EV Grieve favorite Boss Hog is playing in NYC for the first time in eight years. They're at the Bowery Ballroom Wednesday night. Boss Hog singer Cristina Martinez talked with Time Out this week.
Is it challenging to get over the supersexy image you had when Boss Hog started? Yeah, I’ll never be able to live that down. [Laughs] That’s probably the most worrisome thing for me. Sometimes it does make me a little sad. I’m totally aware of the possibility of people being disappointed in me in any way.
Meanwhile, NME.com had this about the Bowery date:
The performance, taking place December 17, will be the band’s first hometown gig in eight years, a reunion that ties in nicely with the end of George Bush’s second term as President, according to the band's frontwoman.
“It’s been two torturous terms of Republican disease and culture death,” Martinez says. “Now that we're free, it's the perfect time for us to bring back our own brand of sick in celebration.”
Here's Brooklyn Vegan's review (with a zillion photos) of Boss Hog's Dec. 3 show at Maxwell's.
Here are some shots from their gig at All Tomorrow's Parties' Nightmare Before Christmas gig in the UK on Dec. 7.
Somewhere in the deep recesses of the EV Grieve "drafts" folder, I had a post in the works titled "Whatever happened to...Boss Hog." They were my favorite local band for years...part of a post-scum rock scene on the LES that included the likes of Unsane, Railroad Jerk, Cop Shoot Cop and the Honeymoon Killers, among others.
Well, I won't babble on about Boss Hog's biographical nuts and bolts and the seismic demographic shifts that have eroded the Orchard/Ludlow corridor. Maybe another day. Anyway, after a handful of releases spanning 1989-2000...the band just seemingly disappeared after 2001. Mainstays Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez (husband and wife) had a son...and Spencer continued on with The Blues Explosion and Heavy Trash. I'd see the two around once in awhile, in Union Square or in store. But I'm not the "hey, I'm a big fan, what the fuck you guys doing now?" type person.
Today, Brooklyn Vegan drops a report that allowed me to delete my "Whatever happened to..." post. Boss Hog will be getting back together to play a few gigs next month.
BOSS HOG - 2008 TOUR DATES Dec 3rd - Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ DEC 5th - ATP Nightmare Before Christmas MINEHEAD, UK DEC 8th - The Luminaire LONDON, UK DEC 17th - The Bowery Ballroom NEW YORK, NY ??
If you want to know more about Spencer and the pre-Boss Hog days of Pussy Galore, Alex has you covered.