CULT HEROES
“HE CHANGED the way I thought about songs and singing,” Thom Yorke remarked of Mark Mulcahy, whilst Nick Hornby devoted a chapter to the man from Connecticut in his 2002 book 31 Songs. But of all those to endorse this compelling, golden-throated stor yteller, the most unexpected must be BBC TV’s politics weekly The Andrew Marr Show, who flew over the re-for med Mulcahy-fronted Miracle Legion in 2016.
“They cancelled our appearance because of Brexit!” Mulcahy guffaws. “But they said they’d still film us, and broadcast it later – but there we were, having breakfast with Boris Johnson… a total nutso.”
The scenario was another near debacle for the band, whose bristling brand of collegiate jangle had been undermined by line-up shifts, label bankr uptcies and comparisons to the more bankable R.E.M. “It wasn’t the worst thing,” says Mulcahy. “But you know, they say a lot of bands sound like The Beatles, but they mean The Kinks.”
Forming in 1983, Miracle Legion hung on for 10 years before guitarist Ray Neal left. Mulcahy and their second rhythm section formed Polaris, ostensibly to write music for the US cable show The Adventures Of Pete & Pete (written by two hardcore Legion fans), which – of course – was prematurely cancelled.
Starting his own label Mezzotint, Mulcahy then embarked on a string of superb solo LPs in 1997, but when his wife Melissa died in 2008, raising their three-year-old twins took priority. The tribute
LP Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy (Thom Yorke and Michael Stipe contributed) helped, before he re-emerged in 2012 with a Polaris reunion and 2013 LP
Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You, named after a note left out by his daughter.
Adding Neal to the Polaris trio led to the re-for med Miracle Legion’s US and (following the Marr slot) UK tours. “Playing with those guys is like driving a Cadillac,” Mulcahy notes. “They were such joyful shows.”
Instead of a new Legion album, Mulcahy released two more solo sets. Next up is the Covid-delayed album
Woodstock, recorded in 2021 with Connecticut guitarist Chris Harford under the name Birdfeeder (“I love birds,” Mulcahy says. “I fed some woodpeckers just before you called!”). Another Miracle Legion US mini-tour is scheduled for June, in time for a remix of their ’87 fullleng
