Over at The Awl, I have a Q&A with the lovely and hilarious Jon Langford. It was nervewracking, I must admit, because even though he’s certainly one of the most easygoing interview subjects I still felt like a total jackass.

Is there any sort of Mekons manifesto in 2011?

Not that you’d write down. But I think there’s a cloud of mass delusion that this is actually worth doing. [laughs]

I think sometimes, a lot of times in the Mekons’ career, the motivation, more than anything else, seemed to be like a big fuck-off to the world: “I will not be ground down into dust.”

Clearly, the longevity of the band must have something to do with that.

Yeah, I think it’s a sort of persistence. It hasn’t been financially rewarding for anyone.