WET LEG @ Fonda Theatre - 03-30-22

All photos by BRADLEY DUPRAY

Momma @ Fonda Theatre - 03-30-22

All photos by BRADLEY DUPRAY

Jon Spencer and the HITMakers Share New Video / Album Out Tomorrow / Tour Starts April 11th

 

JON SPENCER & THE HITMAKERS GONNA SOCK IT TO YOU WITH THEIR DEATH RAY!

 

WATCH THE DANGEROUS NEW VIDEO RIGHT NOW! 

 

‘SPENCER GETS IT LIT! ALBUM OUT TOMORROW ON IN THE RED RECORDS 

 

TOUR WITH QUASI BEGINS APRIL 11TH - TICKETS ON SALE NOW

 

Death Ray image: B.A. Miale

 

DEATH RAY is an instant clank’n’roll classic taken from the insidiously subversive new record, SPENCER GETS IT LIT!  

 

"I like it when you shoot!" cries Spencer in this wicked, psychedelic romp that will take over your television set and bend your brain!  Hidden trauma, repressed desire, and double identities all do battle in this theater of the mind! 

 

Spencer throws himself into the burning pit between good and evil, but beware: things are not all what they seem, not when true love is at stake! Total submission is the order of the day — a burning desire to sacrifice one's self to a perfect ideal! 

 

Photo: Michael Lavine

 

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!

 

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

 

And the HITs just keep on coming! 

 

Joining the HITmakers on the tour will be Janet Weiss! (Sleater Kinney, Wild Flag, The Jicks, Quasi, etc). Spencer says, "As a long-time fan of her wicked drumming style, I am so very excited to have this opportunity to play with Janet!" 

 

Every show will be opened by a full set from Janet and HITmaker Sam Coomes championship tag-team, Quasi! 

 

Guaranteed to be a tour for the ages!!! 

 

True heroes of the underground! 

 

Freak forces combined and multiplied in this indie-rock dream bill! 

 

Photo: Bob Coscarelli

 

TOUR DATES:

 

NORTH AMERICA:

 

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 7^th 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

 

UK/EU

 

6/09 Birmingham Hare & Hounds

6/10 Leeds Brudenell Social Club

6/11 Newcastle The Cluny

6/12 Glasgow Audio

6/14 Manchester Deaf Institute

6/15 Bristol Thekla

6/16 London Oslo

6/17 Diskmuide 4AD

6/18 Numegen Kids N Billies Festival

6/19 Izel Fete de la Musique

6/21 Maastricht Muziekgieteru

6/22 Utrecht DE Helling HLD

6/23 Lessines CC Rene Magrite (outdoor)

6/24 Sint Niklaas Great Gigs In The Sky (outdoor) @ De Casino

6/25 Haarlem Kliko Festval @ Patronaat

6/26 Rotterdam Rotown

 

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

 

JON SPENCER & the HITmakers 

SPENCER GETS IT LIT! 

Bob Bert - trash, Sam Coomes - synth & vocal, M. Sord - drum, Jon Spencer - vocal & guitar 

Produced by Bill Skibbe & Jon Spencer at Key Club Recording Co., Benton Harbor, MI, July - August 2021. 

 

1. Junk Man 

2. Get It Right Now 

3. Death Ray 

4. The Worst Facts 

5. Primary Baby 

6. Worm Town 

7. Bruise 

8. Layabout Trap 

9. Push Comes To Shove 

10. My Hit Parade 

11. Rotting Money 

12. Strike 3 

13. Get Up & Do It 

14. Germ Vs. Jerk* 

15. The Devil's Ice Age* 

 

*Tracks 14 & 15 are CD only 

 

OUT APRIL 1ST ON IN THE RED RECORDS

 

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In The Red Records

"Failure" Documentary Previewed in Extended Trailer; Maynard Keenan, Hayley Williams, Troy Sanders & More Featured

	“FAILURE” DOCUMENTARY PREVIEWED IN EXTENDED TRAILER https://youtu.be/NUKqmuYR40Y MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN, HAYLEY WILLIAMS, TOMMY LEE, TROY SANDERS, BUTCH VIG AND MORE DISCUSS BAND'S INFLUENCE IN FORTHCOMING FILM 30-MINUTE VERSION OF 2023 FILM SCREENING ON UPCOMING TOUR DATES

Click the image above or follow this link to view the “Failure” Documentary Extended Trailer: https://youtu.be/NUKqmuYR40Y

