There comes a time when nothing else but a brain-hammering session with Pussy Galore‘s 1989 album Dial M For Motherfucker will do. And not just to clear the house of your so-called friends who’ve been sloshing cheap wine on your expensive new carpet all night. (Although it might work for that, too.) Jon Spencer, the man who shocked and awed the world with the noisiest band in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, went on to form three more exhilarating combos: Boss Hog (with his wife Cristina Martinez), Heavy Trash (his most recent band) and, of course, the stunning Blues Explosion, whose recent career-spanning compendium, Dirty Shirt Rock ‘N’ Roll (Majordomo), tells you plenty about the DNA of the man in charge. (The label is reissuing expanded versions of out-of-print Blues Explosion albums Now I Got Worry and Controversial Negro this week.) Spencer is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.
Spencer: I spend a lot of time in Spain because my wife’s mother is Spanish. Lot of relatives. I was married in Spain, toured a lot in Spain. But recently, I’ve been playing more and more in Portugal, even though it’s almost like a part of Spain, tucked into a corner. But it’s a very different place, a different vibe. A lot of the cities are old and funky and relatively untouched. There are a lot of beautiful little streets, and I love the shops. All the signs seem to be from the ’60s and ’70s. Even if they’re newer, they have this old feel to them. You go to London, Amsterdam or Berlin, you get the feeling this storefront was totally redone last year. Nothing wrong with that, but in Porto, even the fonts they use on the signs are things you never see anywhere else. The display windows, even in a plumbing shop, will have this incredibly elaborate and intricate display of faucets totally crammed in there. One of my favorites is the hardware store around the corner, Plano B, and the window has nothing but casters, wheels you put on the bottom of something. And that’s it, not like it has this amazing light show. It’s so thoroughly laid out and so full of casters. OK, I’m not looking to buy casters, but it’s just so great to see that, compared to, you know, a Starbucks.
Video after the jump.
