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May 11th at Le Pub Newport Jon Langford and the Men of Gwent celebrate the vinyl release of their acclaimed by Land and Sea album 4 stars in Mojo!!!Jon Langford And The Men of Gwent The band:
Jon Langford (The Mekons, The Three Johns, Waco Brothers, Four Lost Souls) – vocals/guitars
Matt Gray – (The Darling Buds, Give Me Memphis, Soldier Dolls) – vocals/guitars
Julian Hayman (Charlotte Greig, Give Me Memphis) – vocals/mandolin
Mark “Smartie” – Price (Two Marks & A Frank) – bass
Barkley McKay (The Pretty Things) – keyboards
Erik Stams (The Darling Buds, Burning Ferns) - drums
The story so far..
Jon Langford has been a legend of the music scene since 1977 when he moved to Leeds to attend University and joined the newly formed band, The Mekons. When Jon moved to Chicago in the late 80’s, he needed a musical project to occupy his frequent visits back to his hometown, Newport in South Wales.
He formed The Men Of Gwent as a four piece with his cousin Smartie and old friends Matt Gray and Julian Hayman who would often met up in the cosy back room of the towns 17th Century Murenger pub and began working on songs based on local stories and characters set adrift on the sea of time. An album of Langford covers and a gig for Jon’s 50th birthday was released by local record label, Country Mile Records.
Owners Ray and Chuck were clearly on the same wavelength as the band and this close partnership has remained since those early days. Their first performances were linked to Jon’s Christmas holiday visits home to Newport at TJ’s, the King Billy pub and Le Pub.
The band slowly graduated to bigger venues and festivals including Glastonbury, Green Man, and Isle of Wight and by 2012 the line up had expanded adding Jon’s old pal from Leeds, Barkley McKay (keys) Cardiff based folk singer & story teller, Guto Dafis (accordion) and Erik Stams, a drummer from the Bronx NYC living in Newport!
Their first album ‘The Legend of LL’ included stories about an ex-merchant seaman, John Sicolo, who owned the infamous TJ’s night club, the late 70’s glam wrestler, Adrian Street who hailed from 30 miles north of Newport and a herd of Llamas that had been relocated just a stones throw from Smartie’s house! A second album followed ‘President of Wales’ and this album really cemented the bands joy at pinching any local history theme for a song, the album covered Chartism, voting rights, the Docks Disaster of 1909, a street crooner who passed away on the same day as Alan Vega from Suicide, and a closed down lido near the home of Arthur Machen.
Fast forward to April 2023 where they decamped with engineer Richard Jackson to a studio in Mid- Wales with the aim of recording a fresh batch of songs live with minimal overdubs. Bastardising the Newport crest and motto “By Land and Sea” this album showcases the songwriting talents and vocals of Langford, Hayman and Gray as they explore the strange riches of hometown history, straying further than ever into the spooky Welsh hinterlands.
‘Lost on Land and Sea’ is released on Country Mile Records on 10th November 2023.
SPECIAL guests JON LANGFORD & the BRIGHT SHINERS - a brand new project from across the cruel Atlantic with a new album WHERE IT REALLY STARTS out this spring on TINY GLOBAL PRODUCTIONS
Tickets are on sale now, grab yours! ?️
? https://bit.ly/JonLangford-VinylRelease
Saturday the 11th of May 2024
Jon Langford and the Men of Gwent:
Vinyl Release Party
Le Pub, Newport
£15 / 7.30 / 16+
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Le Pub, 14 High Street,Newport, Wales, United Kingdom
Tickets