Jon Spencer has denied that his Blues Explosion’s latest album Freedom Tower is a eulogy to a lost New York.
It was released earlier this year, and he says it’s actually a celebration of the city the band have called home for a quarter of a century.
He tells UnderTheRadar: “It’s not meant to be a nostalgic trip, it’s not meant to be a lament. I don’t think we should try to reverse the progress or turn back the hands of time.
“New York City has changed a great deal, probably everything I feel in love with about the city is gone. But a city has to change. Not all of the record is about ‘What happened to the city I loved? Where did this place go?’”
Spencer also credits the Brooklyn studio of soul label Daptone with helping provide the energy for the record.
He continues: “It was to be a kind of dance record so I thought Daptone would be an excellent choice for a recording studio. I was confident we would walk away with a good sound tape and an especially great drum sound.
“If we have the money, we’d prefer to work in an old-fashioned way and prefer to use older analogue equipment.”
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are currently on tour in Japan and return to Europe later this month. They’ll play four dates in the UK in October.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 2015 tour dates
Aug 15: Chiba Summer Sonic, Japan Aug 16: Osaka Summer Sonic, Japan Aug 17: Osaka Shi Akaso, Japan Aug 18: Tokyo Club Quattro, Japan Aug 28: Valada Reverence Festival, Portugal Aug 29: Pompei Lab, Italy Aug 30: Brescia Latteria Molloy, Italy Aug 31: Faenza Strade Blu, Italy Sep 01: Ljubljana Kino Siska, Slovenia Sep 02: Zagreb Mocvara, Croatia Sep 03: Beograd Zemun Miksaliste, Serbia Sep 04: Skopje MKC, Macedonia Sep 05: Thessaloniki Principal Club, Greece Sep 06: Athens Gagarin, Greece Oct 08: Cologne Gebaude, Germany Oct 09: Maastricht Muziekgieterij, Netherlands Oct 10: Utrecht Tivoli Vredenburg, Netherlands Oct 11: Hamburg Ubel & Gefahrlich, Germany Oct 12: Arhus Radar, Denmark Oct 13: Gothenburg Pustervik, Sweden Oct 14: Stockholm Debaser, Sweden Oct 15: Copenhagen Loppen, Denmark Oct 16: Berlin C-Club, Germany Oct 17: Leipzig UT Connewitz, Germany Oct 18: Munich Ampere, Germany Oct 20: London Electric Ballroom, UK Oct 21: Bristol The Fleece, UK Oct 22: Manchester Sound Control, UK Oct 23: Birmingham The Oobleck, UK Oct 24: Charleroi L’eden, Belgium Nov 03: Antwerp Trix, Belgium Nov 04: Paris La Gaite Lyrique, France Nov 05: Cenon Le Rocher de Palmer, France Nov 06: Bilbao Santana 27, Spain Nov 07: Madrid Joy Eslava, Spain Nov 08: Barcelona Bikini, Spain Nov 09: Ramonville Saint Agne Le Bikini, France Nov 10: Feyzin L’Epicerie Moderne, France Nov 11: Grenoble La Belle Electrique, France Nov 17: Salzburg Rockhouse, Austria Nov 18: Heidelberg Kulturhaus Karlstorbahnhof, Germany Nov 19: Vienna Arena, Austria Nov 20: Linz Posthof, Austria Nov 21: Lausanne Les Docks, Switzerland Nov 22: Zurich Rote Fabril Clubraum, Switzerland
