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The Brian Jonestown Massacre: Wonder Ballroom Portland, May 5th, 2012
“The Brian Jonestown Massacre” formed in 1990, out of San Francisco, having an eclectic style; their best recognized for their experimental psychedelic rock-n-roll sound. The group’s seen many members come and go over the past two decades; only one man has been there throughout it all, although at times he nearly destroyed the project due to his volatile behavior, he’s an eccentric musical genius: Anton Newcomb. Newcomb has a solid 7-9 man band; consisting of old members like Ricky Maymi, Matt Hollywood and Joel Gion, they’re back at it with old friend Newcomb. “The Brian Jonestown Massacre” is on tour kicking off their new Album Aufheben, which is fucking awesome! So check it out.
The Show was excellent; surprisingly there weren’t any melt downs or blow ups, BJM is like a fine batch of whiskey that’s been maturing in an oak barrel for the last 22years, creating a familiar nostalgic sound for all to enjoy. BJM played a smorgasbord of old and new material over the span of two hours. Newcomb sang on most of the tracks that night, but it was generally Matt Hollywood, along with Joel Gion and the rest of the band that held it down. It was an awesome experience seeing them rock out and have a grand old time on stage. It’s not every day a band like BJM comes to town; a group that has stayed on the outskirts of the mainstream music scene and kept more to the underground side, for a reason too. The Brian Jonestown Massacre still make good music, play sold out shows and do one hell of a job!
Check out these links below and the photo gallery:
Last modified on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 20:24
Published in
Album Reviews
and this just in....
Scary no more
06/06/2012 22:32
Photo: Courtesy/PR
If you ask Anton Newcombe if he’s a less scary figure these days, his response
is “Is that a trick question?” That’s because Newcombe, the guiding light behind
the ominously-titled alternative rock heroes The Brian Jonestown Massacre
doesn’t necessarily think he was ever scary or threatening – even when he was
leading his psychedelic revivalists on occasionally chaotic and unpredictable
performance art excursions throughout the 1990s and beyond.
Rising to underground popularity thanks to a series of albums since 1990 that simultaneously aped and honored everyone from The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Love and even Donovan, the band, named for the Stones’ visionary guitarist and the infamous 1978 mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, really rose to cult status thanks to the 2004 documentary Dig! A contrasting portrait of two bands – BJM and The Dandy Warhols – the film by Ondi Timoner, which is still regularly screened on Israeli cable channels, won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, primarily for its riveting focus on the volatile interaction between a drug-addled Newcombe and the Warhol’s frontman Courtney Taylor- Taylor.
With an astounding number of personnel changes, the band evolved into Newcombe’s personal vehicle. And recent years have found the now clean-living 45-yearold California native relocating to Berlin and releasing quirky BJM albums and EPs like 2008’s Just Like Kicking Jesus in which he increasingly warmed to using pastiches of different well-known song elements to create new music. Newcombe also started his own Ustream channel called Dead TV where he cooks and chats with his audience via a Skype connection.
However, recent events have propelled BJM back into the spotlight.
Founding guitarist/bassist and songwriter Matt Hollywood returned to the fold last year, and there was an upswing in the band’s profile thanks to one of their songs, “Straight Up and Down” from their 1996 album Take It From the Man being chosen as the theme to the popular HBO show Boardwalk Empire.
With the revamped BMJ’s recent release of its 12th album, the band has returned to the indie limelight and has launched a high-profile world tour which will see them arrive in Tel Aviv on July 11 for a show at the Barby Club.
Catching up with Newcombe in an email interview as he was rehearsing the revamped lineup, including Hollywood, bassist Will Carruthers (formerly of Spaceman 3 and Spiritualized), guitarists Jon Saemunder Audarson and Henrik Baldvin Bjornsson and drummer Constantine Karlis, the articulate front-man defended the appropriation of existing art to create new art.
“Pastiche is part and parcel of popular art, from Bob Dylan and The Beatles to samples and remix culture,” said Newcombe.
