Mecca Normal started in 1984 with the express purpose of changing the world. Writer Jean Smith turned her zine Smarten UP! – A How to Change the World Publication -- into a record label to release the first Mecca Normal LP in 1986. The voice and guitar duo has released 13 CDs on Kill Rock Stars, Matador, K Records, Smarten UP! Records.
"Arguably the greatest rock band without a rhythm section ever, the duo of acid-voiced singer Jean Smith and guitar hero David Lester must be seen to be believed." -- Douglas Wolk In April
2009, Mecca Normal celebrated its 25th anniversary with 25 shows in 25 days, including university and high school presentations of "How Art & Music Can Change the World" -- a lecture intending to inspire audiences to consider adding political content to their creative self-expression.
Mecca Normal is known as a fore-runner and inspiration to the riot grrrl movement in the 90s. As part of the regional D-I-Y scene at that time, Mecca Normal co-founded the Black Wedge -- anti-authoritarian poets and minimalist musicians "setting wild hearts free, spreading the damn difficult word of how to combine poetry with activist resistance culture".
In 2010 Smith and Lester launched The Black Dot Museum of Political Art with a four-person exhibit in Olympia. In the fall of 2010, K Records will release INTERNATIONAL POP UNDERGROUND CXXXII -- Malachi and Blue Sky & Branches.
Guitar player David Lester is the author of "The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism" -- profit from sales have raised over $2000 for the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture. David is the publisher at Get To The Point Editions -- a small press publishing poetry, graphics and fiction by community activists. His ongoing series of Inspired Agitators posters are featured in both the lecture and the Black Dot Museum of Political Art.
Vocalist Jean Smith is a painter, filmmaker and the author of two published novels. She is the recipient of two Canada Council for the Arts Awards as a writer of creative fiction. She runs Smarten UP! Records, a D-I-Y label for poets and minimalist musicians.
Mecca Normal has released thirteen albums on Matador, Kill Rock Stars Records and K Records.
Too much spam in the MySpace mailbox -- please email meccanormal@hotmail.com
Mecca Normal Website Index:
History, Film, Paintings, Posters, Publishing, Lecture, Tours, Lyrics, Blogs, Record Label, t-shirts, Books, MySpace pages
November 11, 2010
Smarten UP! Records is very excited to announce the re-release of two early Mecca Normal albums. These came out on K Records and then on one CD on Matador -- two amazing labels we've had the thrill of working with.Check out these songs individually for 99 cents or as the album, the way David and I intended for it to be heard. Mecca Normal and Smarten UP! Recordsappreciate your interest in our history -- it translates into financial support and the longevity of the Mecca Normal project. Calico Kills the Cat (1989, K Records, Matador CD with "Water") Water Cuts My Hands (1991, K Records, Matador CD with "Calico")
October 13, 2009
RE-RELEASES
The Eagle & the Poodle CD (Matador, 1996)
iTunes (re-release on Smarten UP! Records, 2009)
Who Shot Elvis? CD (Matador, 1997)
iTunes (re-release on Smarten UP! Records, 2009)
Sitting on Snaps CD (Matador, 1995)
iTunes (re-release on Smarten UP! Records, 2009)
Read the four star Rolling Stone review.
Trapped Inside Your Heart -- Sitting on Snaps CD -- iTunes
Breathing in the Dark -- The Eagle & the Poodle CD -- iTunes
25th Anniversary Tour in the US in April, 2009 -- photo John Scharpen at the Hemlock in SF
"The most visionary of punk's political bands, Mecca Normal see things in a different light. Because their tactics are more evocative than provocative, the Vancouver, Canada, duo hasn't gotten as much attention as its fans and colleagues in Fugazi and Bikini Kill. But through seven albums over nine years, vocalist Jean Smith and guitarist David Lester have presented a consistent, evolving and luminous challenge to the reigning social order." – Rolling Stone, 1995
Mecca Normal is paradoxically intuitive and highly stylized. Smith is an extraordinary rock poet delivering compact short stories from her next book. Lester's adventurous guitar playing creates a sonic equivalent to Smith's voice -- a language all his own.
"Arguably the greatest rock band without a rhythm section ever, the duo of acid-voiced singer Jean Smith and guitar hero David Lester must be seen to be believed." Douglas Wolk
The Observer (Kill Rock Stars) was released in the spring of 2006.
Click here to buy The CD
The Observer -- iTunes
Attraction is Ephemeral
I'll Call You
Attraction is Ephemeral -- a self-portrait film directed by Jean Smith. The author of two published novels, Jean is editing her next novel "Love Wants You." about online dating. The song is by Mecca Normal (Jean Smith -- vocals and David Lester -- guitar) from The Observer CD on Kill Rock Stars, 2006. Mecca Normal shots by Marilyn Freeman and Thomas Boettner.
"The photos in Attraction is Ephemeral are an extension of an ongoing series of watercolour self-portraits I began in 1973, at age thirteen. I had control over my image when I painted it -- looking, deciding, creating and adding another self-portrait to my collection -- saving versions of myself. I took the photos for my online dating profiles with a similar mindset -- alone, with a tripod and timer." -- Jean Smith
Synopsis:
Middle-aged woman takes sexy photos of herself and puts them on dating website. Man on website says he's intrigued by her. Woman wonders how much recent deception informs her reaction to him. Man likes women who wear fine things. Woman cannot afford fine things. Woman wears slutty outfit -- one dollar panties and a Value Village bra. Man cannot maintain an erection. Man fails to use condom. Man -- 230 pounds -- flops down on top of woman and asks, "Am I crushing you?"
Woman replies, "Sort of."
David Lester's t-shirt design on CafePress.com
The Observer is Mecca Normal's 13th CD. Janis Zeppelin is the twelfth -- early recordings, covers, experimental pieces and a long version of In January -- Janis Zeppelin is on Smarten Up! Records.
Janis Zeppelin
Mecca Normal NEWSLETTER
New Mecca Normal Lyrics
"How Art & Music Can Change the World"
-- a Mecca Normal art exhibit, lecture and performance event.
"The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism"
(Arbeiter Ring Publishing) by David Lester. Updated second edition. Profit from sales goes to the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (almost $2000+ raised so far).
Available in the US through AK PRESS
Buy CDs, books, posters, post cards, paintings, and t-shirts
directly from Mecca Normal -- meccanormal@hotmail.com -- we accept PayPal.
Main Mecca Normal website http://mecca_normal.tripod.com
