Casey Spooner is a showman, and he knows his kind when he sees them.
But not even Justin Timberlake makes his cut. Here’s what Spooner has
to say about J.T.’s latest tour:
“Terrible. Terrible production design, terrible lighting, bad casting, bad wardrobe; the whole thing was a disaster.”
Casey Spooner’s list of influences for Fischerspooner’s latest album, “Entertainment,” and the supporting tour reads like some randomly generated words in a spam e-mail. Over the course of five minutes, he spews references to Ballet Russe and Christian Lacroix, Baroque composition, the U.S. space program in the ’60s, Brechtian theater, Mark Twain, Jeff Koons and of course, Britney Spears.
Known for his band’s elaborately constructed live performances, Spooner says the electro-pop group’s latest effort will be more enigmatic than their previous eye-popping creations. His approach to music and performance comes from a decidedly arty context; the band’s goal was originally to meld the worlds of pop and art.
“The thing that I learned in a real-world sense was that conceptual perfection was basically career suicide,” Spooner says with a sigh. “I didn’t really understand that intrinsically, art and entertainment are in opposition with each other, business-wise.”
After that shocking realization, Spooner took two years off to do experimental theater. Now he and his musical partner, Warren Fischer, are at work once again, rehearsing for the performances they’ll be taking around the world. But that doesn’t mean that Spooner is too concerned about getting it perfect.
“It’s always about me falling short of the pop fantasy,” he says. “We know everything’s not going to be right, but we know where to leave the edges showing.”
Fischerspooner
Tonight, 8
The Roxy
279 Tremont St., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Boylston
$25, 18+, 617-338-ROXY
www.roxyplex.com