“I guess I’m fine with just ok,” The Meeks’ bandleader Mike Donovan gulps. This sentiment, sung despite the fact that he and his bandmates (John King, Liam McCarthy, and Ava Mullen) are clearly trying to be anything but, sits at the center of their somewhat ridiculous goal. The Meeks aim — through efforts earnest, diligent, and often silly — to reframe the idea of “just ok” as a new kind of perfection: driven by the simplicity of pop structures, colored with punk-rock grit, rooted in a rich history of artists (The Verlaines, The Replacements, Fred Thomas, and The Olivia Tremor Control, among many others) who’ve themselves achieved this kind of imperfect imperfection.
It's a goal they hope comes across in the sound of their dynamic live set, crafted in rooms across the city, and on their forthcoming studio LP, People Don’t Talk, which arrives early 2024.