There are bands that make it and bands that don’t. Then there are bands – like the Mekons – that spend decades working the middle. Formed in the ferment of Leeds student politics in 1977 (alongside Gang of Four), the group Lester Bangs called “the most revolutionary in the history of rock’n’roll”, have learned how far political rock’s grand pronouncements can get you: 8,000 sales an album and a tour when you can afford it.
Director Joe Angio follows the Mekons as they record and tour 2011’s Ancient and Modern LP. They seem – after all the art-school posturing, the Thatcher-bashing, the getting signed, the getting bored – a genial lot. Content to play and be loved by a small, devoted (and influential – Jonathan Franzen, Greil Marcus, Fred Armisen) fanbase. “You can’t stick to a manifesto,” says founding member Jon Langford. “But there’s definitely a thread.” Passion, good humour and love are wrapped up in there.
