He must be either mad or something of a genius to head out on tour and play his entire, new solo album, only released a day earlier. Former Blues Explosion/Heavy Trash/Pussy Galore frontman, Jon Spencer, may be a touch of both but whatever he is, he’s never been safe or boring.
His latest album, Sing The Hits is as far removed from commercial as you can get but all the better for it and pretty much the whole album was aired over the course of the show with Fake, I Got The Hits and album standout, Ghost grabbing the attention.
Spencer’s biting, fuzzed up riffs along with his twisted Elvis-esq vocals create a Rock’n’Roll firestorm. His take on the Blues shaking convention to its core and totally debunking the myth that Blues has hasn’t progressed since Robert Johnson sold his soul at Mississippi’s Devil’s Crossroads. It’s fresh, energetic and bloody thrilling.
Convention also goes out of the window with his band. Spencer handles guitar and vocals, and there’s a drummer and keyboard player and someone that can only be described as an industrial percussionist playing what appears to be part of a car shell with springs and sheet metal added for variety and all hit with implements including a hammer. Bizarre but utterly transfixing.
A dapper looking Spencer couldn’t ignore his past with Shirt Jac from his Blues Explosion Days eliciting a rabid crowd response as did Pussy Galore’s New Breed.
Spencer handed the microphone over to keyboardist, Sam Coomes for a cover of his former band Quasi’s, Tough Times In Plastic Land and Bo Diddley’s classic Roadrunner received the Spencer makeover and formed the basis of a call and response with the crowd.
It was all over within an hour in a short, sharp Rock ‘n’ Roll smash and grab. Brilliant.
Review and Photos By Mick Burgess
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