(Blurt Online) With a Kickstarter campaign having wrapped for the forthcoming documentary film“Revenge of the Mekons” filmmaker Joe Angio (More Than a Game, How to Eat Your Watermelon In White Company [And Enjoy It]) can now buckle down and complete his buzzworthy project. According to Angio’s description of the film:
“Revenge of the Mekons” is a documentary about the legendary, rabble-rousing punk band that, four decades into an unlikely career, continue to make unpredictable, critically acclaimed music. The film charts the band’s mid-’80s reincarnation as the unlikely progeny of Hank Williams (a development that inspired journalists to coin the term “alt country”) and captures the restless imagination that has led the Mekons to create – collectively, individually and in collaboration with others – paintings, sculptures, theater pieces, even a group novel. The film also reveals its subjects as passionate advocates for social justice, whose work, as journalist Greg Kot tells us, “functions almost without exception as a critique of power and the abuse of power.” A rich and illuminating account of a fascinating, criminally under-recognized band, Revenge of the Mekons will be a lively, inspiring, and entertaining film – with killer music, to boot!
Not only did the project meet its initial goal of $20,000, but exceeded it by an extra $15k, amassing 301 backers, including SNL’s Fred Armison, Hugo Burnham ofGang of Four, former REM manager Jefferson Holt and author /comedian John Hodgman.
According to Angio, the successful campaign would not have been possible without the great support from the Mekons themselves. Jon Langford said that the Kickstarter campaign “really energized” the band and reaffirmed why the Mekons should keep doing what they do so well.
