THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION!
PREMIERE 'BLACK MOLD' VIDEO ON PITCHFORK!
WATCH IT HERE:
NEW ALBUM 'MEAT AND BONE' OUT TODAY THROUGH BOOMBOX/MOM + POP!
The new Jon Spencer Blues Explosion video for the song “Black Mold” from their just-released album, 'Meat and Bone', is a somewhat gruesome affair, a wide-screen mini-epic of horror and decay.
Jon Spencer sat down with the
director, Toon Aerts, and their friend NYC writer Mike Edison to talk
about making the video, and what it all really means.
MIKE: What is the song
about? The references to Ornette Coleman and “The Explosive Little
Richard” don’t really conjure a horror film.
JON: The song is a kind of
blues, inspired by Hurricane Irene, which was forecast to destroy New
York, but never really got here. In the days coming up to it, we were
practicing and writing in our basement and had to get everything up off
the ground so if the storm hit, we wouldn’t get flooded and lose all of
our gear and what not. I was going through lots of stuff and found
boxes of my old records, which were already damp and soggy, and kind of
moldy. The cardboard jackets were all stuck together, I had to pull the
LP sleeves apart and destroyed a few. The vinyl was mostly ok, but for
a guy who loves records, it really hurt.
TOON: It was tempting to
focus on the lyrics but Jon encouraged me to let it loose, and at the
end it was just BLACK MOLD. I always tell a story. I need the
narrative — I can’t just make pretty images, or work with just a cool
performance. Jon was very specific – he wanted the idea of decay and
dread. He used the word “dread” a lot. Claustrophobia and paranoia.
JON: A video doesn’t have to
be literal, it doesn’t need to explain the song’s lyrics. Toon had this
idea for a short monster-horror film. It has echoes of The Thing, and
of flying saucer movies of the 50s, a bit of David Lynch, some
Cronenberg body horror —but it’s not a bloody mess. It works nicely,
it’s a tight narrative. I was struck by how beautiful it is. It’s a
very pretty thing to look at. The tableau that opens the film is just
gorgeous. Like a Dutch master painting. I think it is very funny as
well.
TOON: Russell and I came up
with the idea of the opening shot, brainstorming on an earlier version
of the script that was completely different. We were talking about the
beginning of Blue Velvet, that starts like a perfect world, but then
you go into the grass, into the dirt, and all of a sudden you're
surrounded by insects and decay... The idea is that parallel universe,
where everything looks good on the surface, but below is decay. We also
really liked the idea of starting and ending on the same scene, but
reversing it, as if we briefly entered that rotten world of dread and
black mold... It was mostly Russell's idea actually, he had real strong
feelings about that scene.
MIKE: This isn’t the first Blues Explosion video to have a horror or flying saucer theme…
JON: It seems to come back (laughs). Maybe I should stay away from stuff like this? But I can’t help it, I am such a fan.
TOON: When I was a teenager
I was the biggest Blues Explosion fan in Belgium. I knew all of their
videos, and the flying saucer is like a theme in all of them, it keeps
coming back. I had to put one in here, to complete the circle!
MIKE: The location is gorgeous, where did you shoot it?
TOON: We shot it in Wallonië
in the southern part of Belgium, the French speaking part of Belgium.
Originally we wanted to crash a flying saucer into a western town, and
were thinking of doing it in Spain, where a lot of Spaghetti Westerns
were shot, but we couldn’t really get a crew there. That’s when I came
up with the idea to do it in the woods. A lot of horror films are in
the woods, The Evil Dead reference was there right away, so I found
this place and the owners were happy to work with us. It really wasn’t
as cool as it looks – we had to take out all of their furniture and put
in a new set. It was a lot of work. We experimented a lot with the
black mold effect. Saskia Verreycken, the SFX person, has a special
machine to put fur on humans. She is famous in Belgium for doing make
up and effects for movies and TV — when anyone is getting shot or
bleeding, she is there!
MIKE: The actors have a real Deliverance vibe.
TOON: The guy that gets
infected is Andreas Perschewski, he's a German actor living in
Brussels, and he just has this face that kind of sticks in your mind.
He was just the perfect man for the job, and he suffered a lot for his
art, covered in all that black silicon gel! The role of his brother is
played by Igor Paszkiewicz, a dancer and musician and a good friend of
mine. He also has such a remarkable appearance. The two of them were
just perfect for that deep woods vibe.
JON: The Sheriff is Xavier Benoit, the European tour manager for the Blues Explosion, and the man who first introduced us to Toon.
MIKE: Jon, you have a
featured role in this, mostly sitting in the back of a police car, and
of course you figure heavily in the ending. Do you like acting?
JON: No, not very much. What I do on stage, that’s not acting. Honestly, this movie-star business makes me feel a little silly.
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR STARTS OCTOBER 6TH!
October 4: Abbey Bar – Harrisburg, PA
October 5: U Street Music Hall – Washington, D.C.
October 6: Underground Arts - Philadelphia, PA
October 11 - Asylum - Providence, RI
October 12: Middle East – Cambridge, MA
October 13: German American Music Hall - Pawtucket, RI
October 16: Higher Ground Lounge - South Burlington, VT
October 17: Corona Theatre – Montreal, QC
October 18: Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, ON
October 19: Magic Stick - Detroit, MI
October 20: White Rabbit Cabaret - Indianapolis, IN
October 21: Bottom Lounge - Chicago, IL
October 22: Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN
October 23: Turner Hall - Milwaukee, WI
October 24: The Basement - Columbus, OH
October 25: Rex Theater - Pittsburgh, PA
November 1: Pearl Street Nightclub – Northampton, MA
November 2: Club Helsinki – Hudson, NY
November 3: Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
November 8: Casbah - San Diego, CA
November 9: El Rey Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
November 10: Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
November 12: Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
November 13: The Crocodile - Seattle, WA
November 14: Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, B.C.
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