street roots
Nov. 9, 2012
BAUER, from page 8
prepared. Maybe we will find out
otherwise. It doesn’t matter if you’re
homeless or you’re housed, if you’re in the
flood zone, you need to get out. They’ll
come and get you. You see buses going
around that say, “Shelter Bus.” I don’t
know where the shelters are. One of them
is at The Armory (Bedford-Atlantic Armory
Shelter).
I went down and pulled my guitar out of
the basement we’ve been playing in for 20
years. Jon’s been down there even longer.
Jon’s been down there since the beginning
of Rock and Roll, I think. We’ll just get
another song out of it, right? We’re topical
songwriters. We’re like Pete Seeger with a
Knife.
S.Z. I guess, in light o f Hurricane
S.Z.: There is an element o f confrontation
in the music that the band puts out. W hat’s
that all about?
J.B.: Well, there’s a thing that happened
in music in the late 70s - it was called
Punk Rock. You’d be surprised at how
many people — it just passed them by and
they didn’t even hear about it. That was
when music was more of a weapon to sort
of rile things up. And kind of like early hip
hop was, like N.W.A. and Public Enemy
and stuff like that. Music is not like a
soundtrack. It’s supposed to make
everything in the room stop and you go,
“What the hell was that?” I just grew up
that way. So did Jon and Russell. That’s
something we have in common - the anti
music aspect of things.
Katrina, it is better to be prepared.
S.Z.: You ju st grew up that way, so pre-
J.B.: I don’t know. It seems like
everything we do in the future, we do
because we want to keep our insurance
rate down. We (Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion) had to get insurance, back in
the day - when we were really rowdy. Stuff
used to go flying. We had to get insurance.
I don’t throw shit at people anymore
though.
S.Z.: How did you come to be a part o f the
band?
J.B.: New York’s a small town, or at
Punk. What was influencing you in your
home life?
J.B.: My dad, he listens to jazz and he’s
an artist. My mom likes Prince. That’s
what she was in to. When I was young and
stupid like everybody else, I was into
Duran Duran and Culture Club and all that
shit, because I liked the clothes. But that
didn’t last very long. I got into the whole
punk hardcore (scene). I was just 15. But
yes, there are pictures of me wearing
parachute pants, sunglasses on the strap,
and all that crap.
least it was back then. So if you’re in the
scene you kind of run into the same
people, so I was playing in a band with
Russell (Simins) and he started playing
with the Honeymoon Killers ,which is a
local band here and Jon was in that band. I
was a Pussy Galore fan among other
bands. I talked Russell into hooking me up
with Jon (Spencer) and we started playing.
you have Russell Simins as drummer, that
just kind of fills the gap. The first week we
S.Z.: “Meat and Bone, ” released in early
started playing we wrote m ore songs than
I can remember. We just kind of took off.
September, is the band’s first studio work to
p u t out after an eightyear hiatus. Where did
the motivation for “Meat and Bone” come
from?
J.B.: It was just pent up. A release was
required — an explosive release. When
we’re on tour we sort of put together
songs ... to keep things interesting, you
know? You can’t just play the songs that
you have. You want to keep coming up with
new things. In July of last year we started
getting together and started focusing on
songs to go into the studio. It’s a pretty
organic process. It was a pretty concise
amount of time. We spent a lot of time
writing and we didn’t spend a lot of time
recording. It came together pretty quick.
S.Z.: Do you guys write together?
J.B.: Yeah. It’s a band. Don’t be fooled.
didn’t come up with the name. My priority
back then was getting high. But as far as
what a band name was, I didn’t really care
about that. If I had been sober, maybe I
would have had a different opinion.
S.Z.: I was always an Andy Taylor fan,
myself. Speaking o f bass players, let’s talk
about the fact that there is no bass in the
band.
J.B.: That’s just convenience. I think if
That was it. From our reference point a
bass-less band wasn’t a hurdle to get over
conceptually. It was also the whole
experimental scene. Something had to be
fucked up in the beginning anyway. You
couldn’t have everything normal. It worked
out.
I’m cleaning something off the seat. I
hope it’s chocolate and not shit. But
anyway, that’s what I’m doing.
S.Z.: There is a fine line between chocolate
and shit. Good luck with that. Back to the
topic o f being controversial. The name o f the
band has been confrontational itself. The Jon
Spencer Blues Explosion, but really your
music is a combination o f punk, dirty rock,
blues and soul music.
J.B.: Originally we were kind of an art
punk band. Somewhere along the line we
became more of a rock ‘n’ roll band. I
S.Z.: Are you sober now?
J.B.: Yeah.
S.Z.: A recording the band made in
Mississippi in 1996 with R.L. Burnside of
his tune, “Going Down South, ” is featured on
a new album featured in a December issue of
Mojo Magazine. What was it like to work
and mentor with R.L.?
J.B.: I always loved blues, but I didn’t
ever think I was going to try to play it.
After hanging out with R.L. and sort of
getting the blues in an authentic manner, I
was just soaking it up.
He was kind of a rascal - a lot of fun.
But he also cares a lot about the blues and
he definitely had an impulse to pass it on
to anyone who would take it seriously. He
really had his own style, his own sound.
And he had some really good poetry.
Everybody clicked with R.L. He has so
much soul, as a person..He turned me
onto his raunchy stories and his tunings. I
probably would have picked it up anyway,
but it was a lot more fun and quicker
getting it from him. Kenny Brown too. He
was a little more fluent in explaining what
was going on with the tunings and stuff.
R.L. would just play it on the guitar, then
hand you the guitar.
I’m sweeping the floor, is that OK?
S.Z.: Go for it.
J.B.: I’m a multi-tasker.
S.Z.: You once held a job as the caretaker
Untitled
By Deborah Akers
I was not safe
walking home from school.
I was not safe
waiting for a bus.
I was not safe
working at a job.
I was not safe
minding my own business.
I was not safe
speaking my own mind.
I was not safe
with family, friends, or strangers.
So, do not ask me
what is to be safe.
Do not ask me
because I do not know.
Rootie’s Day Out
By Ron Sanford
Rootie’s dreams are more obscure than
We can realize
Only Rootie truly understands that
dormant
Faculty of his soul
After a tough day he grants a blank
Check to his own sub-conscious mind.
a t a cemetery. You were a grave digger.
Interesting day job. Did the work give you
any insights into life?
J.B.: It was a good metaphor in a way.
Just having to do physical labor all day kind
of helped me get clean off the drugs. It
helped me to get out of my head and my
neuroses. It was kind of like a reboot, I
guess. It wasn’t a long run. I was there for
three or four months. It was hard work,
but it was good.
S.Z.: Explosions are notoriously fast lived
and impact everything around them. Yet, the
Blues Explosion has stood the test of time.
Where do you see the band going from here?
J.B.: It’s like Bob Dylan. As long as he
doesn’t do a bad record, I’m happy. So
maybe that’s good enough at this point.
sue@streetroots. org
While enclosed within the walls of the SR
Sanctuary he envisions life abroad
Only Rootie is privy to the deep,
dark secrets
Of his own making
Chasing birds, climbing trees, scouring the
Earth for unbridled mischief.
At last Rootie opens his mouth to divulge
A bountiful treasure hunt
Within the confines
of an otherwise unmonitored world
“I have all I could ever want or need inside
The hallowed Street Roots office,” he says.
There is an exception to this repetitious
Life imprisoned physically at home
He dreams of finding a friend one day,
A tomcat just as cute as he
One day these contrived wishes will find
Their way outside so we can all see.