If there's such a thing as a "punk rock renaissance man," Jon Langford is surely the top contender for the title. Langford began his musical career with seminal U.K. punk rockers the Mekons in 1977 while still an art student at the University of Leeds in England. Not content with just one musical outlet, he has worked with more than a half-dozen other bands over the years, including drum-machine-driven punkers The Three Johns, country classics cover band The Pine Valley Cosmonauts, children's musical combo Wee Hairy Beasties and alt-country rockers the Waco Brothers.
In addition to his music, Langford has garnered acclaim for his stylishly designed and intricately detailed paintings, including portraits of many early country music stars. His artwork is featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's current Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City exhibit. Langford appeared in Nashville in March for the opening of the exhibit and the Nashville debut of the documentary, Revenge of the Mekons, which chronicles the band's astounding 38-year history. Langford will be appearing with the Waco Brothers at the Basement East this weekend. The Scene spoke with him via telephone from his home in Chicago.
This has been the Year of the Mekons, with the theatrical release and DVD release of Revenge of the Mekons and a U.S. tour. Was there a deliberate plan at work here? With the Mekons the only plan is there is no plan. We were touring mainly because we wanted to. The documentary was supposed to come out years ago, but it took a long time to finish, and it was kind of coincidental that we toured near the release. Overall, I think the documentary was very helpful to us. It's very positive, and it's a brief explanation of what we've been doing for the last 38 years. It's hard for us to be objective about it, but the reviews speak for themselves, and they've been great.
Did you see any differences in the audiences for this tour? There were a lot more people. The only explanation I have is that the documentary helped. Or it might be people are worried we're going to die soon so they had to come and see us before that happens.
I recently rewatched the film and it occurred to me that if you forget money, the Mekons are the most successful band in the history of rock 'n' roll. No one else has made as many consistently good albums over as long of a period of time and still like each other so much. Is that a fair assessment? That's a good quote. I think that's true. It can be hard when you don't see each other for a while, you do tend to drift apart, but working with the Mekons is always a positive experience. We do make some money when we tour, but none of us are dependent on it. It's not a cash cow we have to milk until it's dry, so we're free to do what we want.
So you finished the tour with the Mekons in July, and now the Waco Brothers are playing in Nashville. Is it the start of another tour? Not really, I was coming to Nashville for a week for some business at the Country Music Hall of Fame. I'm working with Jim Sherraden at Hatch Show Print on an exhibition of my paintings that will open in October. I thought having the Wacos play would be a nice way to start the week.
Is there some new music on tap from the Waco Brothers? We've got a new album called Going Down in History, which is going to come out in February or March. We're just waiting at the moment because all the pressing plants are full of crazy things for Record Store Day. Everyone is doing limited editions, blue vinyl, re-releases or that type of stuff. You can't get a regular record pressed right now.
The Waco Brothers are similar to the Mekons in that you all work on other projects, but how is it different? I think with the Wacos there's just a real understanding of each other's goals. It's quite easy to put things together with the Wacos. Dean [Schlabowske] is a good songwriter, so he always brings good songs in, and I'll scramble around and see what I've got. We want the Waco Brothers to have a certain sound, so not every song I write fits.
You mentioned your artwork and the Country Music Hall of Fame. For the Dylan-Cash exhibit I find it interesting that the big names are the marketing hook for the exhibit, but the real focus is on the Nashville Cats, the session men who aren't household names. Did the idea of telling the story of the real "working-class" musicians appeal to you? I didn't know that at first. Initially I just made the big image that they wanted of Dylan and Cash. After I came down and talked to the people that were putting it together, I realized what an intense exhibit the whole thing was, and I became more interested in the Nashville Cats. So I did a painting of them off my own bat, as it were. It just fit in perfectly with the sort of things I've been doing over the years. Their story is really the story of the whole town. One of my pet peeves is that history gets broken down to fit the lowest common denominator. People believe things like Nashville was just country, and that the '60s all happened in California. Country music is really this vast, global organism that encompasses all sorts of folk music, and it's had influence all over the globe. Where the borders blur is where the most interesting stuff goes on. Cash recognized that, and his TV show was all about that. He looked at the whole Nashville scene and not just the confines of what fit in the Grand Ole Opry.
With your artwork and all the different musical projects you're involved in, where do you get your energy and drive? None of them are grinding full-time occupations. There's a lot of time off. When I'm doing one thing my brain is always thinking about the other thing. Other people talk about the road and touring being hard work or being boring, but I quite like that feeling of being away. I'm not totally thinking about what I'm going to do next, but when I do get back, there are all these ideas in my mind of things I want to do. Right now, I'm just looking forward to the next show. I always have a good time when I play Nashville.
Email Music@nashvillescene.com
