The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Out on the street

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion band.

Jon Spencer tells Lydia Jenkin about his band's homage to New York rock history.

*Note: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion has postponed their Friday Auckland show. They are now playing on Wednesday August 5*

He's one of the most gravelly voiced musicians you'll ever speak to, but Jon Spencer is in a pretty upbeat mood when he calls from New York City. The vocalist of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is looking forward to returning to New Zealand this week, and 25 years into his career, things have been going well with new album Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015.

It's something of a homage to NYC - to the art and music that has risen from its streets, the stories that have been told, and the people who've survived its gritty challenges.

"New York has always been our home, and we've always taken influence from the musicians and artists that have gone before us and worked along side us. It's an awfully big city, almost overwhelming, and the everyday things like walking down the street or taking the subway, for me, that all goes into the songwriting pot.

"But this album is really about New York more explicitly than ever before. It's about the city today, it's about the city from 10 or 20 or more years ago, a place that's gone now, and it's also about a city that perhaps never really existed except for in my own heart, and my imagination - this city has a big presence in movies and television and books and all sorts of fictional stories, so that all blends in, too.

"It wasn't our intention to make a concept album, but at a certain point it became very clear to me that an awful lot of songs were about New York City, so we went with the theme."

From the delightfully spazzy Betty vs the NYPD (with a music video that has the trio making a cameo appearance in drag) to the thundering block party rhythms of The Ballad Of Joe Buck, the whole affair feels like a gleeful, cheeky, "let it all out" kind of gathering.

The title of the album reflects its upbeat nature too - although Blues Explosion's influences are diverse ("we're a melting pot in a melting pot"), they knew they wanted to make a record that sounded like a celebration.

"In my head, this record was always going to be a dance party, and when it became clear that this dance party record was about New York City, one morning it hit me, that Freedom Tower, which is the nickname that was given to the tower replacing the World Trade Centre, would be a perfect name for this collection of songs, and the subtitle, No Wave Dance Party 2015 that refers to the musical movement in New York City, which started in the 70s. And while this is not an overt No Wave record, we've definitely been influenced by people such as James Chance or Lydia Lunch, it all goes with part of our big musical stew."

There's also plenty of hip-hop influence in the mix, and they recorded the album at Daptone's studio in Bushwick to help bring the funk to the fore.

"It's not an overly glamorous or plush facility, but it's a great studio and a great-sounding room, and they really know how to take the sound of a live band, and we needed to go some place where we'd come away with that right sound for the rhythm section, and something really lively."

Spencer's pretty certain that despite the specific thematic material addressed by the album, you don't need to be a New Yorker to appreciate the songs.

"Because it's about change in a city, and places that are gone or have been shut down, and I think that can be applied to any city really. I mean I think even if you've never been to the Bowery, or CBGBs, people can relate to a sense of loss about a favourite place that's gone. That's not something that's unique to New York, homogenisation is happening all over, and it's a shame, it's rough to see places lose their character.

"Having said that, the record's not all supposed to be a nostalgia trip, it's as much a celebration, which is what we'll be bringing to the stage."

Who: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
What: New album Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015
Where and when: Performing at the Powerstation Wednesday, August 5.

- TimeOut