SPILL FEATURE: A BEAUTIFUL, CRAZY KIND OF ART FORM – A CONVERSATION WITH JON SPENCER

A BEAUTIFUL, CRAZY KIND OF ART FORM

A CONVERSATION WITH JON SPENCER

Jon Spencer has been playing his own style of music for over 40 years. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion really did explode on the scene in 1991 with their classic album A Reverse Willie Horton. Since then, he has released solo albums, and worked with Heavy Trash, Pussy Galore, Jon Spencer &  the HITmakers, Boss Hog, The Honeymoon Killers, Gibson Brothers, Taxidermy Girls and even R.L. Burnside. His resume is equally impressive when one examines the artists with whom he has worked.  Steve Albini, Beastie Boys, Beck, Bomb the Bass, Jim Dickinson, DJ Shadow,  Einstürzende Neubauten, to name just a few. The Blues Explosion ended in 2022, but since then, he has formed a trio with Kendall Wind and Macky “Spider” Bowman. On June 12th we get a new album, Songs of Personal Loss and Protest, their first since 2024.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jon Spencer, via Zoom from his home in New York State, where he is getting ready for the release of Songs of Personal Loss and Protest and the accompanying tour. We started our conversation talking about the theme of the new album, which seems pretty self-explanatory.

“The theme? Well, I think the title kind of lays it on the table. These are, as a citizen of the United States, terribly fraught times watching everything go to hell in a handbasket. Watching democracy unravel in this country. That is one side of it, just being heartbroken, pissed off, scared and sad about the state of things in my country. So that is the protest part of it. Being compelled to write and sing about it. I’m not a big fan of super political work, but I find myself compelled to write. I don’t know what else to do.”

This is not Spencer’s first time exploring political themes. In 2025, Spender and his trio recorded a single with Deke Anderson. “This is not the first time, we did a single a little more than a year ago, a single with Deke Dickerson, the California guitar player. We recorded in his studio in the Los Angeles area and Deke refers to himself as America’s Roots Rock Superhero, his long-time band was The Untamed Youth, but he plays with a lot of people including Canada’s own Bloodshot Bill. We did a protest single, titled “Come On,” and if you are curious there is a nice video on YouTube you can look up.”

PURCHASE SONGS OF PERSONAL LOSS AND PROTEST

“I’m old now, so there is more and more of dealing with illness and death of friends and family members. So that is part of life and the passage of time, so that’s the personal loss part of the album. But I suppose you could also connect the two. You could talk about the loss of freedoms and liberties in the United States of America, so that could be considered as a personal loss as well.”

And while Spencer is serious about the messages he is trying to get across with this album, it does not mean that he is being heavy handed or pushing his views on listeners. Ultimately, listeners and his fans need to make up their own minds.

“I am not a super big fan of political art or politics in rock ‘n’ roll, and I think it is a delicate thing. I don’t want to be pedantic and harangue people…you got to think this; you got to vote that way. I don’t want to listen to a singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band tell me anything like that. The thing is, I believe if you tie a song to a specific political movement or event or person, that song will not have as much meaning and power as time moves on. But for this album, it was in me and it had to come out. But I tried to be very careful to do it in a way to be more universal, not locked in at a specific time or place and be more engaging and positive. When we are playing shows, at some point during the show we talk about what is going on, politics, and how I am feeling. And those moments I try very hard to not get upset, which is not easy, but I don’t want to harangue people but appeal to one’s better nature. So much of what is going on in the United States of America is cruelty. I don’t get it.”

And Spencer is clear about the role rock ‘n’ roll has played in politics and in changing America in the past. Music has a history of promoting change. “Rock ‘n’ roll is one of the few good things America has given to the world. Rock ‘n’ roll, let’s look at where it came from, Little Richard. He was a black man, drag queen, bisexual, all of these things that people in power in my country today, these are all things that are being marginalized and pushed out. That kind of stuff is what gave us rock ‘n’ roll, it makes life interesting, that is what was great about America. All this crap about making America great…making it a white Christian nation, that is not great to me. That is not where we excelled in the past. Rock ‘n’ roll, in and of itself, you could consider a political act.”

Spencer also acknowledged that there are elements of humour in his work, especially the new album. “The reason I fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll and keep doing it is because there is such a good spring of energy and life. And it is fun and lighthearted. This is what was played in Blues Explosion. There was always a sense of play, this lightness, in what I was doing with not just this band but The Blues Explosion. With The Blues Explosion, just because there is a sense of play, some people get confused and then want to dismiss it as a joke. But for me, rock ‘n’ roll is crazy, a beautiful, crazy kind of art form. Again, look at Little Richard, a beautiful creature and yeah, the guy made me smile. Rock ‘n’ roll makes me smile.”

And a new album also means more touring for Jon Spencer and his band. “We are a working band, we are touring musicians. A good half of this album, we have been playing the songs live for weeks before going into the studio. We played for an audience and road tested. We are designed to work as a live band, so any song we can play in concert. It becomes clear, however, that some songs work better than others. They change and evolve. If you play a song live over a period of weeks, months or years, it will change. So certain things rise to the surface. Some songs stay in the set and some fall by the wayside. A concert and a record are two different things. So, allowances are made and there is forgiveness. I am not trying to recreate one or the other. They are separate experiences.”

Jon Spencer is a working musician. Along with his band he is constantly creating, and he seems to be on the road as much as he is off it. With the new album, Songs of Personal Loss and Protest, he has created one of his strongest albums to date and no doubt the 2026 tour will be well worth catching.

Artist Links

Photo Credits: Skyler Smith