Recap: Mini-Mekons at the Avalon Lounge Catskill 12/9/22 -By: Steven Stock

After checking the band’s itinerary, I assumed the Mini-Mekons booked a gig in Catskill as a shakedown cruise of sorts, a chance to work out any kinks in their set before playing a couple of dates in “The City” on the weekend.

In truth, the only evidence of any kinks came midway through the second set. When Jon Langford (guitar/vocals/harmonica) was sidelined by a broken string on his guitar, singer/kazooist Sally Timms covered with a beautiful rendition of John Anderson’s “Wild And Blue,” followed by guitarist John Szymanski leading the crowd in a seemingly impromptu sing-along on the Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon.”  There was something magical about being in a room where well over half the people knew the words to a 1966 single that peaked at #14 on the U.S. Billboard chart. We may be ancient, but at least we have impeccable taste!

It was a lovely moment, one of many that this stripped-down four-piece version of the Mekons conjured across two sets at the sold-out Avalon Lounge last Friday. The band’s history stretches all the way back to 1976, when five art students at the University of Leeds (UK) banded together.

Since then the Mekons have followed a meandering path from punk to Americana to dub to a mixed-media collaboration with novelist Kathy Acker and then back to punk: thirty albums altogether if you include compilations. The band’s discography grows even more tangled when you consider Langford’s other projects, which include solo albums, the Three Johns, the Waco Brothers, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts and the Freakons.

Langford and Timms have subsequently relocated to Chicago, while other members of the full eight-piece Mekons retinue remain in the UK, so in recent years the band’s touring lineup has varied. Violinist Jean Cook completed the quartet for this show, playing gorgeous soaring melodies on the country-tinged songs, but also contributing some avant-garde dissonance to more raucous selections such as “1234 Ever.”

Friday’s performance boasted a lot of covers: Anderson’s “Seminole Wind,” the Handsome Family’s “The Sad Milkman,” Will Oldham’s “Mombasa” and best of all Alejandro Escovedo’s heartbreaking “Broken Bottle.” With perhaps a surfeit of Langford and Timms side-and-solo projects represented, that only left time for a handful of actual Mekons’ songs, largely drawn from their 80s Americana-inflected phase: “Last Dance,” “Hard To Be Human,” “Slightly South Of The Border” and “Abernant.”

Timms has for some reason become enamoured with the kazoo this year, and it must be said that not every track necessarily benefited from this. In fact, I gotta take a stand here: no track benefited from this. In years past it was usually Langford who might carry a good jape too far and too long – perhaps the kazoo is Sally’s long-awaited revenge? 

For me the show’s highlight came late in the second set, with a taut version of “Millionaire” from 1989’s finest album, Mekons Rock’n’Roll. “It’s quite lovely here,” observed Langford after Szymanski brought “Millionaire” to a close with a tasty guitar solo, and indeed the band sounded great in the small room, loud but crystal-clear with Avalon owner Liam Singer at the mixing desk.

The room full of folks of a certain age, along with a solitary youngster wearing volume-limiting headphones, didn’t seem to mind the early start time of 6:30 at all. “This is a late gig for Sally,” quipped Langford as the clock neared 8:20 and the band eased into their final number “Sentimental Marching Song,” with its apt refrain “he needs a little love at closing time.”

Set One

Natchez Trace

I Picked Up The Pieces

Last Dance

The Sad Milkman

1234 Ever

Seminole Wind

Tom Jones Levitation

?

Pill Sailor

Hard To Be Human

Set Two

Mombasa

Broken Bottle

Plenty Tough Union Made

Horses

Wild And Blue

Sunny Afternoon

Slightly South Of The Border

Millionaire

Hey! Rockstar

Abernant 1984/5

Sentimental Marching Song