I have never seen the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion live, but I could have, since Elliott Smith opened for them a few times,… a strange contrast for the same bill, I know, but he was good friends with the band and in particular with Jon Spencer; Elliott sang on one of the tracks of JSBX’s 2002 album ‘Plastic Fang’, and they even recorded tracks together for the band's 2004 album ‘Damage’. Other sources also say they recorded Elliott Smith’s song ‘Brand New Game’ together at Abbey Road Studios.
However it shouldn’t be a post about Elliott Smith but about the return of SPBX! The dynamic rock’ n’ roll band hadn’t done anything since 2004, but they are back with a new album ‘Meat and Bone’, and a new video for ‘Black Mold’.
The frightening video features two guys discovering strange things, such as buried arms in a forest, and the story turns totally horrific and disgusting… don’t watch it if you have a weak stomach! The video was shot in Belgium and directed by Toon Aerts, and I always wonder why bands decide to go for the horror and gruesome movie, aren’t they afraid it will turn down some people?
Jon Spencer had to say this about the music though:
‘The song is a kind of blues, inspired by Hurricane Irene, which was forecast to destroy New York, but never really got here. In the days coming up to it, we were practicing and writing in our basement and had to get everything up off the ground so if the storm hit, we wouldn’t get flooded and lose all of our gear and what not. I was going through lots of stuff and found boxes of my old records, which were already damp and soggy, and kind of moldy. The cardboard jackets were all stuck together, I had to pull the LP sleeves apart and destroyed a few. The vinyl was mostly ok, but for a guy who loves records, it really hurt.'
So that’s where the mold idea comes from!