Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

With all the attention Detroit up-and-comers the White Stripes and Dirt Bombs are getting for their gutter-punk blues, it seems the rock zeitgeist has finally caught up with Jon Spencer and his Blues Explosion. Spencer's band has been plugging the sounds of the Delta into its amps for more than a decade, and aside from the Stones-through-the-looking-glass ravings of Spencer's old Pussy Galore bandmates, Royal Trux, it's a path the Blues Explosion has been treading pretty much alone.

But now, as the JSBX hits the road, hot on the heels of the release of its seventh album, Plastic Fang, Spencer will finally be preaching to the choir. Or yowling to the choir, more accurately. If money's tight, skip the album and catch the Blues Explosion live. Spencer, Judah Bauer (bass), and Russell Simins (drums) make for an incredibly tight trio.

And then there's Spencer himself: Sweaty and sexy as hell, he comes off like he's got "rock star" encoded into every strand of his DNA, a tousled and growling Jim Morrison manqué, gyrating like Elvis and copping Mick's strut. Our guess is that John Waters dreamed him up, not least because Spencer is a major, unapologetic ham. A JSBX show is not-to-be-missed theater -- albeit the kind of theater where horniness, jumping around and spilling your beer, and most other sins of demon rock are encouraged. Because you're part of the show.