Music
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion takes a look back on the first ten years
by Michael Joffe
March 16, 2010
Although not much has been heard from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in the past six to seven years, they are about to re-enter the indie-rock-blues-punk limelight in a huge way. We chatted with Jon Spencer by phone about reissuing older material and what the band has planned next.
Although not much has been heard from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in the past six to seven years, they are about to re-enter the indie-rock-blues-punk limelight in a huge way. Alongside their new 22-track retrospective Dirty Shirt Rock N Roll: The First Ten Years, due to hit stores at the end of March, the group has teamed up with archival specialists Shout Factory to reissue some of their most acclaimed albums including Orange, Now I Got Worry and ACME.
The group has lain fairly low since their last studio album, Damage was released in 2004. Spencer says even though the Blues Explosion was not the primary focus for any of the members of the trio, they each found ways to keep themselves occupied.
“The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion hasn’t been up to a whole lot since 2004,” Spencer admits via phone from New York City.
While Spencer has kept himself busy with a group called Heavy Trash, band mates Judah Bauer and Russell Simins have also found other projects playing with Cat Power and Harper Simon respectively. According to Spencer, the trio had long been considering reissuing their catalogue for quite some time and they felt now was the appropriate time.
“All of these records have gone out of print and we figured it was a good time to make them available again,” he said. “They are good records and we feel as though people could still enjoy them and even maybe learn something from them.”
For those fans that could never quite get enough via their original albums, you will have a pleasant surprise coming to you. Spencer said each of the upcoming Blues Explosion reissues will be loaded with bonus material.
“All of these reissues are going to be packed full; some might even end up being two-disc packages to help accommodate the extra material,” he said. “We are also creating new booklets to go along with each of the reissues that will contain liner notes as well as photographs.”
Spencer said, with the exception Orange, the group consistently recorded almost two album’s worth of material for every one they released. He said the bonus material to be featured on the upcoming releases will be comprised of live tracks, b-sides and outtakes.
So with this renewed activity in the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion camp, is the band looking to become a full-time gig for its members once again?
“We are doing some shows this spring, summer and into the fall as well, but are more interested in doing short trips right now than booking a full blown tour,” Spencer said. “We’re going to head out and test the waters, see how things go and take things from there.”
For more details about the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion catalogue, head over to www.shoutfactory.com.
By Ken Kelley
