It’s ‘A Fucking Miracle’ Beasts Of Bourbon Are Back

His own musical history, whether under his own name, in bands such as The Johnnys and Hell To Pay, or as sometime sideman to Paul Kelly and Chris Bailey all make Spencer P. Jones a name to be respected. He's also one of only two – the other being the inimitable Tex Perkins – to make it through the 30 years and three distinct line-ups of ragged glory that is The Beasts Of Bourbon. This also means he gets to do the triple shift as the band run through their chequered history and personnel over consecutive nights, but he's typically laconic and matter-of-fact about making it this far.

“Of course you never thought that far ahead. But I don't see why we can't keep doing it - as long as we're all still alive, and sort of well,” Mr Jones deadpans down the line. Thing is, the 'still alive' element might only be half joking. The Beasts have always gone in hard, and there have been some burnouts and line-up implosions through their history.

When presented with the facts, the guitarist lets out a coughing laugh: “Yeah, it is a fucking miracle really, isn't it?” before getting a bit of perspective:  “There is a lot of bullshit about this band. Gossip, rumour - and somewhere along the line that becomes fact. But OK, there's a bit of notoriety, maybe rightly. And sure, one of our members has spent some time in jail, but that's his issue. And I reckon we're not the only band where that's the case.”

There's a knowing chuckle.

“But looking back, the Beasts is probably one of the few things in most of our lives that's turned out pretty much effortless, and we can just keep coming back to it. It's the old hot rod thing - it's in the garage, we take it out for a run every few years. Maybe take some things off or bolt on some new ones, give it a bit of a polish and off we go. You just turn over the V8 every so often.”

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