Jon Langford Gets Praise For “Drone Operator”

Newest LP Here Be Monsters Receives Rave Reviews from Pitchfork, SPIN, Fresh Air,

USA Today, and more

Beloved Welsh-born punk rocker/visual artist Jon Langford and his band Skull Orchard released their newest album Here Be Monsters via In De Goot Recordings last month riding a wave of national critical acclaim.  With features byNPR’s Fresh Air, Pitchfork, SPIN, New York Times, LA Times, USA Today, Vice, A.V. Club, Consequence of Sound, Flavorwire, Huffington Post, and many more, Langford won’t go quietly into the beyond just yet.  In their current May 22nd issue, Rolling Stone described album single “Drone Operator” as “a scathing new country-rock jam” and “the best song yet about 21st-century American foreign policy.”

In his interview with RS, Langford stated “I was trying to convey the casualness of [drone warfare].  I just thought someone who did that job might have boundary issues.”

From a previous interview, Langford continued on the subject, saying “The drone operator is going to be one of the iconic symbols of our age.  The toothpaste is out of the tube, and like the atom bomb, it’s all very well when WE’VE got it.  It’s a very negative development, which is an extremely nice way of putting it.”

Best known in the music world for his work in The Mekons and Waco Brothers, Langford has been a leading pioneer in the assimilation of folk/country music into punk rock since the genre’s first evolution over 30 years ago.  Also a renowned and prolific visual artist, Here Be Monsters includes individual pieces of artwork painted by Jon himself that are inspired by each song on the album.  This marks the album as the most complete unification of his dual creative careers.  These paintings are available as individual inserts with physical copies of the CD.

Jon and the band stopped by Pittsburgh’s Yellow Couch Studio during their national tour for a special performance of “Lil’ Ray of Light,” check it out HERE.