Leeds fundamentalists Mekons released ‘Where Were You’ back in 1978, at the height of the punk movement. Beginning life as an art collective, their early sound contained the visceral anger that characterised the scene at the time.
35 plus years later, Canadian quartet Fist City have provided their own take on the 70s sound, injecting their distorted indie-punk.
“These kinds of songs defined music for us,” guitarist Evan Van Reekum says, explaining the band’s affinity to the era, “performed so fearlessly by people who weren’t afraid to grow/change/risk/offend.”
“It’s nice to look back on the late 70s as some kind of golden era and (maybe naively) assume that bands at this time didn’t care what people thought – or how accessible their music was or if people were going to like it. Bands like this made their own rules – things feel a bit different now.”
“I’m not sure why we decided to do this song specifically, but as we were mixing it Jon Langford popped by for a listen and a laugh – so that was nice. He approved! The Mekons are an amazing band – and continue to be to this day. Even some of our present day heroes love them – name songs after them, dedicate albums to them etc…”
Stream Fist City’s homage to the era exclusively below, and check out more about the band on Facebook and Twitter. The video for ‘End Of Good Times’ is also available to view here.
‘Everything Is A Mess’, the band’s latest full-length, is available to purchase via Transgressive Records, both physically and digitally.
OCTOBER
26 PARIS, FRANCE La Mécanique Ondulatoire
27 ANGERS, FRANCE Jokers Pub
28 NANTES, FRANCE Soy Festival @ Stereolux
31 LEICESTER What Became of Us Festival
NOVEMBER
01 BRIGHTON The Prince Albert
02 LONDON Sebright Arms
03 LEEDS Headrow House
04 EDINBURGH Sneaky Pete’s
06 HULL Adelphi