Jon Spencer Isn't Slowing Down After 25-Year Career

Jon Spencer is about to celebrate 25 years of playing rock 'n' roll and the renegade roots singer/guitarist is as busy as ever. 2009 saw three of Spencer's bands performing live and he'll round off the year with a third album, 'Midnight Soul Serenade,' from his rockabilly-rooted band Heavy Trash.

"I'm lucky to keep doing this," Spencer tells Spinner. "I feel lucky to make another record and put it out and play some shows." Spencer's trademark drawling yelp first fronted '80s trash punk outfit Pussy Galore, before he formed Boss Hog and, perhaps most famously, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, which, since the release of its last album, 2004's 'Damage,' is known more simply as Blues Explosion. Heavy Trash includes fellow roots enthusiast, former Madder Rose and Speedball Baby guitarist Matt Verta-Ray. The pair was drawn together, says Spencer, through shared experiences and shared enthusiasm. "Not only for rockabilly," he adds, "but just to have a good time, to play in a band."

Before Heavy Trash's fall tour -- European dates start Sept. 16 in London -- Boss Hog will perform at the opening of the new Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sept. 10, followed by an appearance at All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate New York, Sept. 12. With recent Blues Explosion performances on top of that, Spencer doesn't have much time to contemplate his quarter of a century spearheading the skuzzy punk-blues that spawned followers like the White Stripes and the Black Lips. "I find it hard to wrap my head around the amount of time that's past," he says. "But it's not like I sit around thinking about quitting."

'Midnight Soul Serenade' is due on Fat Possum's Big Legal Mess Records Oct. 13.