i94bar1200x80

jon spencer

  • chris virtue 20251. Three Gigs
    In March, Barry Adamson played the Factory, in what looked like it was going to be the gig of the year, touring his “Cut to Black” LP. Hot band, great songs, great voice and a running gag that I can’t remember from a man with a larger-than-life presence.

    The album’s great too. Seriously good songwriting and composition which one would expect given that he does soundtracks. The title track and the opening “The Last Words of Sam Cooke” are the standouts for me, but all tracks are excellent.

    2. The Beasts – twice
    Saw The Beasts back in February at the Manning Bar in Sydney and it was last time to see the great James Baker. They were touring their latest release Ultimo. Great show and it reminded me that there are two bands who generate this sort of noise. The other is Crazy Horse.


  • It's been a home to Powder Monkeys, The Cheater Slicks, Bored! and more recently the Lipstick Killers so when Aussie label Dog Meat discovers your band, you're in esteemed company.

    That’s the enviable spot Melbourne's young Bayside Beat sensations The Gnomes have found themselves in as they gear up for the label to release their debut record. The Gnomes have unveiled their debut video, for new single "Flippin' Stomp".

  • skin suitSkin Suit - The Bobby Lees (Alive Naturalsound)

    If you were on the cusp of releasing your first "real" record, had US and European tours booked and ran head-first into the current viral shit show, you'd feel like you'd been whacked around the head with the Unlucky Baseball Bat, wouldn't you? Such is the lot of a young band in The Age of The Phlegm Plague.

    Upstate New Yorkers The Bobby Lees sound mightily pissed-off on "Skin Suit", but the album was recorded long before Covid-19 was kicking anybody's arse.

    The Bobby Lees play snotty, raucous blues thrash with all the rough edges left intact. Little wonder that Jon Spencer produced "Skin Suit"  - the band's explosive blues sound is right up his alley.

  • reap what you sowReap What You Sow – Jack Saint (Heavy Medication)

    The blurb says it’s more “individually distilled” than the last album and maybe that’s why it took time to latch onto what “Reap What You Sow” is about.

    The debut “Jack Saint” was a lot more obvious in its display of influences like the Bad Seeds and The Gun Club, while “Reap” seems in the thrall of Jon Spencer without being able to completely divorce itself from early pre-Warren era Nick Cave.