“To me, it’s all about what I as an artist have to add to the lexicon. In my heart, I know have made a solid contribution. The music business tends to play up record sales, dollars and volumes of units, but there is a whole other level of success, and that is to being able to inspire others to study the arts, start groups, magazines, record labels. I’m interested in the organic model of life and building eco-systems.”
Newcombe has given BJM albums titles like Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request, and Bringing it All Back Home, Again in homage to the Stones and Dylan, and has sampled everyone from Joy Division to Anita Ward (“Ring My Bell”), said that he doesn’t intend to stop wearing his influences on his sleeves.
“It’s my hope in the future to work on soundtracks for film, not just have my music placed in a film but to do something like [Italian composer] Ennio Morricone and truly make a great film even better,” he said. “If and when I get the chance to do that, I think it would be a great time to ‘honor’ people I respect by bringing them into the project.”
DESPITE A seeming obsession with the macabre and a professed interest in cults, Newcombe explained that the band’s name and persona were installed more as buffer zones than pledges of allegiance to the bizarre.
“I don’t really know where my interest in cults comes from, perhaps it started with quasi-esoteric television like Leonard Nimoy’s In Search of... series,” he said. “I enjoy non-fiction, don’t care for war movies or slasher films and video games. But I am interested in belief systems, and relating to my own group name, it’s interesting how cult leaders are like rock stars in many ways. However, my goal was to be neither.”
“Let me clear up something – 99 percent of my art deals with love on a spiritual level. I chose to wrap the project in a certain abrasive icononography as a means of selfpreservation, as I am acutely aware the business has a way of turning beautiful songs into advertisements for feminine hygiene products and the like. I chose to try and make it all too hot to handle and somewhat dangerous, like some exotic fruit with spines... but very tasty.”
That spiciness flowed over to the band’s live shows, which back in the day occasionally found both the performers and the audience in shouting matches or worse. However, Newcombe held no doubt that the band was always giving its best, even amid the turbulence.
“For the most part, we showed up and played well. I wish in retrospect that members of the group would have perhaps understood how unique some of those concerts were, besides the fact of just being able to travel and making a living from what you do, your art,” he said.
”You have to remember that when we started, there were zero bands like us in America, and very few on Earth. Some people react in negative ways to things they don’t understand. We represented a certain amount of freedom, and some, hearing tales of riots, would come to try and provoke a reaction and we would have to stand up for ourselves or leave. It’s much better now, this is old news.”
The new news is the resurgent BJM and a happy Newcombe enthused about the new album Aufheben and riding high on playing and writing with Hollywood again.
“It’s quite hard to write and record with me because I tend to come up with complete ideas all once, symphonic even if rough, while Matt tends to be thoughtful and refines his words and parts,” he said. “The strong point is that we truly learned to teach each other how to play music, so there is a connection, like ‘twins’ on a certain level, where we know where an idea is headed from the genesis. That can be powerful when communication is working.”
According to Newcombe, communication played a big role in the concept for Aufheben – meaning both “to lift up” and “to abolish” in German. A student of eschatology (the theology concerned with the end of days), Newcombe envisioned a concept for people who showed anxiety over the projected 2012 end of the world.
“The cover art is based on the Carl Sagan graphic included as a part of the Voyager space program – two probes that were sent to the outer reaches of the solar system and beyond, each containing information describing who we are, our location in our solar system and audio examples of hundreds of greetings in every language, as well as music like Bach, in order to reach out to... I don’t know... intelligent life elsewhere,” he said.
“I thought it would have been funny if a scientist or someone added one word on this plaque: ‘aufheben.’ It’s a word with... to destroy and to preserve. If you think about German culture and relate it to the history of the last century, society had to destroy it to save and rebuild, as a way to preserve.
Without getting too heavy, the implication is a suggestion to these unknown aliens or whatever... that the Earth be destroyed in order to be saved. It’s tongue-in-cheek – it’s obvious that we love the beautiful parts of life, and could do with less of the filth, fear and hatred.”
