Unraveling The McKenzies Breakup Mystery (Well, Kind of…)

Great though it was, the Free Press Summerfest brought with it a couple of bad, bad pieces of bad news for Houston music-scene fans.

I’ve already moaned about Joe Mathlete‘s announcement that The Mathletes won’t be doing any shows for the forseeable future, but I missed the set from The McKenzies early on Day 2 and their announcement that they, too, would be breaking up after their next show on August 29th at Mango’s.

I have to say, I’m bummed as hell about this. The McKenzies have been utterly awesome every time I’ve seen ’em, a veritable ball of energy up on the stage as they cranked through their wickedly sharp, sarcastic brand of guitars-and-keys indie-pop; I’d really, truly hoped they’d stick around a good long time.

With depression setting in, I pestered frontman/guitarist Miguel with a handful of panicky questions about the seemingly sudden news…

SCR: What the heck happened? I thought you guys were riding high, and then the announcement at Summerfest; has this been coming for a while?
Miguel: Well, we had decided to call it before the Summerfest. I wanted to wait ’til afterwards. It was something we talked about maybe a few weeks before the fest. It’s been really hard to get together for practice and to write, due to everyone’s hectic schedules.

Is everybody still on speaking terms? I hope?
Yes, everyone is still on speaking terms. We’re all really good friends. I can’t imagine us not talking to each other. It was a mutual decision.

I don’t suppose there are any in-the-can new McKenzies track you’re planning on releasing posthumously, Teenage Kicks-style?
Well, the funny thing is that we started recording some new tracks maybe one or so months ago. We were going to release a D.I.Y. sort of demo/EP before the end of the year. We haven’t talked about what we’re going to do with it.

What’s next? Are y’all already moving on to other things, or is this a “timeout” sort of breakup?
What’s next? We don’t really now yet. No one is moving on to anything new as of right now. Guess we’re playing it by ear.

And last but definitely not least: is there anything I and/or the Houston scene in general can do to change your collective mind? Please?
I really dont know how to answer that last question. But thanks so much for your concern, Jeremy! I hope to see you at our last show, man!

Ah, damn. So, it sounds like a reunion’s not going to be in the cards, unfortunately. Keep yr fingers crossed, though — maybe they’ll release the new stuff somehow before they drift off into The Great Beyond…