Biography
The Ron Johnson roster stood out as particularly invigorating during the New Musical Express / ICA Rock Week and its associated C86 cassette compilation. Emerging from this Manchester imprint were several frenetic guitar ensembles drawing primarily from the Fall and Captain Beefheart. Among them were the Mackenzies. Their contribution to C86, titled ‘Big Jim (There’s No Pubs In Heaven)’, began with an eccentric thrash reminiscent of the Fire Engines before shifting into a militant jazz funk groove and then reverting. Comparable elements surfaced on ‘New Breed’, issued in April 1986, as well as on the outstanding ‘Mealy Mouths’ released the next February. Yet the Mackenzies did not build upon this momentum, with their sole subsequent output being a February 1988 remix of ‘Mealy Mouths’.