The Legendary JON SPENCER returns with a brand new long-playing record
SONGS OF PERSONAL LOSS AND PROTEST
set for release JUNE 12TH on vinyl, CD (with bonus tracks), and all digital platforms via Shove Records
Shares first track, “Knock ‘Em Out"
North American dates to be announced soon
Photo: Skyler Smith
Can rock’n’roll change the world?
Jon Spencer says YES.
Mr. Blues Explosion is still lighting the torches and ringing the bells, singing and preaching from the rooftops, live on the world stage, on the airwaves, via satellite, and right here, right now, on a brand new record:
SONGS OF PERSONAL LOSS AND PROTEST
“I’m in a time of spiritual reckoning,” Jon confides. “These past few years there has been a lot of emotional conflict and personal loss — the passing of time takes its toll. Losing friends, losing family, and all of this set against a world gone topsy turvy where it feels like we are losing basic freedoms… I’m trying to balance a lot of things, but the answer is always rock’n’roll.”
Across twelve brand new songs, Jon tears his heart out singing songs torn from the front page and beyond: futuristic power blues and garage-punk explosionisms about the nausea and paranoia delivered by a reality show president, and the power and resilience it takes to rebel. It is all deeply personal — the fight to create and live and push back against the dark forces — but he never loses sight that we’re all in this together.
“Rock’n’roll is America’s true gift to the world — the sound of revolution! It came out of the sky, a screaming, chrome-plated flying saucer, like an outer space monster, landed here on Earth so the freaks could have their say. It is the hip-shaking sound of rebellion. The blues is my bible, rock’n’roll is our battle cry!”
SONGS OF PERSONAL LOSS AND PROTEST was recorded with Jon’s super-powered touring band, and if you’ve been lucky enough to see them in the past few years — they’ve been playing non-stop, destroying audiences from Akron to Osaka, from San Jose to Santiago – then you know that Jon is still fronting the world’s greatest rock’n’roll live show: rama-la soul-shaking set for stun, sweat-soaked, and ultimately, beautifully, uplifting.
Picking up where 2024’s mini–LP SICK OF BEING SICK left off, Jon tears it up with SPIDER BOWMAN on drums and KENDALL WIND on bass (also famously the rhythm section of Woodstock’s punk powerhouse The Bobby Lees). They deliver hyper-driven soul and powerhouse groove, beats hard as diamonds and slick as ice, fuzz bass in your face, and an avalanche of uncontrollable urges, pushing Jon’s latest outbursts — hollering, drooling, sexified crooning, and vociferously lamenting these difficult times — to new levels of rock’n’roll expressionism.
SONGS OF PERSONAL LOSS AND PROTEST is the New New Super Heavy Rock for Hard Times.
XXX
For over forty years, Jon Spencer has been an innovative force in the independent music scene. An acclaimed live performer, he has amassed a dizzying, disruptive discography as the leader of Pussy Galore, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Heavy Trash, and Jon Spencer & the HITmakers, as well as with Boss Hog, The Honeymoon Killers, Gibson Brothers, and Taxidermy Girls.
His numerous collaborations include working with Steve Albini, Add N To X, Nicole Atkins, Beastie Boys, Beck, Bomb The Bass, R.L. Burnside, James Chance, Coldcut, Chuck D, Dan The Automator, Jim Dickinson, DJ Shadow, Einsturzende Neubauten, Guitar Wolf, GZA, David Holmes, Japanese Popstars, Dr. John, Calvin Johnson, Steve Jordan, Khan, Moby, Money Mark, The Muffs, The North Mississippi All Stars, Princess Superstar, Puffy Ami Yumi, The Sadies, Nancy Sinatra, Solex, Solomon Burke, Speedball Baby, Rufus Thomas, UNKLE, Unloved, Andre Williams, and Bernie Worrell.
His production credits include: Cheater Slicks, Demolition Doll Rods, Experimental Tropic Blues Band, Perrosky, Mike Edison, Jesper Munk, Sunshine & The Rain, The Bobby Lees, and recently the Grammy-nominated Death Wish Blues album by Samantha Fish & Jesse Dayton.
Jon Spencer
Songs of Personal Loss and Protest
Side One
1. Fanfare (Another Point of View)
2. Vermin Attack!
3. Hangover
5. Give It Up 4 the Devil
6. Mr. Lion
Side Two
1. Orange Slice Blues
2. Slip Away
3. Step On the Gas
4. I’m Taking Off
5. Wet & Wild
6. No More
CD includes all of the SICK OF BEING SICK Mini-LP + the single COME ON!
Jon Spencer - vocals, guitar, synth, organ, percussion
Kendall Wind - bass, vocals, guitar, piano, organ
Macky Spider Bowman - drums, vocals, percussion
Recorded by Chris Bittner at Applehead Recording, Woodstock NY, July 7 - 9, 2025 except Vermin Attack! & Mr. Lion, recorded by Felipe Ruz & Perrosky at Estudio Algorecords, Stgo. Chile, April 6, 2025. Mixed by Chris Bittner at Applehead. Mastered by Dave Gardner at DSG
Produced by Jon Spencer
Studio photo by Skyler Smith. Live photos by Jonny Leather
Title lettering by Stee V. Band names & lettering by Todd Hanson
All songs © 2026 by Spencer, Wind, Bowman (Patricia Ann Music, BMI)
Recent press:
“inescapably re-ignites the primal three-pronged assault of JSBX’s self titled party-starter from 1992….The wisdom of Macky Spider Bowman’s recruitment is instantly felt as the 20-something drummer’s John Bonham-worthy breakbeats, with sinewy bassist Kendall Wind locked in tight, Spencer sounds properly invigorated, hitting new heights of freewheeling lechery and, with fitting sartorial confluence, Bellbottoms-esque groove.” MOJO
“"His new band are uncommonly, fiercely tight.” Uncut
"The incredible Jon Spencer Trio tore the roof off last night. Spencer is still a force of nature after all these years." Asheville Stages
“Jon Spencer doesn’t ease into a room. He sort of barges in sideways, dragging electricity behind him. His set hit like a garage door slamming shut and reopening repeatedly. Raw riffs, sharp rhythms, vocals half-spoken and half-barked, with no wasted motion. Spencer prowled the stage like he was testing the room’s load-bearing walls, daring them to crack. No nostalgia act energy here. This was confrontational rock and roll, the kind that reminds you how much danger used to live inside a three-minute song.” Parklife DC
"Backed by powerful bassist Kendall Wind and drummer Macky Bowman, Spencer delivered a set layered with distorted guitar sounds and fuzzed riffs, and an energy that leaned more punk rock, and at times, almost performance art.” NYS Music
“A feral, art-punk energy that served as a thrilling pivot between roots and contemporary blues-rock. His set was both chaotic and meticulously controlled. A full-fledged artistic statement, showcasing his long legacy in pushing boundaries." Digital Beat
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