Smells Like Pop

Anton Newcombe talks about life and love

Interview by Alexander Laurence | Photos by Angel Ceballos

I did an interview with Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre in 2000. At that point the band was in transition. The initial lineup had broken up, and a new one had taken its place. Anton had introduced me to a lot of new music and bands over the years. By 2003, a new lineup, very much like the one we know today, had come together finally. In a period of a year, many things had happened to Brian Jonestown Massacre, to take them from this small obscure indie band, to the internationally known band they are today.

First: they had played several strong tours in Europe and the UK, and music fans had embraced them there. Patti Smith invited the BJM to play a high profile gig at Meltdown Festival, and they were soon taken seriously by important journalists. A greatest hits collection came out in 2004 and they became known to other musicians: namely Iggy Pop and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols. Lastly there was the controversial film, DIG: The Movie, that highlights possibly the worst aspects of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols. This is a film that Anton Newcombe still rejects to this day.

In the last decade, BJM has played many tours and festivals, and they have become an awesome and vital touring band. Also added to the mix: their song is the theme song to TV show Boardwalk Empire. Even in the past two years, there are many people who have just discovered this band. So it’s good news for all concerned that there is a new record, AUFHEBEN, which comes out on May 1st. There is a new tour 2012, that takes the BJM to Austin’s Psych Fest, the United States, Europe, and even Australia. More than fifty shows worldwide this summer, which proves that AntonNewcombe and Brian Jonestown Massacre are bigger than ever. I got to speak to him over the phone this week, right before the tour begins.

INTERVIEW – PART ONE

AL: This new album, Aufheben, sounds more cohesive as an album. How did it come about?
Anton: I have my studio in Berlin. I have been working with Fabien Leseure. He is an engineer that works here in my studio. He works with other bands as well. I made him a partner without having him buy the shit. I like to record and experiment myself. But there is freedom in having someone push buttons because that is their main function. You can float around and record tracks very quickly. I am into conceptual art as a form of communication. I don’t want to define things or make things perfect. I want the listener to acknowledge that there is an idea. I want them to interact with it in some way. I don’t care if they “get it.” It doesn’t need to be finished. Music should capture your attention and break free of it. There are people who are fanatical about the Stone Roses and their achievements. People like Peter Hook attached themselves to that band, and have drug them out of the realm of having those songs recorded, to being produced records. That made them more part of a guild than a craftsmanship thing. They could never duplicate that, so it’s like an albatross around their neck. People always look at the Stones Roses on the strength of their first album. I am more interested in documenting something and never finishing it, because I don’t have that agenda and I love international music. There are bands in France who insist on singing songs in English. I tell them that we already have American artists, like Katy Perry and Beck, who have these nonsense lyrics that don’t mean anything. They could probably do something better in French, than half-assed in English. Nicki Minaj is not producing very profound lyrics, so why is your average Swedish band trying to sing in English?

AL: I have interviewed many Swedish bands and I asked them that question, and they always say that they listen to American and UK bands, and not Swedish bands.
Anton: The Hives are fun. Good times. I am not getting on their case. I was thinking more about people like Beck. Beck doesn’t really say anything about life or anything. You have no insight into the world of human beings.

AL: You don’t really know anything about Beck from listening to his records.
Anton: You don’t know anything about that guy and his perspective. All you know is he is very imaginative, and he does what he does, and he is likable. It’s crazy how great his ability is to have built that wall. In this world with TMZ and everything? Nobody knows one interesting thing about Beck. I met him so I know a little more. Beck is great. But that is a neat trick to do what he has done. Beck has done all these albums and he never talks about himself in an interview.

AL: So how do you do your albums today? Do you write all the songs beforehand and book time in a studio? Or do you live in a studio, and create as you go along?
Anton: I have done albums every which way. We own a studio here in Berlin. It’s a two-story auto body shop. The top floor looks like an internet start up company. There is a massive kitchen and four bunk beds. If you want to lay out. There is a shower and a bath. There is a living room where I do my TV show. There is a downstairs where there is all the electric goodies. I come here every day. But I go home at night and go to sleep. But I can accommodate guests. If you wanted to come out here and visit me and David Strauss, I would say “Here’s the keys to my place. You are right here.” At this point I could record an album anywhere. I could go to Iceland and record in Bjork’s studio, or go to London and record with Nigel Godrich. You get into a mentality where you are surrounded by Vox guitars and you don’t feel like doing anything. Now you can hit the road because almost everyone has their little studio somewhere.

