Tav Falco reveals the secret eye of the artist on the Todd-o-Phonic Todd show

Tav Falco talks about narrowly escaping a satanic cult, working as a railroad brakeman, Alex Chilton and more on WFMU. 

Here's the scoop...

Tav Falco recently appeared as a guest on the "Todd-o-phonic Todd" show on WFMU Radio. Although it originally aired on Saturday (October 4), the show has been archived right here: https://wfmu.org/archiveplayer/?show=156690&archive=277306

Following five tunes by Tav Falco's Panther Burns starting at around the 1-hour mark, Tav discusses his critically-acclaimed new 'Desire on Ice' LP (5 stars from Mojo, 8 out of 10 from Uncut) and his 'Urania Trilogy' of avantgarde films which will be screened soon in NYC.

Tav Falco – Desire On Ice

The songwriting of Southern rock ‘n’ roll provocateur Tav Falco is celebrated on his 14th studio album, Desire on Ice. With basic tracks recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Services in Memphis, Tennessee, Desire on Ice was created over an 18-month period by Falco and his longtime producer and musical partner, Mario Monterosso. Undoubtedly the most ambitious project in the artist’s 40-plus-year career, Desire on Ice features an astonishing lineup of all-star talent who are sympatico with his singular flair and vision. 

The lineup of featured players on Desire on Ice is impressive. The sessions were anchored by the members of Falco’s current touring band, Panther Burns: guitarist Mario Monterosso, bassist Giuseppe Sangirardi, and drummer Walter Brunetti. The guests include Ann Magnuson, Nicole Atkins, Jolie Holland, Bobby Gillespie, Pete Molinari, Kid Congo Powers, Jon Spencer, Rev. Horton Heat, Jimmy Rip, Chris Spedding, Boz Boorer, Richard Barone, Eddie Angel, Bubba Feathers, Chris Maxwell, Charlie Musselwhite, Mirko Dettori, Kai Eric, Rene Coman, Bertrand Burgulat, Alex Greene, Michael Perry Allen, Jim Sclavunos, and Ross Johnson, among others. Memphis writer and longtime Panther Burns confidante Robert Gordon has contributed new liner notes for the release.

'Desire on Ice' is available now on "black ice" vinyl LP, CD & digital from Org Music. Produced by Mario Monterosso. Get it here: https://orgmusic.com/collections/tav-falco/products/desire-on-ice

1. Prologue (Spoken word by Kid Congo Powers; guitar by Rev. Horton Heat)

2. Gentleman in Black (Vocal by Tav Falco; guitar by Jimmy Rip)

3. Cuban Rebel Girl (Vocal by Tav Falco; guitar by Chris Spedding; blues harp by Charles Musselwhite

4. Sympathy for Mata Hari (Vocals by Tav Falco & Jon Spencer)

5. Vampire from Havana (Vocals by Tav Falco & Ann Magnuson; guitar by Bubba Feathers)

6. Doomsday Baby (Vocals by Tav Falco & Bobby Gillespie; drums by Jim Sclavunos)

7. Crying for More (Vocals by Tav Falco & Nicole Atkins; guitar by Richard Barone)

8. The Ballad of Rue de la Lune (Vocals by Tav Falco & Pete Molinari; guitar by Boz Boorer)

9. Garden of the Medicis (Vocal by Tav Falco; piano by Bertrand Burgulat)

10. Lady from Shanghai (Vocal by Tav Falco; bass by Rene Coman; piano by Alex Greene) 

11. Chamber of Desire (Vocals by Tav Falco & Jolie Holland)

12. Epilogue (Spoken word by Nicole Atkins; guitar by Eddie Angel) 

Jon Spencer issues call to action with "Come On!" video

Jon Spencer with pals Kendall Wind, Spider Bowman and Deke Dickerson try to stir that revolutionary spirit with "Come On!" 