Newcombe said that his move to Berlin has exposed him to a side of German culture and society that he finds more appealing than the US, both from the viewpoint of being a celebrity and as an ordinary resident.
“Berlin leave me alone, and I love that about this place. Germans are very civil for the most part, as a culture they just don't get in your face ever,” he said.
“Berlin has made a very solid effort to support the arts, so much so that it attracts great people here, and it’s a very safe place for women and children. To be honest, it seems to me that a certain new type of fascism is creeping into the Western world, not just right-wing extremists, but from top to bottom. Most of us want and demand to be safe, and that is understood and accepted.
However, it occurred to me that because of its history, this would be the last place that either the police or the people could ever look and act like fascists... and that, to me, is worth more than gold. The people will not stand for any of it and that is a beautiful thing.”
One offshoot of living in a city like Berlin, where 150,000 Israelis reside, is that Newcombe has become familiar with Israeli culture and friendly with many Israelis.
“I follow the Israeli arts scene because, you know, to me it’s just the ‘arts scene,’ he said. “I think it’s great to be a part of any forward-thinking culture, and very important for the Jewish community to define itself in Berlin and Germany.
It speaks volumes about the business of life, and moving forward, and it’s a very powerful lesson to humanity. It really defines the human spirit, and when standing side by side with the history, it’s inspiring to me.”
And that inspiration is passed down through his music to the rest of us. That doesn’t seem scary at all.
Rising to underground popularity thanks to a series of albums since 1990 that simultaneously aped and honored everyone from The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Love and even Donovan, the band, named for the Stones’ visionary guitarist and the infamous 1978 mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, really rose to cult status thanks to the 2004 documentary Dig! A contrasting portrait of two bands – BJM and The Dandy Warhols – the film by Ondi Timoner, which is still regularly screened on Israeli cable channels, won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, primarily for its riveting focus on the volatile interaction between a drug-addled Newcombe and the Warhol’s frontman Courtney Taylor- Taylor.
With an astounding number of personnel changes, the band evolved into Newcombe’s personal vehicle. And recent years have found the now clean-living 45-yearold California native relocating to Berlin and releasing quirky BJM albums and EPs like 2008’s Just Like Kicking Jesus in which he increasingly warmed to using pastiches of different well-known song elements to create new music. Newcombe also started his own Ustream channel called Dead TV where he cooks and chats with his audience via a Skype connection.
However, recent events have propelled BJM back into the spotlight.
Founding guitarist/bassist and songwriter Matt Hollywood returned to the fold last year, and there was an upswing in the band’s profile thanks to one of their songs, “Straight Up and Down” from their 1996 album Take It From the Man being chosen as the theme to the popular HBO show Boardwalk Empire.
With the revamped BMJ’s recent release of its 12th album, the band has returned to the indie limelight and has launched a high-profile world tour which will see them arrive in Tel Aviv on July 11 for a show at the Barby Club.
Catching up with Newcombe in an email interview as he was rehearsing the revamped lineup, including Hollywood, bassist Will Carruthers (formerly of Spaceman 3 and Spiritualized), guitarists Jon Saemunder Audarson and Henrik Baldvin Bjornsson and drummer Constantine Karlis, the articulate front-man defended the appropriation of existing art to create new art.
“Pastiche is part and parcel of popular art, from Bob Dylan and The Beatles to samples and remix culture,” said Newcombe.
“To me, it’s all about what I as an artist have to add to the lexicon. In my heart, I know have made a solid contribution. The music business tends to play up record sales, dollars and volumes of units, but there is a whole other level of success, and that is to being able to inspire others to study the arts, start groups, magazines, record labels. I’m interested in the organic model of life and building eco-systems.”
Newcombe has given BJM albums titles like Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request, and Bringing it All Back Home, Again in homage to the Stones and Dylan, and has sampled everyone from Joy Division to Anita Ward (“Ring My Bell”), said that he doesn’t intend to stop wearing his influences on his sleeves.
