It was announced over on Thrill Pier this week that Mission of Burma are to play an Irish gig sometime in May, so that's as good an excuse as any to put them up here. MoB came out of the Boston punk scene in the early 1980s but took a much more experimental approach than their contemporaries, their music serving as sort of a bridge between the sounds of Northern English post-punk and the harder American "noise rock" bands.
Due to my young age at the time I discovered them only towards the end of their existence - when they were already planning to bail out, due to Roger Miller's tinnitus - and never got the chance to see them in their prime. They developed something of a legendary status, obviously helped by the fact that they didn't last long enough to make a bad record (or "sell out", as we used to call it), and I remember a tremendous hype around the 1990s reissue of their short catalogue on CD.
MoB reformed a few years ago - Miller now taking to the state in firing-range headphones - and have released a couple records, which I confess I haven't got around to listening to. This is probably due to my inherent suspicion of post-reunion material, which usually turns out to be cack, although in this case it seems to have been pretty well-received. Anyway, if you're in Dublin, get to that gig wherever it is.
This is one of their best-loved (and most-covered) songs, an atypically straightforward punk track from their classic 1982 album Vs.
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