JON SPENCER On Tour

May 21 – Cleveland OH – Beachland Tavern

May 22 – Kalamazoo MI – Bell’s Eccentric Café –

May 23 – Chicago IL – Fitzgerald’s

May 24 – Ferndale MI – The Magic Bag

May 25 – Rochester NY – Skylark Lounge

May 31 – Bourges (FR) – Cosmic Trip Festival

June 1 – Reims (FR)- Cartonnerie Club

June 2 – Lille (FR) – L’Aeronef

June 3 – Liege (FR) – Reflektor

June 4 – Paris (FR) – La Maroquinerie

June 5 – Annecy (FR) – Le Brise Glace

June 6 – Lourmarin (FR) – Yeah! Festival

June 7 – Savona (IT) – Rain Dogs

June 8 – Reggio Emilia (IT) – Handmade Festival

June 10 – Schorndorf (DE) – Manufaktar

June 11 – Mainz (DE) – Schon Schon (Auch 13)

June 12 – Koln (DE) – Koln – Bumann & Sohn

June 13 – Munster (DE) – Gleis 22

June 14 – Dresden (DE) – Beatpol

June 15 – Berlin (DE) – Lido

June 17 – Copenhagen (DK) – Hotel Cecil

June 18 – Hamburg (DE) – Molotow

June 19 – Hanover (DE) – Café Glocksee

June 20 – Antwerp (BE) – Djingel Djangel

June 21 – Nijmegen (NL) – Kids N Billies

July 11 – Lancaster, PA – Tellus 360

July 12 – Staten Island, NY – Maker Park Festival

July 13 – New Haven, CT – Cafe Nine

July 14 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall

July 15 – Portland, ME – Oxbow Blending & Bottling

July 16 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground

July 17 – Troy, NY – No Fun

Jon Spencer collaborates with Deke Dickerson on new recording

While on tour, Jon Spencer and crew stopped by Deke Dickerson's studio to cut a couple of punk whumpers old school style.  

Here's the scoop from Deke...

"Well, that was fun and unexpected!  Jon Spencer (he of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, a quite-famous band a few years back) contacted me out of the blue a few weeks ago and asked to book a recording session at my studio, while they were on tour on the West Coast as part of a package tour with Samantha Fish and Cedric Burnside.  Of course I said yes!  I never get to record noisy, raw punk blues stuff.  This would be fun and, well, unexpected!

"I didn't know when we made plans to record that Jon also wanted ME to play on the songs.  I know the kids are all crazy about the "collabs" as they call it, so hell yes, that sounded like fun! Count me in!

"Jon and his current band (Kendall Wind, bass; and Macky Spider Bowman, drums) showed up at the house at noon, along with their road manager Dave Martin.  Within 30 minutes we were recording songs I had never heard before, and laying them DOWN.

"I think the tracks sound great!  I look forward to mixing these and seeing what happens.  I like doing stuff out of my normal wheelhouse.  Jon and the band couldn't have been nicer (or more professional, man we just got right down to work).  By 3 pm they were on the road to Ventura, where they are playing tonight at the Ventura Theater, along with Samantha Fish and Cedric Burnside.  Thanks again, Jon!  it was a pleasure!  And thanks again to Bloodshot BILL for putting Jon and I in touch!"

Watch a couple of clips from the session right here and over there. 

 

Happy Birthday Monsieur Jeffrey Evans!

Celebrating the birthday of Monsieur Jeffrey Evans with some footage of the Gibson Bros and '68 Comeback in action and more. 

Check out some vintage Pussy Galore photos by Rick McGinnis

Here's a rarely seen image of Julie Cafritz smiling in Pussy Galore photo from 1988 shot at the Silver Dollar by Rick McGinnis. 

Writes Toronto photographer Rick McGinnis...