“It’s my hope in the future to work on soundtracks for film, not just have my music placed in a film but to do something like [Italian composer] Ennio Morricone and truly make a great film even better,” he said. “If and when I get the chance to do that, I think it would be a great time to ‘honor’ people I respect by bringing them into the project.”
DESPITE A seeming obsession with the macabre and a professed interest in cults, Newcombe explained that the band’s name and persona were installed more as buffer zones than pledges of allegiance to the bizarre.
“I don’t really know where my interest in cults comes from, perhaps it started with quasi-esoteric television like Leonard Nimoy’s In Search of... series,” he said. “I enjoy non-fiction, don’t care for war movies or slasher films and video games. But I am interested in belief systems, and relating to my own group name, it’s interesting how cult leaders are like rock stars in many ways. However, my goal was to be neither.”
“Let me clear up something – 99 percent of my art deals with love on a spiritual level. I chose to wrap the project in a certain abrasive icononography as a means of selfpreservation, as I am acutely aware the business has a way of turning beautiful songs into advertisements for feminine hygiene products and the like. I chose to try and make it all too hot to handle and somewhat dangerous, like some exotic fruit with spines... but very tasty.”
That spiciness flowed over to the band’s live shows, which back in the day occasionally found both the performers and the audience in shouting matches or worse. However, Newcombe held no doubt that the band was always giving its best, even amid the turbulence.
“For the most part, we showed up and played well. I wish in retrospect that members of the group would have perhaps understood how unique some of those concerts were, besides the fact of just being able to travel and making a living from what you do, your art,” he said.
”You have to remember that when we started, there were zero bands like us in America, and very few on Earth. Some people react in negative ways to things they don’t understand. We represented a certain amount of freedom, and some, hearing tales of riots, would come to try and provoke a reaction and we would have to stand up for ourselves or leave. It’s much better now, this is old news.”
The new news is the resurgent BJM and a happy Newcombe enthused about the new album Aufheben and riding high on playing and writing with Hollywood again.
“It’s quite hard to write and record with me because I tend to come up with complete ideas all once, symphonic even if rough, while Matt tends to be thoughtful and refines his words and parts,” he said. “The strong point is that we truly learned to teach each other how to play music, so there is a connection, like ‘twins’ on a certain level, where we know where an idea is headed from the genesis. That can be powerful when communication is working.”
According to Newcombe, communication played a big role in the concept for Aufheben – meaning both “to lift up” and “to abolish” in German. A student of eschatology (the theology concerned with the end of days), Newcombe envisioned a concept for people who showed anxiety over the projected 2012 end of the world.
“The cover art is based on the Carl Sagan graphic included as a part of the Voyager space program – two probes that were sent to the outer reaches of the solar system and beyond, each containing information describing who we are, our location in our solar system and audio examples of hundreds of greetings in every language, as well as music like Bach, in order to reach out to... I don’t know... intelligent life elsewhere,” he said.
“I thought it would have been funny if a scientist or someone added one word on this plaque: ‘aufheben.’ It’s a word with... to destroy and to preserve. If you think about German culture and relate it to the history of the last century, society had to destroy it to save and rebuild, as a way to preserve.
Without getting too heavy, the implication is a suggestion to these unknown aliens or whatever... that the Earth be destroyed in order to be saved. It’s tongue-in-cheek – it’s obvious that we love the beautiful parts of life, and could do with less of the filth, fear and hatred.”
Newcombe said that his move to Berlin has exposed him to a side of German culture and society that he finds more appealing than the US, both from the viewpoint of being a celebrity and as an ordinary resident.
“Berlin leave me alone, and I love that about this place. Germans are very civil for the most part, as a culture they just don't get in your face ever,” he said.
“Berlin has made a very solid effort to support the arts, so much so that it attracts great people here, and it’s a very safe place for women and children. To be honest, it seems to me that a certain new type of fascism is creeping into the Western world, not just right-wing extremists, but from top to bottom. Most of us want and demand to be safe, and that is understood and accepted.
However, it occurred to me that because of its history, this would be the last place that either the police or the people could ever look and act like fascists... and that, to me, is worth more than gold. The people will not stand for any of it and that is a beautiful thing.”
