Hell Or High Water

Any self-respecting alcoholic will tell you that eight years is a long time between drinks. When it marks the time between musical outputs for a band, you can make a similar assumption that they've either turned their back on the medium for good, or the creative well has run dry. Then again, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion aren't just any band. They haven't been sitting idle since releasing Damage back in 2004, the trio having played for the best part of the last five years.

The New York band rectified this situation last year, coming up with tenth album Meat + Bone. The record doesn't beat around the bush or present an alternative version of what has made Jon Spencer Blues Explosion such a staple on the rock landscape, with all the tropes present and accounted for. There's the dual guitar crunch on Black Mold; there's the harmonica and Elvis swagger on Bag Of Bones. These steadfast elements are what have made JSBX so electric over a 20-year career. Yet there's an urgency that feels like a reinvigoration and Spencer maintains that when the three of them – Judah Bauer and Russell Simins round out the outfit – come into their own, it's always about the three of them jamming, and everything else becomes secondary.

“Before we make any album, we don't really have any plans – it's not as if we draw up some plans of attack or we set a schedule or routine,” Spencer states. “The only thing we discussed before starting on Meat + Bone is something we set quite early on, and that was to not invite any guests to come record with us and fight on on our own. As far as the final shape of the record, the final sequence of songs, that's always been the interesting part, because we always write and record all of our songs, we've always done that. So nothing comes together until they've all been mixed. There have been songs that I thought were brilliant yet when listening to them next to the other sessions, they just paled in comparison. So none of this was openly discussed (for the new album), but I believe that because we're so happy and having a good time playing together, and we had done all of these reissues of our back catalogue in 2010, that I think that review of our history – y'know, where we've been and what we've done in the last 20 years – it gave us a real shot in the arm.  We felt that we could do it all ourselves, we knew what we were doing.”

One of the underlying reasons that JSBX's music still resonates is the simple fact that most of their records have a timeless quality, a fact that the recent reissues have made abundantly clear.

“My favourite records are the ones that are a little puzzling in a way, as in they stand outside of time,” Spencer enthuses. “There are plenty of records, plenty of bands that become very of its time when you look back at them; they're tied to a scene, to a moment in musical history. My favourite ones have always felt like they fell like a rock from outer space, and it's been something that I always hoped I'd achieve when I made an album. There's no sure way of knowing if you've done that or not until years later, when you put it on and think that it could have been made the day before. I think the reissues have served a pretty good reminder that we do all right.”

Spencer's output in other bands such as Pussy Galore and Boss Hog certainly helped to define his iconic vocal delivery and ability to craft a melody without sacrificing the unadulterated intensity of a wailing guitar, all the while holding centre stage with ample doses of raw charisma. Yet while observers wonder how such a level of wanton energy can be maintained, Spencer stresses that there's no other conceivable method for them to do what they do best.

“The dynamic is what's most important, and whatever you do, you never want to change that. Whatever exists between the members of a band, that's it, that's the key ingredient. It's the combination of these three musicians, these three personalities, and for Explosion there's no substitution. There may've been a different way we did things in the past, but I honestly don't remember. I struggle to remember what happened a year ago let alone ten years. For us it's very important that we encourage the listener and the concert-goer to let their hair down, to experience something new, to create a party vibe. But for us it's work, it's very hard work, but it's also the one thing we're all passionate about. It never stops being incredibly exciting, and I think that it's still very true for us. If we were forcing ourselves to go through with it, you would tell. The records wouldn't sound any good, the performances wouldn't be any good.”

Spencer is adamant that the band are in the strongest position they've ever been, with the reissues and the strength of Meat + Bone bringing new additions to an already fervent fanbase.

“I'm really appreciative of the people that come to our shows, so I always make an effort to come out and say hello to them after shows,” he smiles. “There are always people that tell me that they saw us in '99, or '02, or '95, and will proceed to tell me in detail about the performance, which will have something that I invariably won't remember having happened. But there have been more and more people coming up and saying that this was their first Explosion show, and they're just as gracious and excited as the long-term fans. I like to hang out with both, because it's amazing that anyone comes out to see what we do.”

Spencer is excited to make it to Australia again after the northern leg of their last tour was affected by the tragic floods of early-2011. In fact it was the damage caused by a natural disaster closer to home that brought about the genesis of album opener Black Mold.

“We often confuse people because of our name; they think we are a blues band, or are making fun of blues,” Spencer laughs. “But that couldn't be farther from the truth. We're a rock'n'roll band who loves music. Black Mold is about a storm, specifically Hurricane Irene that hit New York (in 2011), and specifically about some records that were damaged. In a sense it's a classic blues song – it's about bad weather, it's about high water rising – but it's a very Explosion song too, because for the lack of a better word it's about our fandom or geekdom when it comes to music. People were losing a lot more, but having some vinyl LPs that were ruined, whilst not life-or-death, was heartbreaking to us.”

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 7 March – The Zoo, Brisbane
Friday 8 March – The Northern, Byron Bay
Saturday 9 March – The Hi-Fi, Sydney
Sunday 10 March – Golden Plains, Meredith
Tuesday 12 March – Astor, Perth (with Dinosaur Jr)
Thursday 14 March – Fowlers Live!, Adelaide
Friday 15 March – The Espy, Melbourne
Saturday 16 March – Corner Hotel, Melbourne