We took time to ponder the vastness and the weirdness of the desert. Going to the country to get your head together is a ripe old rock cliché. We went to the desert to have our brains scoured… We went from one desert to another. A more hopeful place where we arm ourselves with spikes and endure.”
THE MEKONS + FOND FAREWELLS @ JOHNNY BRENDAS THURSDAY JULY 18TH
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Play this loud! NO, LOUDER!