Jon Spencer - Pussy Galore / Blues Explosion

I arrive at the venue just as the sound-check is starting. The first person I notice is Jon Spencer who, in his blue jeans and matching little jacket, is dressed in lighter colors than anyone else. Jon Spencer has his hands shoved in his pants pockets, and he moves around the mixing desk with tense shoulders and a nervous manner.

We sit down, Jon Spencer and I, and he apologizes again for keeping me waiting, speaking the whole time in a faint, thin voice, Jon Spencer.

You're in the middle of an endless tour. In fact you live on tour, with the Blues Explosion, with Boss Hog or with Heavy Trash. I wonder if you see it as a way of life or as a necessity.

I love performing, I love playing shows, and that's the reason I'm perpetually on tour and keep working this way. It gives me a lot of satisfaction. I think it's a need I have and that I have to fulfill.

Is it easier being on tour than being at home in New York?

Life on tour is hard, sure. These days I'm battling an intestinal infection and it's really not pleasant being sick while on tour. It's always harder being away from my family, from home. There are definitely some unpleasant aspects to life on tour, but I enjoy every moment I spend on stage and interacting with the audience.

It's been 22 years since Shithaus. How have you changed and how have the times changed?

(smiles) I like to think I've grown up a bit, that I'm wiser. Plenty has definitely changed in 22 years. Obviously I've played with different musicians and for different audiences. I've learned how to communicate with an audience. I've also gotten older and started a family (smiles) and that obviously influences me.

Would you say you've improved as a musician over these 22 years?

(thinks for a long time. A really long time) I don't know. … Travis from the Sadies, who we're touring with now, is an exceptional musician and can do beautiful things with a guitar. I think I'm much more instinctive, more punk.

Have I improved as a musician over the last 22 years? Probably not, I was probably a lot better before!

You introduced delta blues to a generation too young and too Mtv-influenced to know it. Did you see that as a kind of responsibility, or…

No! Both the experience with the Blues Explosion… (he looks at me and pauses for a moment) Maybe you mean the experience with R.L. Burnside (he sees my eyes light up) That was a purely selfish thing: we wanted to play with him and follow him on tour. It was a kind of music we loved enormously at the time. I've always found a lot of inspiration in artists from the past, but I've never thought it was my job to educate a young audience. If I play with someone it's only because I think that person is an extraordinary musician and I want to play with them. Those are personal, selfish reasons, and if someone comes to see my show and discovers other things, I can only be glad about that.

You've always had a strong need to experiment. Blues with the Blues Explosion, rockabilly with Heavy Trash, but also releases like The Experimental Remixes and Acme Plus.

I like experimenting with all kinds of different sounds. I have a lot more fun experimenting than playing traditional music. I like noise and creating new sounds all the time. Experimenting is what I've always and only wanted to do.

Do you think the audience really understood and embraced The Experimental Remixes and Acme Plus?

I wouldn't know. I don't think about these things at all when I'm working on a record, I tend to just please myself.

The videos made for your projects have always been really interesting. I imagine you place a certain importance on music videos.

Not so much anymore. Maybe that was true up until a few years ago, but not now.

You were a film-maker, I would have thought it came naturally to you to oversee your videos in some way.

I pay a lot of attention to image in general. I like videos to be interesting and the CD packaging to be well done. I get involved in all of that, but I'd rather have someone else handle the videos.

More and more importance is being placed on lyrics these days, while you still don't seem to care much about them.

I think the greater importance lies with the music, not the words. I'm convinced that words in rock'n'roll aren't poetry, and I just can't think of them that way.

Let's talk a bit about your collaboration with Eros Ramazzotti. Please, tell me you did it for the money.

At this point Jon turns off the recorder.

I don't want to talk about it.

Wow, that harsh? Come on, off the record.

No, no. Absolutely not. Look, I have absolutely no intention of talking about it.

Can you tell me how Heavy Trash came together?

Matt and I had known each other for many years, and I always really liked his guitar style. At some point we became friends and spent a lot of time together in New York. There was no idea of forming a band, we were just good friends, and the more we talked, the more we played together. The songs came naturally, and recording an album was the next logical step. That's how Heavy Trash came about. I had a genuine urge to play something different: I needed a more rockabilly sound. It's a kind of music that has always fascinated me. Plus, it was a period when I was frustrated with Blues Explosion, and this was a chance to do something different.

Was it a project meant to include live shows from the start?

No. The idea was for me and Matt to meet up in his recording studio. We'd hang out there, talk, play and record. We only started playing live shows long after the first record came out. Before that, we hadn't even thought about it.

Now you're playing together with the Sadies. Is it difficult to play with so many people on stage?

Playing with such a large lineup can be a challenge. Sometimes the sound can get a bit "crowded", but we're very careful to give everyone their own space.

Right now you're very focused on Heavy Trash. What can you tell me about all your other projects?

Not much is happening: the Blues Explosion put out a compilation, "Jukebox Explosion Rockin' Mid-90s Punkers!"… … Honestly, Heavy Trash is keeping me pretty busy these days and I can't think about much else.

But I can give you a scoop: I can tell you that I might do a lot more stuff with Eros. In fact, we might even start a band together! (he looks me in the eye and smiles)

The whole world keeps asking when the "Exile On Main Street" tape will be reissued.

Honestly, I'm not thinking about it at all, but I know Larry at In The Red Records would like to reissue it, he's doing everything he can to convince me.

Come on, you should do it, Jon, absolutely, it's a record that deserves a reissue!

Ah, ok. Then I'll do it.

While promoting "Plastic Fang" you said that was your favorite Blues Explosion record. Do you still consider it that today?

No, not at all. You know, when I'm that involved with a record, when I've just recorded it and I'm promoting it, I have a different perception than the one I get after some time has passed. I need to take some distance to really appreciate and understand a record I've worked hard on.

So what is your favorite Blues Explosion record?

For a long time I thought it was "Extra Width", but now I think my favorite period is the one between "Now I Got Worry" and "Acme". There was so much material written and recorded that we could have made four records instead of two. It was a really productive time: the band had found its own path and we started to change it, and, like you said before, there was a lot of experimentation. I find there are some truly excellent tracks on those two records.

And what's your favorite Pussy Galore record, then?

"Right Now!".

Listen, I'm sorry I didn't answer you sooner, I get the feeling you really wanted an answer. Do you really want to know why I worked with Eros?

YES!!!

(smiling) I did it for the drugs and the girls.

(we burst out laughing) Ah, there you go, so you were all set with Ramazzotti then. Silly me for not thinking of that sooner!

(Milan, January 29, 2008)

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