JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION

August 2, 2011 – at Gebäude 9, Köln, Germany

A Stellar Performance – One of Their Best to Date – New York’s Trio of Rock Originals

"On stage and in the studio, Jon Spencer has destroyed and rebuilt American roots music with such ferocity and wild abandon that it’s hard to believe its been twenty years."

 "Rock `n´ Roll is sex music. It should be crazy and a little dangerous as well, and definitely full of life and bigger than life”.    Jon Spencer

  “The shows have been amazing, we’ve had a string of knock outs. It feels so good to be blowing minds with the blues explosion again. Judah Bauer, Russell Simins and myself (Jon Spencer) are on a roll and moving into the future, got a trick bag of new tunes, can’t wait to whip them on the people!”

Jon Spencer – July 2011

Out of Context:

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are the kings of damaged, deranged and dangerous rock and roll. Rock and Roll so primal that it obviates the need for literate touch stones.

From All Music Guide: Declared, “For ten years Jon Spencer Blues Explosion gave Indie rock, grunge and everything that came after a gigantic, righteous middle finger”.

 Advent – Punk – Revolutionary – Gut Busting Grooves – that is the Blues Explosion.

 John Spencer, the hero and former leader of “Scuzz Rock Band” Pussy Galore for five years.

 They’re like Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo – Thorston Moore – Jon’s other favourite, Link Wray and his instrumental song from 1958 “Rumble” which was banned from radio play for The Blues Explosion. 

They are funky and menacing – a wicked mutation of classic four on the floor rock tunes – the music is sloppy, in the same way that James Brown is sloppy, when he tells instructs the band to “take it to the bridge”. Unbridled emotion and barely controlled rage.

 Jon Spencer sounds like a Bible Thumping Preacher From Hell, or like a Jerry Lee Lewis if his balls were truly on fire. All this while Judah Bauer and Russel Simins keep everything tight and frantic.  

 Orange – The Blues Explosion’s acknowledged masterpiece, a primer in the art of being flashy without being gaudy. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion took that old time religion and hit it with high-powered microwaves. They cooked the blues from the inside out, radiating that shit until you had to clean it off the walls.

 Jon Spencer – is the meticulous artists who pays attention to every detail in crafting a astonishingly complex and very personal records. Out of control rock and roll, layers of rock’s core elements. Bold – Punk – Blues – Pioneers. 

Dave’s Thoughts:

I fucking dare you to put a label on this band. I double dog dare you to get into, whatever it is that they’re into. They’re an acquired taste. Approach their music and style as you would a Picasso or a Jackson Pollock painting. On the experimental turf, they follow the groove of 1967’s “Love Da Capo” or 1968’s Vanilla Fudge “The Beat Goes On”. Their canvas is in the grooves and either you get their art, unique obscure energy or you just can’t relate, no biggie.

They’re not everyone’s cup of tea. If you can dig “Beck with two turn tables and a microphone” this band might just suit your needs.

Out of chaos and into some kind order you say, not a fucking chance. Their energy is derived from anarchy, punk rebellion and a taste for revolution. They dabble in the blues just for fun and as a diversion. The blues here is an obnoxious sideshow barker. Just like a Pollock painting, looking exactly like a platter of spaghetti, or Jon Spencer’s tangled, sweaty long hair from a few years back – there’s a constant urge to run a brush through the entire mess just to make it linear and orderly….but they thrive on the non-linear approach to reach their artistic goals and personal fixations. Kick out the jams mother-fuckers is their unspoken mantra!!!

Their Audience:

Are as diverse, complex and complicated as the band they’ve come to see. They are converts, a loyal lot of extremes. Women in dresses, classy sluts in sneakers, with no laces.

Biker bitches, backless / frontless gowns covered head to toe with tattoos. Standing next to their men with no teeth, practicing alcoholics and dog breath fog.

There’s a ten year old boy wearing a ski hat in the August heat, we smile at one another, knowing why we’re hanging out in the bar and not in the concert hall. Too loud, too crowded uncomfortable. Women floating by, in shock when slipping on the floor, men staggering to the toilet, some forgetting how to find their way back to the stage.

