Micko And The Mellotronics release new video/single “(What’s in a) Name (featuring Kevin Eldon)”

22 Aug 2023

2–4 minutes

art punk, featured, indie, london, Micko & The Mellotronics

On 25 August 2023 Micko And The Mellotronics are to release their brand new single, (What’s in a) Name on Land Line Records. Taken from their forthcoming 17 November second album Le Vice Anglais, the single features actor/comedian Kevin Eldon (Fist of Fun, Brass Eye, It’s Kevin) duetting on vocals and sees the band continue their unique art-punk singer-songwriter style.

“I was inspired by watching Alan Bennett’s DVD extras from the original Talking Heads series” says frontman and songwriter Micko Westmorland of the track. “In them there’s a refrain about individual’s names and how we evaluate and sometimes project into their meaning. I then saw Michael Apted’s ‘Seven up’ which honed my interest. My Friend Kevin Eldon, is a brilliant actor/comedian so I asked him to sing the two verses which featured the two different characters, Graham and William in the track. He also kindly offered to be in the video.”
“I didn’t want the song to be taken too literally though; that a name can be read as being synonymous with social background, so I added a coda which rifts on freewill verses determinism. Musically, Paul Cuddeford (Holy Holy/Visconti/Boomtown Rats) provides the blistering solo which ignites the track and Horace Panter (The Specials), the dynamic bass line. Ashley Jones directed the video to a loose brief as we wanted to leave space for Kevin to improvise, which he duly did’.
As well as Horace Panter (bass), Paul Cudderford (lead guitar) and Kevin Eldon, Le Vice Anglais also features features Budge Magraw (Cesarians/Gretschen Hofner) on bass, Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey) on brass, guitarist Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno/Florence & The Machine) and Mike Paradinas (µ-ziq, Kid Spatula.

Unafraid to put some of the world’s peculiarities and his own observations under the microscope, Micko And The Mellotronics match their infectious art-punk sound with lyrics that are erudite and entertaining, laced with innumerable references to pop culture, philosophy, history and more. Formed in 2017 with the intention of turning Micko Westmoreland’s songwriting skills into a dynamic live prospect, they released their debut album 1/2 Dove 1/2 Pigeon in 2020.

Since then they’ve been busy cutting their teeth with a series of shows around the capital and beyond, making return visits to the 100 Club in Oxford Street and earning multiple requests for support slots from acts as established as Evan Dando (Lemonheads), David Devant & His Spirit Wife, Blue Orchids, Sheep on Drugs, The Television Personalities and The Monochrome Set. Bringing a new dimension of sharp and economic post-punk/new wave attitude to the diverse Westmoreland songbook, they’ve been already been favourably compared to The Jam, Pil, Wire, XTC and Pulp as well as the mean, lean but undeniably powerful sound of Idles or Shame.
An actor and musician, front-man and songwriter Micko was signed to Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records in the early noughties and is already well known for his releases as ambient dance solo artiste The Bowling Green and for guitar art-pop albums under his own moniker. Micko also played a major role in the fictionalised glam rock movie Velvet Goldmine alongside Ewan MacGregor and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. He is also a member charity-findraising covers group The Spammed with Rat Scabies, Horace Panter and the late, great Neil Innes.

The new incarnation of The Mellotronics sees Micko’s rabble-rousing vocals and spiky, agitational guitar work augmented perfectly by the crack squad of drummer JD Kickdrum and Budge Magraw providing the attitude driven solid bassline.