“Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet” Mekons

This way: Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet

The Mekons are a British post-punk band formed in 1976 as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. Although the Mekons' lineup has changed from time to time over the years, the core line-up includes Jon Langford (vocals, guitar), Sally Timms (vocals), Tom Greenhalgh (vocals, guitar) and Susie Honeyman (violin). 

The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of country music, folk music, alternative rock and occasional experiments with dub. They are well known for their exuberant live performances.

The band was formed in 1976 by a group of University of Leeds art students: Jon Langford, Kevin Lycett, Mark White, Ros Allen, Andy Corrigan and Tom Greenhalgh — Gang of Four and Delta 5 formed from the same group of students. They took the band's name from the Mekon, an evil, super-intelligent Venusian featured in the British 1950s–1960s comic Dan Dare (printed in the Eagle). mekons were described as a more chaotic version of Gang of Four; Lycett stated the band operated on the principle that "anybody could do it ... anybody could get up and join in and instruments could be swapped around; that there'd be no distance between the audience and the band."

By their second show, supporting the Rezillos at the F Club, they were approached with a record deal by Bob Last of Fast Product, and became the first band signed to the label. Their first single was "Never Been in a Riot", a satirical take on the Clash's "White Riot". The release was made Single of the Week in NME. Their second single, "Where Were You?" was released by the end of 1978, and sold out of its 27,500 copies. At this time, Last convinced the band to sign to a larger label—Virgin. The Mekons popularity peaked as they played on the same bill as other "new music" groups like Gang of Four, the Fall, the Human League, and Stiff Little Fingers.

For several years the band played noisy, bare-bones post-punk, releasing singles on a number of labels. Their first album, The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen, was recorded using Gang of Four's instruments, and due to an error by the Virgin Records’ art department, featured pictures of Gang of Four on the back cover. After 1982's The Mekons Story, a compilation of old recordings, the band ceased activity for a while, with Langford forming The Three Johns.

This track from the ecellent LP Rock 'n' Roll from 1989.

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