Brood X, the band's first new album in 17 years, will be released through Bronze Rat on 24 March. It's available to pre-order here.
First formed in 1989 by Jon Spencer and his wife Cristina Martinez, Boss Hog went on hiatus in 2000, reconvening for occasional shows and festivals from 2008 onwards. Explaining the lay-off, Martinez says, “There are different broods of cicadas emerging in cyclical periods, there are 13-year cicadas and 17-year cicadas. That’s what Boss Hog is like – we’re operating on our own cycle. We go underground for a number of years, re-emerge, make beautiful sounds, and then go away. That’s our cyclical life.”
New York has changed beyond recognition and there’s a buffoonish villain entering the White House, but Martinez’s towering vocals and vicious, hilarious, emboldening lyrics have never sounded so sharp, nor Boss Hog so timely.
“A lot of Cristina’s lyrics on this album resonate with me more deeply since the election,” nods Spencer. “They’re blues songs, protest songs.”
“The songs do feel oddly relevant now,” Cristina adds.
Brood X was recorded in the band's Lower East Side basement and cut at Michigan’s Key Club Recording Company on the same Flickinger N32 Matrix console Sly Stone used for There’s A Riot Goin’ On.
Check out 'Formula X'.
As previously announced, Boss Hog play Oslo in Hackney, London on 3 February. Tickets are available here.
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