	March 31, 2022, LOS ANGELES – Failure, who recently announced a North American tour in support of their widely-praised sixth album, Wild Type Droid, have released an extended trailer for their forthcoming documentary film “Failure” (https://youtu.be/NUKqmuYR40Y). The trailer highlights the Los Angeles-band’s influence and the story behind their initial break-up. A 30 minute, special preview of the 2023 film will be screening on all of the upcoming North American dates. June 2 San Diego, CA Music Box June 3 Pioneertown, CA Pappy & Harriet’s June 4 Las Vegas, CA Backstage Bar June 5 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom June 7 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad June 8 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater June 9 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room June 10 Lawrence, KS The Granada Theater June 11 St. Louis, MO Pop’s June 12 Dallas, TX Trees June 14 Austin, TX Mohawk June 15 San Antonio, TX Paper Tiger June 16 New Orleans, LA The Parish Room at House of Blues June 17 Nashville, TN Exit/In June 18 Birmingham, AL Saturn June 19 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade June 21 Raleigh, NC Cat’s Cradle June 22 Baltimore, MD Sound Stage June 23 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts June 24 New York, NY Warsaw June 25 Boston, MA The Sinclair June 26 Toronto, ON Velvet Underground June 28 Detroit, MI The Crofoot June 29 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls Theatre June 30 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop July 1 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge July 2 St. Paul, MN Turf Club July 5 Seattle, WA Neumo’s July 6 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre July 7 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall July 8 Los Angeles, CA The Regent Theatre Tickets for all shows are on-sale now.

Click the image above or follow this link to view the "Headstand" video: https://youtu.be/qELLBHT6Esc

	Wild Type Droid (https://failure.ffm.to/wildtypedroid) arrived in December via the band’s own label, Failure Music. Rolling Stone called the 10-song collection “incredibly expansive,” Guitar World described the album as “one of the most inspiring alternative guitar records to arrive in 2021,” and Paste Magazine said the trio “make a career-defining statement.” “To me, it captures a lot of the new musical approaches and techniques we were going for on this album, but somehow is still quintessential Failure,” Ken Andrews explained as news of the album was revealed. “We’ve been together long enough to know that some of our best ideas come directly from these experimental sessions. For this album, we simply cultivated that methodology for a much longer time than we have in the past. It brought out the trio aspect of the band. There was a feeling we could really push the individual parts further away from each other and let the more interesting and challenging combinations take center stage.”

Photo credit: Priscilla C. Scott

	Failure is Ken Andrews (vocals, guitar, bass, programming), Greg Edwards (vocals, guitar, bass, keys), and Kellii Scott (drums, percussion). Forming in early ‘90s Los Angeles, the trio have released six albums: Comfort (1992), Magnified (1994), Fantastic Planet (1996), The Heart Is A Monster (2015), In The Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing from Your Mind (a series of EPs released as an album in 2018), and Wild Type Droid (2021). The group is considered one of the era’s most influential rock bands with Vice, in an all-encompassing retrospective upon the band’s return saying: “While many of their contemporaries became prolific by releasing an ungodly amount of materials, Failure’s [initial] three-record catalog is minuscule, but just as important in terms of content, style, and music texture.” # # # Failureband.com Instagram.com/failurebandig Facebook.com/failureband Twitter.com/failure

Sparks unveil 21st Century Sparks Collection - a reissue of 5 classic albums

SPARKS UNVEIL 21ST CENTURY SPARKS COLLECTION   FIVE CLASSIC ALBUMS RELEASED THIS CENTURY TO BE REISSUED ON CD & VINYL NEWLY REMASTERED WITH AN ARRAY OF BONUS MATERIAL BAND SHARES PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED “IT’S A SPARKS SHOW” - LISTEN BALLS, LIL’ BEETHOVEN, AND HELLO YOUNG LOVERS ARRIVE VIA BMG  ON FRIDAY, APRIL 29 EXOTIC CREATURES OF THE DEEP AND THE SEDUCTION OF INGMAR BERGMAN FOLLOW ON FRIDAY, MAY 27

