RockFeedback

Brian Jonestown Massacre

29.03.10

BIOGRAPHY

Named after Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones, and the infamous mass cult suicide in Jonestown, 1978, the Brian Jonestown Massacre formed in San Francisco, California in 1990. The title, also a reaction to monosyllabic band names which were in vogue during the 80s and 90s, can be seen as a strong foreshadowing for the music the band were to produce, as both a reaction against norms, and without a fixed genre for recorded output, preferring to change their sound with each record in a similar way to the cut-up, re-appropriation of the title images.

With their tenth studio album, ‘Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?’ out last month and having utilized some 40 different band members since conception, Anton Newcombe - auteur of the band and singer/multi-instrumentalist - has crafted what is perhaps their most diverse record yet, bucking expectations as always. Recorded in Iceland and Berlin in 2009 with an open minded approach which picks up Eastern flavored beats, Krautrock loops and Scandinavian folk as well as West Coast rock ‘n’ roll, it is an impressive and structured body of work.

The debut LP, Methodrone, released in1995 was shoegaze influenced and earned the band’s controversial reputation as heavy drug users. In Rockfeedback’s 4 part interview with Newcombe he tells how posters proclaiming ‘Take acid- come see the Brian Jonestown Massacre’ meant that their first show made national news, a level of exposure which they found difficult to maintain in spite of their strong cult following.

In 1996 they released 4 albums- first a self released collection of early recordings, then the well received Their Satanic Majesties, Second Request, a full-blown homage to the Stones, glorious psychedelic-era excesses. Recorded live in the studio, the grittier Take It From the Man! found the band exploring even broader territory with a harder, Anglicized alt-indie sound; finally, the year ended with the release of Thank God for Mental Illness, a showcase for strong country and blues leanings, dominated by voice and acoustic guitar. In 1997, the BJM resurfaced with Give It Back!. Upon signing to TVT, they released Strung Out in Heaven the following year, but the band and Newcombe"s eccentricities kept them from staying on the label.

After a few scattered EPs, they resurfaced in 2001 with Bravery Repetition and Noise. And This Is Our Music followed in 2003, evidencing more contemporary, electronic influences as well as name-checking the identically-titled albums This is Our Music, by the artists Galaxie 500 and Ornette Coleman.

Despite a continued lack of major distribution, the Brian Jonestown Massacre were brought to a wider audience by acclaimed documentary DiG! in 2004. The film, which documents the divergent career paths of Brain Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols, won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary in 2004. For a time the two groups were friends, but this soured when the Dandy Warhols signed to a major, Capitol, while Brain Jonestown Massacre continued to record for indie labels. It explores the volatile Newcombe's relationship to drugs and his ever-changing band mates, documenting his self-destructive streak.

We Are the Radio’, the mini album, followed in August 2005. 2008 saw a return to their early shoegaze sound with My Bloody Underground, a cut up of My Bloody Valentine and The Velvet Underground, as well as a reference to the scene, which has provided Newcombe with his many band members over the years.

With a career spanning 17 releases,15 years and taking in musical genres from folk, country and blues to electronica, rock and Indian beats Anton Newcombe is not one to rest of his laurels; now releasing Brian Jonestown Massacre on his own label, The Committee to Keep Music Evil, a project started to ‘beat The Man at his own game… while pursuing the goal of making the world unsafe for rock and roll’, he continues in his very independent manner, releases the music he believes in. As he puts it, ‘God knows I do the best I can so f**k everything!’

LINKS

2007 Rockfeedback interview with Anton Newcombe

BrianJonestownMassacre.com

MySpace

Last.FM

The Committee to Keep Music Evil

UK & IRELAND TOUR DATES

14/5/10 – Shepherds Bush Empire, London

16/5/10 – O2 Academy, Birmingha,

17/5/10 – Academy 3, Manchester

18/5/10 – ABC, Glasgow

19/5/10 – Spring & Airbrake, Belfast