Jon Spencer & the HITmakers show at The Cluny 2, Newcastle, UK with Black Mekon on 3 November 2018.
The HITmakers:
Jon Spencer
Sam Coomes
M. Sord
Bob Bert
Live Photo: Mick Burgess (metalexpressradio.com)
“To start off with Spencer barely says a word to the crowd, instead it is just a consistent and constant barrage of noise. Tracks blending almost seamlessly from one to the next, the wail of his guitar the sharpness of Bob Bert’s percussion, Sam Coombes bright synths all the while M Sord’s pounding backbeat provides the ecstatic backing for everyone else to shine.”
“Tonight Jon Spencer and The Hitmakers are well and truly on fire, shouts and screams willing them back to the stage ring out throughout the entire venue, alas they do not return leaving an already fulfilled crowd begging for more!” – Lee Hammond (louderthanwar.com)
“He must be either mad or something of a genius to head out on tour and play his entire, new solo album, only released a day earlier. Former Blues Explosion/Heavy Trash/Pussy Galore frontman, Jon Spencer, may be a touch of both but whatever he is, he’s never been safe or boring.
His latest album, Sing The Hits is as far removed from commercial as you can get but all the better for it and pretty much the whole album was aired over the course of the show with Fake, I Got The Hits and album standout, Ghost grabbing the attention.
Spencer’s biting, fuzzed up riffs along with his twisted Elvis-esq vocals create a Rock’n’Roll firestorm. His take on the Blues shaking convention to its core and totally debunking the myth that Blues has hasn’t progressed since Robert Johnson sold his soul at Mississippi’s Devil’s Crossroads. It’s fresh, energetic and bloody thrilling.
Convention also goes out of the window with his band. Spencer handles guitar and vocals, and there’s a drummer and keyboard player and someone that can only be described as an industrial percussionist playing what appears to be part of a car shell with springs and sheet metal added for variety and all hit with implements including a hammer. Bizarre but utterly transfixing.
A dapper looking Spencer couldn’t ignore his past with Shirt Jac from his Blues Explosion Days eliciting a rabid crowd response as did Pussy Galore’s New Breed.
Spencer handed the microphone over to keyboardist, Sam Coomes for a cover of his former band Quasi’s, Tough Times In Plastic Land and Bo Diddley’s classic Roadrunner received the Spencer makeover and formed the basis of a call and response with the crowd.
It was all over within an hour in a short, sharp Rock ‘n’ Roll smash and grab. Brilliant.” – Mick Burgess (metalexpressradio.com)
nb. There was a point when The Noise & the Naive were listed as a support for this show but they did support the band at the same venue the following year.
Venue:
https://www.facebook.com/thecluny
https://twitter.com/thecluny
https://www.instagram.com/theclunynewcastle/
Black Mekon:
http://www.blackmekon.com
https://www.facebook.com/blackmekon/
https://twitter.com/blackmekon
https://www.instagram.com/blackmekon/
HITmakers show #31