"If most people who lived through the '80s made a movie of their life, they'd probably soundtrack it with, I don't know, U2 or A-ha or Tears for Fears. My '80s biopic would be scored to Pussy Galore - probably my favorite band of the decade, and one whose three albums and four EPs bring me back to the first years of life on my own, post-college, making a precarious living as a writer and photographer. They were another major enthusiasm of Tim Powis at Nerve, and he made the rest of us fans (my then-girlfriend had a maddeningly not-so-secret crush on PG front man Jon Spencer), though they didn't actually show up in town until the magazine was effectively defunct. I was without a steady gig then, but I begged a portrait session with the band during their two-night stand in April of 1988 at the Silver Dollar Room on Spadina. My big memory of the weekend was that Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D was playing the room in the basement under the club, and that Jon and the rest of the band were more enthusiastic about catching his show than doing their own gig."

Check out more photos of Pussy Galore from the session right here. Watch a Pussy Galore performance of "Undertaker" in Fort Worth, Texas back in July, 1989 below. 

Watch Jon Spencer and crew bash out "Ghost" and "Dang"

Here's a Jon Spencer with M. Sord, Sam Coomes and Bob Bert knocking out "Ghost" and "Dang" in Houston way back in 2019. 

Happy Birthday Monsieur Jeffrey Evans!

Celebrating the birthday of Findlay, Ohio's own Mons. Jeffrey Evans with a few performances that Gibson Bros fans will enjoy. 

The Bobby Lees rock Monarch Tavern, Tuesday

Don't miss Woodstock, NY's Bobby Lees with Paste at the Monarch Tavern tonight – and grab their new Bellevue (Ipecac) album.

Jon Spencer & The HITmakers, Quasi @ Lee's Palace, Tuesday

Check out the new video for "Death Ray" by Jon Spencer & The HITmakers in Toronto for a show at Lee's Palace on Tuesday.

Get a copy of Jon Spencer's new album Spencer Gets It Lit right here. 

Jon Spencer & The HITmakers on tour

 

4/11 Buffalo, NY Rec Room

4/12 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace

4/13 Detroit, MI El Club

4/14 Chicago, IL Schubas

4/15 Milwaukee, WI Back Room at Colectivo

4/16 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry

4/18 Omaha, NE Waiting Room

4/19 Denver, CO Globe Hall

4/20 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge

4/21 Boise, ID Neurolux

4/22 Portland, OR Dantes

4/23 Vancouver, BC Fox Cabaret

4/24 Seattle, WA Madame Lou’s (The Crocodile Second Stage)

4/26 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill

4/27 Los Angeles, CA The Echo

4/28 San Diego, CA Casbah

4/29 Tucson, AZ 191 Toole

4/30 Phoenix, AZ Valley Bar

5/01 Santa Fe, NM Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery

5/02 Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep

5/03 Wichita, KS Wave

5/04 Kansas City, MO Record Bar

5/05 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill Duck Room

5/06 Indianapolis, IN Hi-Fi

90s Nostalgia: Boss Hog at Lee's Palace, 1995

Here's Boss Hog's Jon Spencer and partner Cristina Martinez rockin' Lee's Palace on November 11, 1995. 

Jon Spencer & The HITmakers preview new Spencer Gets It Lit album with "Junk Man"

"Junk Man" is off Jon Spencer & The HITmakers' new Spencer Gets It Lit album out April 1. T.O. show at Lee's Palace April 12th.

Get ready for JON SPENCER & the HITmakers to BURN your playhouse down with their new long-player, SPENCER GETS IT LIT! 

The incredible, indelible Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, Pussy Galore, Heavy Trash, etc) is back with the incendiary HITmakers  - and with his HOTTEST record yet! 

Spencer Gets It Lit is classic Jon Spencer taken to the extremis – electro-boogie, constructivist art pop, a psychedelic swamp of industrial sleaze and futurist elegance. It is an epic master work of freak beat from the world’s weirdest garage. Across brain-boggling layers of fury, fuzz guitar, and a crash-bang battery of phaser blasts, photon torpedoes, and otherworldly zounds, he frantically spits, croons, rhapsodizes, and seduces. Spencer Gets It Lit is his most complex and groovy record in years, a dark, danceable odyssey – both a studied take-down of the early 21st century, and a celebration of the place where electricity meets the mind. 

