Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 39-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Last week, Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill) tweeted something about Mecca Normal being D.O.A. adjacent, which seems like a funny association, but true! The political nature of D.O.A.’s songs was very inspiring to me as a lyricist (1984 or so).
Our first gig was opening for D.O.A. (1985), where I’d say our format, style, lyric content, etc., prevented us from resonating with D.O.A. fans. But we were on tour within a matter of months, finding strong connections elsewhere (Montreal, Olympia and then in L.A., San Francisco and New York). Many of those early associations lasted years, some to this day.
“In January” from The Family Swan (Kill Rock Stars, 2002) (download):
