Veteran noise doyen Spencer ditched his previous outfit the Blues Explosion for a new crew of noiseniks, the Hitmakers. Spencer has been turning up to eleven since the 90s when he fronted DC scuz-punk-blues group Pussy Galore. The music has always been primal, with the marching order “ loud is better, loudest is best”. Spencer leads the charge on guitar and “vocals”, the lyrics are largely unintelligible or maybe it was just my multiple pairs of earplugs filtering the insanity. Not sure if it was the speedy vocal delivery, the two sizes too small Levi’s Jean jacket, the rock and roll or maybe drug habit skinny stature of Spencer that made me think he was British, but wiki tells me he’s from New Hampshire. He’s joined onstage by Sam Coombes on keys and electronics, and two “drummers”. One drummer played a traditional kit in a truly punk style. The other “drummer” resembled Cousin It and banged on a variety of car parts and household objects. His setup had some overturned metal trash cans, five pound weights, a car’s gas tank, and a large metal suspension car spring. He struck these items with either ratchet handles or a pair of hammers that colored the din with a scary junkyard vibe. Coombes has also been around the block. Starting in Texas then moving to Portland, he played in Quasi with his ex-wife, Sleater-Kinney’s Janet Weiss. Sam’s background vocals helped tether Spencer’s assault. At one point, Coombes asked the crowd if there were any Yale students in attendance, to which he got a handful of yelps. He had one question for the brainiacs, “yes or no, can you polish a turd?” I still remember my last viewing of Spencer at this same venue, he closed the show with this decidedly British missive “ de bess fing a bat Spays-land, ease yadont hafta listen ta anywons boo-shit” ( sentence best appreciated when read aloud).
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