What The Hell Is Going On? #31: Anton Newcombe Week
By: Thomas Hannan
Hey mate.
A few weeks ago, Rockfeedback head honcho Toby L, telly-lord Nicholas Abbott and myself went to the Columbia Hotel in West London to meet Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre (pictured). We didn’t know what to expect – the considered, complex and fascinating character who offers himself up across in BJM’s music, the unhinged, slightly intimidating and completely unpredictable chap portrayed in the now infamous DiG! movie, or someone else entirely. What we got was an interview with a thoroughly gregarious, genuine and forthcoming fellow – if at times an incomprehensibly tangential and often wilfully hilarious one – that managed to take in death, R Kelly, drugs, Paul McCartney, football hooliganism, lego, fatherhood and a whole lot more. Part one is up now – across the coming days on Rockfeedback TV, you’ll be seeing the lot of it.
What with Mr. Newcombe’s total dominance of Rockfeedback TV this week, and the recent release of his band’s umpteenth album Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?, we thought it only fitting to bestow the title of ‘Band of the Week’ on to the Brian Jonestown Massacre also – so be sure to check out Jessica Flora Weiss’s article on this thoroughly unique troupe for the full story. That’ll be this way.
Yet the most exciting event to go down this week comes on Friday, when Rockfeedback makes a glorious return to your television screens with a new series (our fourth!) debuting on Channel 4. A three part mini-series, this time focusing on once in a lifetime performances from a trio of heritage artists, Rockfeedback Presents... will air as part of the channel’s 4Music programme on Friday nights, with subsequent on-demand airings on 4OD. The first show comes in the shape of a special on The Pixies, in which the indie legends perform a set of fan–selected classics to a few hundred, overjoyed competition winners at the Village Underground Gallery in London. Their smallest ever UK show, the band, along with long-time photographer Simon Larbalastier and art director Vaughan Oliver, talk openly with us about the night and the new box set Minotaur that it celebrated. Shows on Jarvis Cocker and Graham Coxon follow in subsequent weeks.
If you wanna know what Rockfeedback Live is up to, I’ll tell you – we’re back on the wagon with a Summer Camp, Babe Shadow and Spectrals show at The Lexington in London on April 8th (which is next week – tickets here), and have recently announced a whole slew of new acts playing forthcoming Rockfeedback gigs, with stages at both The Camden Crawl and The Great Escape in Brighton in May, and shows from Three Trapped Tigers, Talons, Becoming Real, Caitlin Rose, Matthew and the Atlas, Warpaint and Growing to keep you busy throughout the Spring. Details, tickets, times, dates and the like are all over at Rockfeedback Live.
Excited about seeing my name on the telly,
Tom.x
Artists in this article: Brian Jonestown Massacre