by Spencer P Jones & the Nothing Butts
It’s a group made in rock’n’roll heaven: Spencer P Jones, the redoubtable, life-hardened troubadour, and former member of The Johnnys, the Beasts of Bourbon and a host of other outfits; James Baker, Painkiller, original Scientist, Le Hoodoo Guru, Dubrovnik and Jones’ contemporary in the infamous Axeman’s Jazz line-up of the Beasts; Gareth Liddiard, songwriter, guitarist, modern-day folk-punk poet and titular leader of The Drones; Fiona Kitschin, Liddiard’s partner in life and enigmatic bass guitarist in The Drones.
While in town with The Painkillers, Baker hitched a ride with Jones to Andrew McGee’s Empty Room studios. Jones’ initial plans to put down a solo record transformed into an impromptu collaboration with his former Beasts bandmate. Keen to transform the moment into a fully-fledged project, McGee called up his neighbours Liddiard and Kitschin to help out; the pair accepted the invitation, and jumped in the car to join Jones and Baker in the studio.
Buoyed by the success of the initial collaboration, the quartet reconvened twice more over the next year. An intense collage of Jones’ tales of love, betrayal and emotional turmoil, Liddiard’s wailing guitar, Kitschin’s rock solid bass and Baker’s troglodyte rhythms, Spencer P Jones and the Nothing Butts is a journey through the brooding recesses of the human psyche.
From the misty-eyed romanticism of She Walks Between the Raindrops, to the acute self-examination of Duplicity, to the glam rock styled Only A Matter of Time, to the Crazy Horse freakdom of When Friends Turn, this is an album that compels attention. Jones’ narratives channel the brooding intensity of Neil Young, the gut-wrenching honesty of Richard Hell and the defiant attitude of Lou Reed. As Kitschin and Baker loiter in the background, the storm of Liddiard’s deranged guitar attack breaks over the record like Jackson Pollock painting his way through a two-day bender. Every story is drenched with pathos; every song is an event of unbridled pleasure.
Spencer P Jones and the Nothing Butts. Album OUT November 9th through Shock Records.
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