Sparks are celebrating their post-millennial renaissance with the 21st Century Sparks collection of deluxe reissues, to be released by BMG on CD and vinyl later this spring. Balls (2000), Lil’ Beethoven (2002), and Hello Young Lovers (2006) arrive on Friday, April 29; Exotic Creatures Of The Deep(2008) and The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman (2009) follow on Friday, May 27. Today, the band shares “It’s A Sparks Show,” a previously unreleased track from the Balls reissue. LISTEN TO “IT’S A SPARKS SHOW”   All five releases – a number of which have been out of print for years and much sought after by Sparks collectors – have been specially remastered for the 21st Century Sparks collection, with an array of bonus material – much of it previously unreleased – featured on all (excluding 2009’s ambitious radio musical, The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman). Sparks’ two most recent releases – Hippopotamus (2017) and A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020) – complete the collection and are both available now.      # # #   There’s never been a better time to be a Sparks fan. Levels of interest in the work of Ron and Russell Mael are at a height unseen since their 1970s breakthrough.   2021’s acclaimed career-spanning documentary film, The Sparks Brothers, directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver), brought an awareness of Sparks to parts they previously hadn’t reached. Their 2021 film musical Annette, directed by Leos Carax and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, has been showered with awards, especially in France where Carax won “Best Director” at Cannes, and where the film won three Lumières Awards and five César Awards, including “Best Original Music” for Ron and Russell. The ultimate cult band are suddenly center stage, in the full beam of the spotlight.   Most people, with even a passing acquaintance with Sparks, will know the basics by now. How Californian brothers Ron and Russell Mael, both students at UCLA, began making music together in the late Sixties, originally under the name Halfnelson. How their Top Of The Pops debut with “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us” stunned a generation and nearly scored them a UK #1. How their career moved through many phases, including (but not limited to) art rock, glam, big band swing, electro-disco, new wave, and synthpop, taking in collaborations with Todd Rundgren, Les Rita Mitsouko, Tony Visconti, and Giorgio Moroder, and Franz Ferdinand, to name but a few.    How keyboardist and songwriter Ron’s intricate staccato arrangements combine with the hysteria-pitch falsetto in which Russell delivers his brother’s always-on-point lyrics. How Ron’s stillness and stern, intimidating visage contrasts onstage with Russell’s hyperactivity. How their popularity has spiked unpredictably in different territories at different times: Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Japan, and their homeland the United States. And how the influence of “the greatest band you’ve never heard of” or “your favorite band’s favorite band” has been recognized by successive generations of artists from Joy Division to Duran Duran to Depeche Mode to Björk to Beck to The Darkness and beyond.   If there’s a gap in the knowledge of Sparks newcomers or even long-term admirers, it might be the early 21st century, that crucial period in the 2000s between the “Crackerjack Years” of their first flushes of fame and their current success, when the duo rediscovered their muse and released some of their finest albums.    The 21st Century Sparks collection of deluxe reissues – as well as their more recent studio releases Hippopotamus (2017) and A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020) – plot out the path of an extraordinary renaissance for the Mael brothers.    Now into their sixth decade of making music, Sparks have never been more relevant. The 21st Century Sparks collection shows exactly how they got here.

(DOWNLOAD HI-RES IMAGE // PHOTO CREDIT: PHILIPPE MAZZONI)

# # # SPARKS The 21st Century Sparks Collection (BMG)

TRACKLISTS Balls  (2022 remaster - originally released in 2000) Release Date: Friday, April 29 * First Time on Vinyl *

“Highly listenable and equally danceable.” - MOJO   1. Balls 2. More Than A Sex Machine 3. Scheherazade 4. Aeroflot 5. The Calm Before The Storm 6. How To Get Your Ass Kicked 7. Bullet Train 8. It’s A Knockoff 9. Irreplaceable 10. It’s Educational 11. The Angels CD Bonus Tracks: 12. It's A Sparks Show [Opening theme for Sparks live shows; Previously unreleased] 13. Calm Before The Opera [Reworking of the song ‘The Calm Before The Storm’] 14. The Angels (Sparks Alternative Version) 15. More Than A Sex Machine (Sparks Definitive Version - Radio Edit) 16. The Angels (Tony Visconti version) 17. The Oblongs [Proposed pilot theme song for the animated TV series The Oblongs; Previously released in Japan] 18. A Cute Candidate [Opening Theme From In Entertainment We Trust: Music From The Motion Picture A Cute Candidate by Kuntzel+Deygas] 19. The Race For President [From In Entertainment We Trust: Music From The Motion Picture A Cute Candidate by Kuntzel+Deygas]   # # #

“Extraordinary” – Daily Telegraph 1. The Rhythm Thief 2. How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall? 3. What Are All These Bands So Angry About? 4. I Married Myself 5. Ride ‘Em Cowboy 6. My Baby’s Taking Me Home 7. Your Call’s Very Important To Us. Please Hold. 8. Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls 9. Suburban Homeboy CD Bonus Tracks: 10. The Legend Of Lil' Beethoven [The story of ‘Lil’ Beethoven’ read by Ron Mael] 11. Wunderbar (Concerto In Koch Minor) [Originally commissioned for Günther Koch Revisited: Voll in den Mann by Bayerischer Rundfunk / Hörspiel und Medienkunst; Features the sampled voice of Günther Koch] 12. Kakadu [Originally commissioned for one word one sound by Bayerischer Rundfunk / Hörspiel und Medienkunst Concept: a song created from an assigned word and sound, Word: “Kakadu” (voice of Richard Huelsenbeck). Sound: papier schnippen / snip paper. Reading by Tammy Glover] 13. Suburban Homeboy (Extended "Ron Speaks" Version) 14. The Rhythm Thief (Instrumental Version) # # # Hello Young Lovers (2022 remaster - originally released in 2005) (BMG) Release Date: Friday, April 29

