'We Wanted To Entertain': Jon Spencer On 25 Years In New York

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

A lot of times when we interview musicians, they're in a studio, in a place like New York, while we're here in Culver City. We can't see them, but we can hear everything, like when punk rock legend Jon Spencer's shirt is rustling while he's talking.

Yeah, I can just sort of hear your clothes. I know that's crazy. It sounds nitpicky, but...

JON SPENCER: I don't really want to take off my clothes. I am on the radio, but...

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

(Laughter).

I didn't necessarily ask Jon Spencer to take off his clothes, but...

SPENCER: I could strip down to my undershirt.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) No, it's fine.

SPENCER: I'll take it off. I'll do it my...

MCEVERS: No (laughter).

SPENCER: Hang on.

MCEVERS: He did.

(Laughter) This is great. Have you now disrobed?

SPENCER: I'm in the raw, yeah.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) OK.

Jon Spencer. He's a wild man on stage and off.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK ALBUM, "FREEDOM TOWER: NO WAVE DANCE PARTY 2015")

THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) Here we go now...

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's new album is all about New York City. It's called "Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015."

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK ALBUM, "FREEDOM TOWER: NO WAVE DANCE PARTY 2015")

THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) East Fulton Street and Houston, too - everybody know New York City, that's the home of the blues, subway car, I'm in a taxicab. Got your pocket full of money, keeping the bloom in the bag, that's all right...

MCEVERS: The band figured it was time to pay respect...

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK ALBUM, "FREEDOM TOWER: NO WAVE DANCE PARTY 2015")

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) That's what I do...

MCEVERS: ...To the city they've lived in for almost 25 years.

SPENCER: It's not an easy place to live, now more than ever. But it was a place certainly that I fell in love with a long time ago - not just because it's this crazy, chaotic place with big, scary buildings and people rushing around, but mainly for the art, the culture and especially the music. And the Blues Explosion has been heavily influenced by a lot of the groups that have come out of the city, in particular the punk rock, rock 'n' roll - and of course, the no-wave bands.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK ALBUM, "FREEDOM TOWER: NO WAVE DANCE PARTY 2015")

THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) Let's go. I'm standing here on the West Side Highway, for me the mind is over-fried. Got to throw a freak-out on (unintelligible) and out of luck.

MCEVERS: I'm wondering if this record in some ways is a love note to a city that no longer exists. I mean, you kind of came up from kind of, you know, the down-and-dirty Lower East Side. Are you sort of pining for an old, gritty New York on this record?

SPENCER: Not really. I mean, I'm not - I'm not 20 years old anymore. I'm - you know, the city's changed a lot, but I've changed a lot as well. So I don't mean this record to be a nostalgia trip. I don't mean it to be a complaint that, you know, the city's not the same as it used to be and that's a terrible thing. Of course, there are things about the New York City from 20, 30 years ago that I miss, most definitely. But, you know, no way do I want to turn back the clock.

MCEVERS: Yeah. I mean, do you feel like a city makes a musician who he is? You know, I mean, like, you know, could Lou Reed have happened anywhere else other than New York City? I mean, do you think New York City is - is in you?

SPENCER: Yes, I think so. And I guess that's the - part of the point we are trying to make with this album. We're trying to pay respect to our home and to the great artists that have come before us and have paved the way and that have lived here, you know, in whose, you know, footsteps we're walking.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TALES OF THE OLD NEW YORK: THE ROCK BOX")

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) I got rock bites, baby, down in New York City.

MCEVERS: There's a song here that's subtitled "Rock Box." And when we saw that, we immediately thought of Run-D.M.C. from Queens, N.Y. They had a song with the same name on their first album. Is this an homage to Run-D.M.C?

SPENCER: No, I mean, I think it's just - the song is not about Run-D.M.C. The song is about CBGB's, the old punk rock venue. And it - (laughter) it just - "Rock Box" seemed to me to describe this punk rock club. The fact that there is also this - you get an extra little reference to the great Run-D.M.C., I have no problem with that.

MCEVERS: CBGB's now sadly closed.

SPENCER: Now it's the John Varvatos store.

MCEVERS: New New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TALES OF THE OLD NEW YORK: THE ROCK BOX")

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) Everybody wants just a little bit more, but you've got to give money just to get in the door. Don't you fret, now follow me because we're going to sneak in through the back alley.

MCEVERS: I love that when I'm listening to this song "Do The Get Down," you basically call me a turkey neck.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DO THE GET DOWN")

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) Somebody screens, somebody stomped their feet, somebody got this paws on this crazy beat. I will find out and then collect. Come on you turkey necks.

MCEVERS: It made me think that the persona that you take on in this band is just - like, it's really funny. And I'm wondering if you could take me back to the beginning of your career for a second. Was there a moment when you sort of said I'm going to take on this persona?

SPENCER: Well, I mean - no, I don't think it was conscious like that. You know, I'd spent - before the Blues Explosion, I'd spent five years with another band, Pussy Galore. And Pussy Galore was a very - in a lot of ways - negative kind of art project, or in some ways about the death of rock 'n' roll or the bankruptcy of rock 'n' roll and was definitely filled with a lot of hate and a lot of anger.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK MUSIC)

SPENCER: We did our thing, and I kind of got a lot of stuff out of my system. And one of the things I kind of went through was maybe a problem that I had with rock 'n' roll and I sort of had come to terms with something or was at peace with something, where I was able to accept certain things or was able to embrace parts of this music. And one of those things was, you know, I think I spent a lot of time listening to the Sun artists - people like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis. And, you know, someone like Jerry Lee Lewis is just a force of nature and a complete wild man. And in many ways, he is a character. You know, that really informed where my head was at when the band was starting and in those early years.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FUNERAL")

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) That's right, Blues Explosion. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. We've got to do this thing right now. Yeah, hold it in one little spot. Are you ready? Here we go.

SPENCER: Part of what we were doing with Blues Explosion was kind of embracing show business. You know, indie rock at the time was - all right, you'd go out and see a show and you'd see a lot of people and bands up on stage and they'd be looking at their feet. It's like well, what are you doing? You know, do you even want to be here? We were always about putting on a show and messing with people's heads and, you know, we wanted to entertain.

MCEVERS: That's Jon Spencer. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's new album is called "Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015." Jon Spencer, thanks so much.

SPENCER: Thank you.

MCEVERS: Oh, you can put your clothes back on.

SPENCER: (Laughter) OK...

MCEVERS: Yeah.

SPENCER: Thanks.

MCEVERS: Thanks.

SPENCER: Thanks. Bye.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) Bye.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK ALBUM, "FREEDOM TOWER: NO WAVE DANCE PARTY 2015")

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: (Singing) I feel all right there. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.