[...]

Sure, you can spend dozens of dollars on national acts. The imported stuff might be worth it, but there is arguably just as much quality in the home-grown right now. And with so many local Portland bands playing for cheap (or even free), what’s your excuse for not going out to catch a show? What, the kids? Just leave the baby monitor with a neighbor…what could go wrong?

Hosannas:  Currently a two-piece outfit, these guys played the Bunk Bar on the eve of their launch toward SXSW. While the venue isn’t ideal for live music, the band immediately grabbed attention, charming the crowd with their dreamy duets.  And they were efficient, filling the place with sound without heavy reliance on pre-recorded tracks. A drum-machine backed up their heavy synth and minimalist guitar-work, but their ample vocal talents remained at center-stage. They did a Brian Wilson cover that would have roused the man from his druggy slumber, before tucking him back to bed with a wispy lull-a-bye. The show was for free, as is their memorable six-part EP, The People I Know, available on their website. Along with their understandable aversion to selling merch, it’s not clear how they got enough gas money to get to Austin. Though their long-term survival might be in question, you can’t doubt their sincerity—they closed with an invitation to the audience, “Come hang out with us. We’ll eat sandwiches.”

Y La Bamba:  Supporting their recent release, Lupon,  these guys opened the third Google “Best Ever” concert in a converted church-bar.  Three vocalists took the fore, but the two men quickly found their place as support for the lush stylistics of Luzelena Mendoza, tall and charming in her tiger sweatshirt (a la “Flight of the Conchords”) and a black bowler hat. Mendoza’s voice was somehow edgy and old-fashioned at the same time, sounding like it could be emanating from a hand-cranked Gramophone. With accordion and occasional mandolin, the band laid out a surprisingl mellow instrumental backing, accentuated by complex drum-work invoking salsa rhythms. The band wound down with a song about Michoacan, which instead brought to mind a serenade from a terrace somewhere in the Spanish Pyrenees. Haunting and understated, the music of Y La Bamba would be the perfect accompaniment to a sunny afternoon with a pitcher of sangria–or perhaps more realistically, a cloudy one and a bottle of Mike’s.

Typhoon:  Second in the lineup, eleven members of the band Typhoon (I think one was missing, but maybe they didn’t notice) literally filled what was a fairly large stage, starting out with a goofy power-tap. Six instrumentalists crowded at front alongside their leader Kyle Morton, remaining silent while he opened with a moody acoustic number. Immediately one was presented with the enigma that is Typhoon—how is it that a twelve-piece band is so thoroughly dominated by a single personality, who the liner notes indicate wrote all the songs to Hunger and Thirst?  Perhaps this is due to necessity—if all the members were let loose, interjecting their own creative energies, it might be chaos…it might be And And And. If the lead singer is indeed a cult leader, or a dictator, he must be a benevolent one. Clearly he inspires loyalty from his talented band, and if you take their recent video for “The Honest Truth” on face value, they live happily in a cozy home together, literally sharing a bathroom.  But in both the video and the live show, when the crew breaks out, they tear the place down. Three percussionists, a host of instruments befitting a fully-funded school band, and outbursts into full choir-mode create an impressive spectacle. The contrast with the sparse vocals in songs like “The Sickness Unto Death” makes the lyrics all the more stark. The twelve are currently representing the ‘hood at SXSW, and I’m sure they’re doing us proud.

The Dandy Warhols: Last and littlest (in size, not stature—they had a light show) on Google’s bill, the Dandys played a K-Tel’s greatest hits set. Dressed in a Puffy Shirt, Courtney Taylor-Taylor admitted to his aspirations to be Jimmie Hendrix with mock self-mocking. Zia McCabe did her best to balance out the stage, which was heavily weighted in the center by Taylor-Taylor’s formidable ego (why did he take on the incestuous surname late in life? Mr. T-T will never tell). Truth be told, the Dandys do put together a respectable stage show, with strong instrumental backing by Peter Holmstrom and newly-rejoined drummer Eric Hedford. But that alone doesn’t diminish my main beef—what, Dandys, nothing new to show us? Next time, I’ll check out Pete International Airport instead.

Thanks to Google Hotpot for spotlighting local talent in such interesting venues.