One offshoot of living in a city like Berlin, where 150,000 Israelis reside, is that Newcombe has become familiar with Israeli culture and friendly with many Israelis.
“I follow the Israeli arts scene because, you know, to me it’s just the ‘arts scene,’ he said. “I think it’s great to be a part of any forward-thinking culture, and very important for the Jewish community to define itself in Berlin and Germany.
It speaks volumes about the business of life, and moving forward, and it’s a very powerful lesson to humanity. It really defines the human spirit, and when standing side by side with the history, it’s inspiring to me.”
And that inspiration is passed down through his music to the rest of us. That doesn’t seem scary at all.
xxx0xxx
xox
5.0 out of 5 stars
BJM does it again,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Aufheben (Audio CD)
I had heard the bare bones of these songs on Anton's You Tube channel
and thought they were good. Nevertheless, being a fan of the band I
wanted a hard copy of the finished product and whilst usually I find
hearing stuff raw is better, the opposite was true. The finished
production etc on Aufheben is magnificent. Maybe because it is more
electronicy than usual and needs the production as well as the
lyric/music. The band are doing these songs live now and on YouTubing
the gigs, they started off maybe a little tentatively but now 20 gigs on
these sound sublime. I cannot wait to see them in 3 weeks.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Musical Esperanto,
This review is from: Aufheben (Audio CD)
To me, this album is actually part of an ongoing sequence of albums
rather than a 'return to form'. It definitely bears a lot less
similarity to their earlier work than it does to their last two, 'My
Bloody Underground' and 'Who Killed Sgt.Pepper?'. Like those albums
we're treated to fantastically intense, almost industrial, psych-rock
soundscapes with more emphasis on the music than its lyrical content. In
using hushed or 'way back in the mix' vocals, complicated even more by
the various european languages used, Anton seems to be moving toward a
musical Esperanto. Zappa said rock lyrics were just 'pitched vocal
noises'...Anton seems to be taking that glib observation to a logical
extension, making language more about sound than meaning. This is a band
still smashing barriers, still hitting new heights and still showing no
signs of compromise. That said, if this is a new band to you, I
wouldn't start your BJM journey here- but if you're familiar with their
work its yet another masterpiece.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Return To Form....,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Aufheben (Audio CD)
Where BJM's last two albums left me feeling disappointed, it was great
to hear, even from the first listen, that 'Aufheben' was a return to
form. Instrumental opener 'Panic In Babylon' kicks things off, sounding
like a distant relative to The Beatles 'Tomorrow Never Knows', which is a
fair reference point to most of 'Aufheben'. So yes, it's psychedelic,
but what did you expect? Other standout songs are 'I Want To Hold Your
Other Hand' and 'Stairway To The Best Party In The Universe'. The vocals
are quite hushed and heavy on the reverb throughout, which means it all
about the groove that the band lock into, which they do time and again.
It's a strong, confident and cohesive album, and it's great to have BJM
back.As a side note, i too had trouble with the card sleeve. I thought i'd bought a faulty disc when it started jumping and getting stuck, until i inspected the disc which had bits of card all over it. Gave it a wipe and not had a problem since, so no big deal!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Anton and Co back on track.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Aufheben (Audio CD)
Very good album. Wasn't sure at first but after about 20 listens through
it has really grown on me. Definately Anton's best album since "And
this is our music". Some really fresh ideas and sounds. Doesn't sound as
synthetic as Who killed Sgt Pepper(none of that album was played live
in the UK on the last tour). A lot of these tracks could be transfered
to a live enviroment and I hope they feature on the setlist when the BJM
tour in the summer (I have tickets...Yay!). High points for me are 'I
want to hold your other hand' and 'Viholliseni Malla'. There is some
great reverbed up guitar playing on this album. Has a 60's psych sound
going on, but not as lyrically driven as their early albums. Great album
though. Only bad thing about the album is the card sleeve which kept
putting bits on the playing surface of the disc. Have butchered a paper
sleeve and put it inside it to prevent this happening so no big issue.
