Russell Simins “Public Places” 2000. Grand Royal Records. Today, September 27th, is Russell Simins’ 60th birthday (b. 1962)*. Best known as the drummer for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and now for S-E-R-V-I-C-E, Simins released his lone solo record during the time that the other members of JSBX were also working on side projects (20 Miles, Boss Hog, etc.). Public Places has some really great power pop/indie rock that to me recalls Bob Mould for songwriting. While unabashedly hard pop, the title track “Public Places” is super-catchy, as are “Jim’s Problem” and “World Over.” The slow-rocking ballad “Comfortable Place” also has a Mould feel, especially the vocals. The reviewer on Allmusic finds their Simins comparison with Beck and I don’t necessarily disagree, especially with the instrumentation on tracks like “Don’t You Believe” and “Scope” that have an indie-meets-hip-hop scritchy-scritchy-scratch groove and plenty of computer-generated sounds.  There’s a couple of harder tracks, too, like “I’m Not a Model” which apparently appears on the video game “Jet Set Radio Future.” I’m completely ignorant when it comes to any video games made after Pac Man but my teenage son games and sometimes subjects me to video game music on his Spotify. “I’m Not a Model” has that video game background sound, so does “No 90210.” Both have a nü-metal smell that apparently hypes up kids on the shoot ’em up and drive fast platform. Simins is the sole and/or primary writer on Public Places and not only plays drums and sings on most of the tracks, but also plays guitar and keyboards on several songs. Other folks back him up as well of course, the most interesting contribution credited is Bijou and Chyna Phillips’ backing vocals on the folky “No Straight Line.”

*birthdate courtesy of Adam from Pop-Catastrophe, the best place for all things JSBX-related.