Former Psychic TV member John Gosling AKA Mekon’s fearsome third album ‘Something Came Up’ shimmers with dark and menacing electronics and sledge hammer beats. Add to the mix some of the most exciting and eccentric vocalists around, such as Suicide’s Alan Vega, Bobby Gillespie, Marc Almond and Roxanne Shanté, and you’ve got a blistering combination.
What have you been up to in the last five years since the last album ‘Relax With Mekon’?
I’ve been working for Alexander McQueen doing his fashion shows - they took up quite a lot of my time, far more than I expected them to. But then I had a lot more fun doing it than I expected, so I carried on with that for a while. Obviously I was making the album but it didn’t take that long. I lay about on my sofa drinking for about a year and I’ve been DJ’ing. Apart from that - not a lot really.
Do you have free reign of the music you play at the fashion shows?
No, what quite often happens is that he’ll give me some kind of impossible request so therefore we end up composing a whole new piece of music. It actually works out quicker than trying to find this imaginary piece of music he’s got in his head. Then I’ve gone on to use some of those things on the album in fact.
Do you get loaded up with free clothes?
No nothing! The only thing I ever got off him was a full-length leather quilted coat. Patent! It made me look like a scouse drug dealer. I haven’t put it on eBay because I’m worried he’ll see that I’ve done it. My missus gets all the clobber. She’s got an extensive wardrobe.
How did you hook up with your collaborators on the album?
Bobby’s a mate of mine. I’ve known him down the years from being out and about. Alan I got through a guy called Ross Allen [Casual Records]. He just happened to mention he was hooked up with him somehow or other and I was like ‘no way you’ve got to give me his number’. I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Have Suicide been a big influence?
They have actually in the way that they improvise and also their whole presentation. When I originally first saw them I was really impressed by the fact it was a guy on the keyboards and a guy doing vocals and it was just that minimal set up. I just thought that was much more punk rock than a lot of other things that were happening around at that time. It was really easy to wind people up in those days; you could get beaten up for having the wrong coloured hair - hard to imagination now. In some ways things are better and in some things are worse. Some things are kinda bland but then again anything outrageous will stand out won’t it?
Do you think a lot of music today lacks attitude?
Yeah, I really do. Actually, with what’s going on in the world at the moment, no one really addresses it. In the music world it seems that musicians don’t really feel that it’s down to them to do that anymore, whereas before that would have been the first thing that people would have been singing about. I’m not particularly politicised but with the way things are at the moment, how can you ignore it? I think we’re a lot more hedonistic these days. I’m not one to say that’s right or wrong but I just find it odd and a bit worrying.
Have you still got all your old Psychic TV records?
I once went to New York with a batch of records to sell at a famous second hand record store in New York. I had a copy of Joy Division on sordid sentimental and loads of Psychic TV records that was going to fund my whole stay there. I planned to stay about six months. The guy took all the Joy Division stuff off me and when I gave him the Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV records he shouted [puts on broad NYC accent] “PTV they’ve only gotta fart and they put it out!” and that’s true - we just put everything out. It was more a case of documentation than anything, rather than ‘this is a great record we’ve got to put it out’. We just put everything out.
I think that’s a good way of working though, a lot of bands get so precious and tied up in the record process it loses what original energy it once may have had.
I have this argument all the time. People like 23 Skidoo, they were so talented and they arsed around for ten years and didn’t put anything out until they were exactly happy with it. I used to hang out with those guys and hear stuff that was amazing and I would go back a week later and they’d tweaked with it and totally fucking lost it. Consequently they didn’t put anything out and totally disappeared. There are too many talented musicians who are far more talented than me and they never put anything out because they are always tweaking and perfecting. I think there has to be a cut off point.
That’s the good thing about myspace, you can write and record a track and have it out there in hours.
Absolutely, there’s a lot of people saying ‘oh gawd whoa’ but I think it’s really healthy. It’s like going back to the indie days because record companies are fucking useless. The bigger they are the more fucking useless. They are really uncreative atmospheres. It’s almost like anti-creativity being signed to a major record label.
How about Wall of Sound?
Meanwhile on the other end of the scale. What can I say about Wall of Sound? They’ve gone through so many transitions and I just think better the devil you know personally. But having said that, I’d still feel quite confident nowadays of getting my stuff out there which is really cool.
‘Something Came Up’ is dark. Is it going back to your old influences from PTV?
It was in a way, although I didn’t consciously set out to do that. This is the first Mekon album that I’ve actually co-produced with someone and I think he had a large influence on the sound, or he certainly brought it out. I was possibly feeling a bit bleak, (laughs) but I’m not now. Possibly I was drinking too much.
Have the reviews you’ve received been positive?
Yeah, amazingly so. I didn’t know what to expect when I finally managed to get it released because I didn’t do it with Wall of Sound, I did it on my own. I’m not actually signed to Wall of Sound, just licensed. I totally did it independently. I was kinda in my own little world doing it. I didn’t know how people would react to it and I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
What’s the most exciting record you’ve heard this year?
I really like that band Justice. I love that that record ‘Jerusalem’; also there are bands like the Klaxons - I’m really into that kinda vibe. Current pop music - I like Timbaland. I’m loving that new Justin Timberlake record. I like R&B in my current pop. But being an old git I do tend to listen to old pop music.