0 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Aufheben (Audio CD)
Surely the Brian Jonestown massacre are the best band in the world. This cd id truly amazing, not one bad track.
|
(0)
Sometimes you just really don't want to know
June 7, 2012
Have you ever had that somewhat annoying run-in with the
person who knows everything about every band, ever? How about the person
who takes joy in evincing your lack of knowledge? While the Canberra
cold has stunted many people's desire to venture out in search of live
music, it hasn't stopped the know-it-all types from making their
presence (and the limitations of your musical knowledge) known.
Music has been and always will be a divisive issue and - like any other interest, art or hobby - will always attract comment, criticism and debate. However, sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the details and ignore the experience. Venturing solo to the recent Brian Jonestown Massacre and Raveonettes double-header at ANU Bar, I perched in a prime position with my overpriced beer for an enjoyable night of music. The Raveonettes were astounding and the headliners put on a solid (if not overly nostalgic) performance. What did not enhance the night was the running commentary.
Many people are partial to attending concerts by themselves for a variety of reasons. Sometimes a friend will bail or tickets will sell out; quite often it is hard to find anyone else sharing the level of devotion that you do to the band. Spotting the lone wolves at concerts is usually pretty easy, and often they are the know-it-all types. After all, who can be more devoted than someone who knows every little detail about the band? And who actually wants to go to a concert with one of these people?
With the final chords ringing out over a very happy audience, I bade farewell to my companion and walked home. Having waited so many years to see the Brian Jonestown Massacre, I felt like I had just watched a new Star Wars movie for the first time having had to endure a George Lucas commentary.
Sometimes it is just good to enjoy music for what it is. At the end of the day, music is about emotion and connection - save your analysis for your blog.
■ Liam Demamiel is an ANU student and music writer who - when not studying, working or writing - you will find headphoned to a turntable
Music has been and always will be a divisive issue and - like any other interest, art or hobby - will always attract comment, criticism and debate. However, sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the details and ignore the experience. Venturing solo to the recent Brian Jonestown Massacre and Raveonettes double-header at ANU Bar, I perched in a prime position with my overpriced beer for an enjoyable night of music. The Raveonettes were astounding and the headliners put on a solid (if not overly nostalgic) performance. What did not enhance the night was the running commentary.
Many people are partial to attending concerts by themselves for a variety of reasons. Sometimes a friend will bail or tickets will sell out; quite often it is hard to find anyone else sharing the level of devotion that you do to the band. Spotting the lone wolves at concerts is usually pretty easy, and often they are the know-it-all types. After all, who can be more devoted than someone who knows every little detail about the band? And who actually wants to go to a concert with one of these people?
Advertisement: Story continues below
Halfway through the Raveonettes set, a man came up and started talking
commenting about the band's guitars. I politely responded. If I had of
known that uttering a few words would make me his new best friend I
wouldn't have bothered; it was my first and fatal mistake. Like a
little puppy that got a pat behind the ears, my new best friend started
telling me everything and anything. I was informed of the history of the
Fender Jazzmaster, was given a timeline of bubble-gum pop and received a
rather detailed academic analysis of every Raveonettes album. Escaping
to go to the bathroom, I thought I would be able to lose him. If only.
Waiting for me outside, beer in hand, was my new pal. Needless to say,
the conversation was rather one-way for the rest of the evening.With the final chords ringing out over a very happy audience, I bade farewell to my companion and walked home. Having waited so many years to see the Brian Jonestown Massacre, I felt like I had just watched a new Star Wars movie for the first time having had to endure a George Lucas commentary.
Sometimes it is just good to enjoy music for what it is. At the end of the day, music is about emotion and connection - save your analysis for your blog.
■ Liam Demamiel is an ANU student and music writer who - when not studying, working or writing - you will find headphoned to a turntable
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/sometimes-you-just-really-dont-want-to-know-20120606-1zwab.html#ixzz1x1JG9TRM
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