“…a special kind of genius” – Independent on Sunday 1. Dick Around 2. Perfume 3. The Very Next Fight 4. (Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country 5. Rock, Rock, Rock 6. Metaphor 7. Waterproof 8. Here Kitty 9. There’s No Such Thing as Aliens 10. As I Sit Down to Play the Organ at the Notre Dame Cathedral CD Bonus Tracks: 11. We Are The Clash [Originally released on White Riot, Vol.2: A Tribute to The Clash, issued by Uncut Magazine in November 2003] 12. (Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country (Alternative Lyrics)  # # # Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2022 remaster - originally released 2008) (BMG) Release Date: Friday, May 27

“There’s still hope for the world.” – NME 1. Intro 2. Good Morning 3. Strange Animal 4. I Can’t Believe That You Would Fall for All the Crap in This Song 5. Let the Monkey Drive 6. Intro Reprise 7. I’ve Never Been High 8. (She Got Me) Pregnant 9. Lighten Up, Morrissey 10. This Is the Renaissance 11. The Director Never Yelled ‘Cut’ 12. Photoshop 13. Likeable CD Bonus Tracks: 14. Brenda is Always in the Way [B-side of the 7” single ‘Lighten Up, Morrissey’] 15. Islington N1 [Written to commemorate the concert event Sparks Spectacular: 21 Albums in 21 Nights (May-June 2008) in Islington, London; Originally available only for “Golden Ticket” holders] 16. Mr. Hulot [Unused theme song written for the documentary The Magnificent Tati] 17. I Am A Bookworm [End theme song of the radio show Bookworm, hosted by Michael Silverblatt, and broadcast weekly on National Public Radio member station KCRW in Los Angeles] 18. Where Would We Be Without Books [Main theme song of the radio show Bookworm, as above] # # # The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman (2022 remaster – originally released in 2009) (BMG) Release Date: Friday, May 27

“Flawless.” – The Wire 1. 1956 Cannes Film Festival 2. “I Am Ingmar Bergman” 3. Limo Driver (Welcome To Hollywood) 4. “Here He Is Now” 5. “Mr. Bergman, How Are You?” 6. “He’ll Come ‘Round” 7. En Route To The Beverly Hills Hotel 8. Hollywood Welcoming Committee 9. “I’ve Got To Contact Sweden” 10. The Studio Commissary 11. “I Must Not Be Hasty” 12. “Quiet On The Set” 13. “Why Do You Take That Tone With Me?” 14. Pleasant Hotel Staff 15. Hollywood Tour Bus 16. Autograph Hounds 17. Bergman Ponders Escape 18. “We’ve Got To Turn Him ‘Round” 19. Escape (Part 1) 20. Escape (Part 2) 21. “Oh My God” 22. Garbo Sings 23. Almost A Hollywood Ending 24. “He’s Home” # # # Hippopotamus (2017) (BMG) Available Now

“Brilliant….One of the most unusual and arresting albums of their career.” – The Times 1. Probably Nothing 2. Missionary Position 3. Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me) 4. Scandinavian Design 5. Giddy Giddy 6. What the Hell Is It This Time? 7. Unaware 8. Hippopotamus 9. Bummer 10. I Wish You Were Fun 11. So Tell Me Mrs Lincoln Aside From That How Was The Play 12. When You’re a French Director 13. The Amazing Mr. Repeat 14. A Little Bit Like Fun 15. Life with the Macbeths A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2021) (BMG) Available Now

“No band should by rights sound as sharp, melodic and funny more than 50 years into their career. But Sparks are no ordinary band” – Q Magazine 1. All That 2. I’m Toast 3. Lawnmower 4. Sainthood Is Not in Your Future 5. Pacific Standard Time 6. Stravinsky’s Only Hit 7. Left Out in the Cold 8. Self-Effacing 9. One for the Ages 10. Onomato Pia 11. iPhone 12. The Existential Threat 13. Nothing Travels Faster Than the Speed of Light 14. Please Don’t Fuck Up My World CONNECT WITH SPARKS: ALLSPARKS.COM FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM TWITTER YOUTUBE # # #