Since their formation in the late ‘80s, a great deal has been said and written about The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Often hailed as musical visionaries, BJM have been walking an invisible tightrope between the past and the future of musical performance and production for over two decades.
Having produced no less than 12 studio albums, a raft of EPs and a seemingly endless mire of demos, bootlegs, and outtakes; this group are a wealth of hard work, productivity and output that appears to have been the antithesis of many of their modern contemporaries.
A few months off their forthcoming Australian tour, the enigmatic Anton Newcombe shared his thoughts on a trip across the globe that this large group has become quite accustomed to these past few years.
”I mean, the whole Meredith thing made it possible for us, logistically I mean. I don’t choose where we play, but we get to go to Perth this time too, and we’re playing in Tasmania. We’re also playing Byron Bay but I don’t know much about it…maybe I should research some little factoids about the place.”
While their approach to creating and playing music may rely heavily on traditional analogue warmth, their method concerning distribution and utilisation of new media has been anything but.
“I’m closer to some kind of futurist or something where I’ll try every kind of medium. Just like, put it out everywhere and try everything…though I think the next big thing that comes out, I’ll be less likely to join or be part of it.
“The digital sound isn’t all that great, the commercial digital sound…it’s not all that great. So that opens up a whole realm in the future for somebody to just go forward again and create some kind of new medium. I heard maybe Neil Young was trying to do that.”
Speaking on the impacts of music file streaming and its payoff to artists, Newcombe’s stance remains quite clear.
“They just have these crazy publishing deals that you don’t know about, that the label has the deal on the side (from Pandora, from Spotify) and so it’s the label that’s getting the chunk of money, not the artist.
“So it feels like, with all the streaming, it’s the label that’s made the deals with the telecommunications companies, because they now own the publishing to all that stuff. Then they set the performance royalty for the artist down to nothing, and we’re all trying to figure out, ‘how does this work?’ ”.
When it comes down to it though, when you’re talking to a lover of sound in the truest sense, it seems that pressed wax discs still trump their digital equivalent every time.
“When I send my digital files that I record to the factory or the record plant, they’re about one third better…a whole 8 bits better than what they end up on MP3 or what not. And that’s a lot better, it’s a big difference.”
Newcombe also spearheads a cross media/pirate radio project called “Dead TV”. Beaming across the globe from Berlin and Reykjavik (as well as occasional sojourns on the road), Dead TV is a universe of streamed consciousness, music and experiences that has a devoted following.
“Some people are really starting to take the initiative and do crazy stuff. Part of me wanted to do something like…it’d be really great to have a studio space and do something where you’re just shooting the shit…but I never really wanted to be a presenter. I just get too weird with it quite often.”
Despite the vast quantity of programs currently available for broadcast, and the relative ease of access to high quality equipment to produce it with, Newcombe laments the inverse effect on the quality of television content.
“I’m always fascinated like during the golden era of TV people used to have all these shows and talk shows and whatever, they were trying to use up air time and get people to watch. Whereas now everybody has these high end, HD cameras, and no one’s doing anything with it. It surprises me that all they can do is follow a Kardashian around or whatever”.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a group that has never been short of attracting its share of controversy and provocation; however this is something Newcombe appears to dispose of with relative ease these days.
“People seem to like to get reactions out of me. It’s so weird…I just don’t understand that way of communicating. Sometimes it seems like people have been standing in line to provoke me…I guess I should be thankful that somebody still cares.
“I pretty much have the same reaction to that kind of provocation that I always have, but I hope I’m getting a bit more mellowed out…I don’t know, maybe I’m not. I hope I am…I can’t deal with getting all hostile back to people”.
With talk of a new record currently in the works, which would be the groups 13th long player, Newcombe still seems at times rather humble and unsure of his footing, which may be surprising given the proliferation of material that the group has produced.
“The weird thing about it is I keep writing songs. I wrote two or three today, and they’re good…I just don’t see how they fit together. I don’t know if it’s some mental illness, or lack of mental illness at the moment, but when I listen to them all together…I don’t see the glue. To me it’s like this weird skip in the record in my head”
Joining The Brian Jonestown Massacre on this tour will be London-based duo The KVB, whose minimalist drone and synth-laden tracks have been attracting a lot of attention in the UK.
“There’s certain people that can pull off the variations of that minimal sound…” explains Newcombe.
“Since the early days, since the ‘50s or The Cramps, or becoming much later electrified and with (The Jesus And) Mary Chain…it’s that minimal Americana, or fuzzed-out psychosexual thing…and when I heard the combinations of what they were bringing to the table, it just worked.”
The Brian Jonestown Massacre Australian Tour 2013
and introducing Special Guests The KVB (UK)
TICKETS ON SALE 9AM FRIDAY 30TH AUGUST
TUESDAY 10TH DECEMBER- ASTOR THEATRE- PERTH
www.showticketing.com.au
WEDNESDAY 11TH DECEMBER – THE GOV- ADELAIDE
www.moshtix.com.au
SATURDAY 14TH DECEMBER- BRISBANE HOTEL- HOBART
SUNDAY 15TH DECEMBER- HI FI- BRISBANE
www.thehifi.com.au
WEDNESDAY 18TH DECEMBER – NORTHERN HOTEL- BYRON BAY
http://thenorthern.oztix.com.au/
THURSDAY 19TH DECEMBER- HI FI- SYDNEY
www.thehifi.com.au
FRIDAY 20TH DECEMBER- PALACE THEATRE- MELBOURNE
www.ticketmaster.com.au
Also appearing at:
Meredith Music Festival 2013 Dates & Tickets
Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre
December 13th-15th
