Jon Spencer and the HITmakers played Middle East Upstairs – 1/24
The indefatigable Jon Spencer kicked off a winter tour in Cambridge with support from Minibeast and Muck & The Mires.
You’ll never catch Jon Spencer idle.
His beloved Blues Explosion may officially be a thing of the past, and other projects like Heavy Trash and Boss Hog on ice for the time being, but the punk blues patron saint still has new things cooking. 2018 saw the release of his first proper solo record, Spencer Sings the Hits, and last year the all-star band that backed him there formally coalesced into The HITmakers and joined up again to release the groovy Spencer Gets It Lit. The new-old band combines bits of Spencer’s past, present and future, melding his molten-fuzz guitar playing with backing vocals and screaming synths by Quasi’s Sam Coomes and the cacophonous percussion of Bob Bert and M. Sord. Bert, of course, is Spencer’s former bandmate in the confrontational 1980s dirt-punk outfit Pussy Galore, and brings a measure of that band’s trashy allure to the project in a very literal sense (bashing at a kit comprised mainly of upturned cans and car parts with a pair of hammers).
In short, the HITmakers are a great lineup, and brought all the requisite heat to a packed Middle East last Tuesday. Spencer remains every bit a showman, no matter the project, and quickly worked up a collective sweat with a rapid-fire setlist pulling from the foursome’s two recent records. The hits came loud and fast via a passionate performance that often caught Spencer airborne or dropping to his knees for dramatic effect (one such instance even catching my lens hood with a headstock). A room jammed with longtime fans gave particularly ecstatic reactions to the night’s fleeting throwback moments (PG’s “Just Wanna Die,” a tease of the Blues Explosion’s signature tune “Bellbottoms”), but the band clearly didn’t need to rely on the nostalgia factor. The HITmakers’ left-of-the-dial garage rock is pure, vintage Spencer in spirit, and so was the set.
Opening duties for the night fell to a well-picked pair of locals in Minibeast and Muck & The Mires. Former Mission of Burma drummer Peter Prescott was fronting his experimental rock project Minibeast even when his main band was still an active concern, and in subsequent years they’ve become a reliably killer live act hinging on Prescott’s madman stage presence and the unstoppable groove machine of drummer Keith Seidel and bassist Niels LaWhite. I hadn’t managed to see them since a Great Scott show with Have A Nice Life which feels like approximately a thousand years ago, and they sounded great as ever on Tuesday.
The Mires, meanwhile, opened the night (at a curiously early 7 p.m.) with an instantly charming set of their airtight vintage rock’n’roll. They’re a name I’d seen around for years but never caught, and I was pleased to make the acquaintance.
Scroll below for a gallery from all three sets.
