Former Skyhooks, The Angels, Finch guitarist Bob Spencer has a brand new song called ‘As White As Jesus’ but its still unfinished. This is a preview.
Bob says the song was “originally written around my relationship with my father (I was never good enough for him, which has impacted on my entire life. Thanks dad), but later expanded to embrace experiences of people I know who, as children, suffered abuse at the hands of “christian” priests, brothers and nuns”.
After four decades at the top of his game Bob Spencer is working on his first ever solo album. “I’m in the middle of mixing, as in, half way through the 11 songs,” he tells Noise11.com. “Without going too nuts, I should have that finished by the end of next week. Then, a few days off to give my ears a rest, then mastering. I’m doing all this myself, as, to put it bluntly, I don’t like anyone’s mixes apart from Tchad Blake, who I can’t possibly afford! And Australian mastering engineers simply squash the fuck out of everything, thereby killing the song, in an attempt to compete with the Yanks, I guess. Plus, I’m stubborn”.
Bobs band is “Drums – Peter Heckenberg, Jacob Cook and Peter (Maz) Maslen. I love all three for different reasons. BV’s – Laura Davidson and Pam Maroney (two friends). Everything else, me,” he says.
The now 60 year old guitar maestro explains why it has taken himself so long to do a solo album. “Confidence in singing. IOW, I have none. I’ve never done it before, it scares the shit out of me, and I’m doing it to confront my fears. After having been in bands with Owen Orford and especially Shirl, what’s a banjo playing boy to do?”
Being a member of Skyhooks was also daunting. The band featured Greg Macainsh, one of Australia’s greatest ever songwriters. “Lyrics. I’ve never really written lyrics before. After having been in Greg’s band, this also scares the shit out of me”, he said.