Thirteen wicked hot songs of love, loss, lust, life — from the Farfisa-fueled,warped psycho -punk  rave-up of “Junk Man,” to the intimate lover's plea of “My Hit Parade,” to the outer-space end-of-days country funk of “Worm Town," Spencer Gets It Lit delivers all of the friction, excitement, and post-modern depravity one could ever ask for! Pre-order Spencer Gets Lit right here: https://linktr.ee/Spencerhitmaker. 

Says Spencer, "Send out the Hit Signal! This is the most uncompromising album I've ever made!" 

And the HITs just keep on coming! 

THIS JUST IN! Taking over drum duties for the HITmakers on their upcoming spring tour will be superstar of skins Janet Weiss of  Sleater Kinney, Quasi, Wild Flag, The Jicks, Slang, etc. etc!!! 

Wait… What’s that? There’s more? 

Every show will be opened by a full set from Janet and HITmaker Sam Coomes championship tag-team, Quasi! Check the dates following the video for "Junk Man" below. 

Jon Spencer & The HITmakers on tour:
4/11 Buffalo, NY Rec Room
4/12 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace – get tickets right here. 
4/13 Detroit, MI El Club
4/14 Chicago, IL Schubas
4/15 Milwaukee, WI Back Room at Colectivo
4/16 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
4/18 Omaha, NE Waiting Room
4/19 Denver, CO Globe Hall
4/20 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
4/21 Boise, ID Neurolux
4/22 Portland, OR Dantes
4/23 Vancouver, BC Fox Cabaret
4/24 Seattle, WA Madame Lou’s (The Crocodile Second Stage)
4/26 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
4/27 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
4/28 San Diego, CA Casbah
4/29 Tucson, AZ 191 Toole
4/30 Phoenix, AZ Valley Bar
5/01 Santa Fe, NM Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery
5/02 Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep
5/03 Wichita, KS Wave
5/04 Kansas City, MO Record Bar
5/05 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill Duck Room
5/06 Indianapolis, IN Hi-Fi
5/07 Louisville, KY Zanzabar
5/08 Charlottesville, VA The Southern
 
ALL TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18TH AT 10AM LOCAL TIME

Watch the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion live at The Phoenix in 1995

Since it's Jon Spencer's birthday today, here is the JSBX live at The Phoenix in Toronto on August 24, 1995. 

90s Nostalgia: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Here's Jon Spencer and crew performing "Ditch" and "Get With It" on the Jon Stewart Show in December, 1994. 

 

Happy Birthday Jon Spencer!

Raising a glass to Jon Spencer on his birthday with some vintage Pussy Galore footage and a Damian Abraham interview right here. 

Happy Birthday R.L. Burnside

Remembering blues great R.L. Burnside on his birthday with the 2002 documentary You See Me Laughin' 

Watch Jon Spencer & The HITmakers play "Just Wanna Die" in France

Check out Jon Spencer, Bob Bert, Sam Coomes and M. Sord rippin' at La Rodia last November in Besançon, France.

That time Jon Spencer & Glenn Salter appeared on Much Music's Wedge in '95

Look over Jon Spencer's shoulder and you'll notice Toronto scenester Glenn Salter peering through the window.   

Jon Spencer & The HITmakers, Catl, Layrite Boys @ The Horseshoe, Saturday

If Jon Spencer & HITmaker Bob Bert can rock an aquarium, they'll have no problem raising the roof at the Horseshoe Saturday. 

Jon Spencer hits the Horseshoe Tavern June 1

Check the clips for "I Got The Hits" & "Do The Trash Can" off Jon's Spencer Sings The Hits. Get yer tickets right here.  

Watch Jon Spencer's new video for "Do The Trash Can"

"Do The Trash Can" is off Jon Spencer's new solo album Spencer Sings The Hits on In The Red.