NYC band driving this baby
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion tune inspired film’s 1st scene
BACK in the mid-1990s, director Edgar Wright was still in his early 20s and living on welfare in London when he became mildly obsessed with a song called “Bellbottoms” by NYC band the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. It sparked an idea in the aspiring filmmaker.
“At first, I envisioned a car chase,” the now-43-year-old Wright tells The Post. “Then gradually, I thought of a scene in which a bank robber was in a car listening to ‘Bellbottoms,’ and around the 2 ¹/2-minute mark, when the song kicks off, the chase starts.”
Two decades later, that initial idea has blossomed into one of this year’s best summer movies. Released on Wednes- day, “Baby Driver” (starring Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx) tells the story of a music-obsessed getaway driver who syncs his revved-up exploits to a personal playlist of killer tracks. The thrilling opening scene is almost exactly as Wright conceived it, and Elgort even mimes along to Spencer’s vocals for good measure. Wright is such a Blues Explosion fan, he cast frontman Spencer in a cameo at the end of the film. “My dream for this movie is that 15-year-olds might see it, hear ‘Bellbottoms’ and go, ‘What is this?’ and listen to the rest of the album [1994’s ‘Orange’], or find more of the band’s music,” says the director. The sequence and cameo mark the high point of Wright and Spencer’s mutual appreciation. They first met just before Wright’s zombie comedy “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) opened in the US. Wright initially tried to use the song for his British sitcom “Spaced,” and even asked the Blues Explosion (completed by guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Simins) to write a song for his film “Hot Fuzz” (2007). But the band was on hiatus then, so Spencer did the song “Here Come the Fuzz” with friends under the name Jon Spencer and the Elegant Too.
This time, Wright finally got his man and his band. “It is a great thrill to have one of my songs put to good cinematic use,” says Spencer, 52, who is currently promoting “Brood X”— a recently released album by his other band Boss Hog. “I was at the premiere on Monday, and Edgar saluted the band for helping to inspire the movie. Everyone in the room applauded after the first scene — not for our benefit, just because it’s such a great scene. Edgar’s got a home run with ‘Baby Driver.’ ”
The cult band has released nine albums since their self-titled 1992 debut, and regularly receives critical acclaim. But the Blues Explosion has never been a chart fixture and has always sold modestly. Spencer admits that getting a little windfall from the song’s use in “Baby Driver” is welcome, but “definitely not enough to retire on!”