I talked with a woman from Columbia, a housewife, married five years, 30 years old, speaks a little English, a little German and is half drunk. Her husband likes the band, my Brigitte likes the band, so this woman and I came out of love for our mates. As she talks, I listen and watch the crowd here. Most of the people making up the audience have roughly a 120 to 180 I.Q. The ones in the bar area, are functioning with the mental agility of a very small soap dish, and that’s on a good day – and his isn’t a good day! I’m surrounded by Neanderfucks all night long. On the muted television, behind the bar, is Laurel and Hardy in black / white and Yosemite Sam cartoons for relief.   

Revolving Impressions:

The warm-up band was too loud, and their music was not pleasing many, as a majority of people returned to the bar area. All through the evening, it was the equivalent of a mini ocean with tide rising and reseeding the entire time. From 25 to 100 people coming and going always. The bar did a stupendous business and it never stopped serving. The merchandise area was in competition with the bar, raking in the profits almost every minute. Lines converged from both places right in front of my table. CD’s – Tee-Shirts – Record Albums – flying off the shelves like hotcakes.

Even with all the commotion going on, everyone there – audience, crowd and staff were excellent, polite and very friendly.

Backstage Area:

We hung out in the bar after the show, waiting for the band to enter, but only Russell Simins, the drummer appeared. After a few photos with him and Brigitte, she and I decided to head home.

We walked about 25 feet and there, just coming out of the backstage door was Jon Spencer giving autographs to a handful of loyal fans, Russell invited us to join him inside, and with him was guitarist Judah Bauer sitting at a long table. Russell offered up drinks and food, very polite and welcomed, but thank you, no, we had a feast waiting in our car. Luckily for me, we all come from New York, and have the gift to gab, so together there was no worry of the uncomfortable / embarrassing  pregnant pause – conversation flowed.

The topic, of course was music, and this is where the topic got a little touchy. These guys come out of the Punk-Rock scene, and are many years younger than Brigitte and I. I talk about Vanilla Fudge, Ten Years After and Cactus – they talk, The Stooges,  MC5, Television  Sex Pistols. Judah doesn’t like Led Zeppelin or The Beatles. He tells me, “The Beatles have no sex-appeal” – I quickly reply with, yea, but they all have charisma – to which he says, yes, but as I said no sex-appeal.

We are after all strangers, and we have a short amount of time to establish a quick acquaintance. Russel knows his shit about music as well, to which we have an excellent time comparing notes. We discuss the WHO as I saw them exactly 40 years ago this exact night. August 2, 1971 – August 2, 2011

We discuss the Rolling Stones and how unlike The Beatles are so earthy and for the common man, soaked in blues in their beginning and now have become something else entirely, and to me almost a vaudeville act on review.

I didn’t ask them about Jon Spencer as he was right there, Jon looking exhausted and not wanting to be bothered, so I didn’t. I learned about their music by viewing their past and their likes and dislikes. Their passion and pride comes from being progressive rebels, experimenters. Having been together for twenty years now, they have to be dedicated and believe in what they’re doing to stay tight and committed.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Experimental Remixes Extended Playing
Is a two CD-SET…that we bought at the concert, along with Live In Tucson Arizona.
With a song titled “Fuck Shit Up” how can you go wrong!

In Conclusion:

Brigitte remains a fan of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. As for me, I don’t like everything they do, but I support their right and endurance to keep on doing it. I hear many difference influences in their playing, but the style and interpretation is every bit theirs.  They are non-linier in their approach if I want run of the mill loud Rock `N´ Roll of a linier nature, I have that elsewhere in my collection. But during those times that I want something different, really different like Frank Zappa, Beck, Lenny Bruce or The Fugs….this is the band to slip into your cd  player right before an evening with John Valby.

Jon Spencer is a great entertainer, Russell and Judah great musicians – for this similar Ram-Jam-Black-Betty.  Together they’re an insane combination – you decide.