'Never been a solo act' 

    “It has always been the Blues Explosion. It has never been a solo act,” explains Spencer (lead singer and guitar) about the name change. “We’re brothers. This is just a show of our solidarity, our strength, and our love.”
     Telecaster guitarist Judah Bauer says the group is still friends with the folks at Matador, the group’s former label, and that the whole manager thing just kinda happened.
     “I see all these bands and they don’t have records done and they’ve got a manager,” he says. “I guess it was a certain level of neglect that we never had a manager before, but when we started playing music, managers were bullshit.”

Visits from the Automator
     For "Damage" the group worked with five different producers, including Dan the Automator, DJ Shadow and Alan Moulder. And continuing in its long line of unlikely disc guests there are guest vocal turns from Chuck D and trip-hop chanteuse Martina Topley-Bird.
     Bauer says Blues Explosion, which also includes drummer behemoth Russell Simins, is promoting the new album, but also busting out a lot of older numbers.
     “You just hope your muscles remember them,” he says of playing songs that he hasn’t played in over a decade.
     With the garage revival of recent years, the Blues Explosion is not mentioned as mentors as often as you might expect. Bauer says that’s because although the band had a lot of songs that sounded straight from the garage, they experimented with a lot more sounds than the straight up four-on-the-floor fuzz that many bands are generating today.
     “They don’t owe me any kind of name-checks or anything,” he insists. “When I listen to The Hives record I hear one approach and I think we move around a bit more in styles. The biggest influence is in the energy level.”

PAT HEALY

Blues Explosion plays tonight, at 8, at The Paradise (969 Commonwealth Ave.) with The Rogers Sisters. Tickets are $17.