{"id":24629,"date":"2016-12-02T09:53:14","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T09:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=24629"},"modified":"2019-04-25T13:08:36","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T12:08:36","slug":"urban-spaceman-brian-jonestown-massacres-newcombe-to-lead-pure-phase-ensemble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2016\/12\/urban-spaceman-brian-jonestown-massacres-newcombe-to-lead-pure-phase-ensemble\/","title":{"rendered":"URBAN SPACEMAN – Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Newcombe To Lead Pure Phase Ensemble"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Thing is, I don\u2019t give a fuck what you think you know about me. it\u2019s meaningless. I don\u2019t know you. The film didn\u2019t show me speaking in a sentence with 23 words in it and making perfect sense, which i can obviously do quite well.”<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Anton Newcombe is responding to a question about the 2004 documentary\u00a0Dig!<\/em><\/a> which contrasted the fortunes of his band,\u00a0The Brian Jonestown Massacre,<\/em> with that of friend and collaborator\u00a0Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s group\u00a0The Dandy Warhols<\/em>.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

And it’s clear that even 12 years on, he’s still pretty mad about the way he was portrayed in\u00a0Ondi Timoner<\/strong>‘s film.<\/p>\n

“Look, we used spy cameras and filmed the entertainment business, the actual mafia in action – it showed none of it. We also documented the death of the record business as it was – they didn\u2019t show that. They didn\u2019t show my supermodel actress girlfriend,\u00a0or my place in Laurel Canyon. I\u2019m not a loser,” Newcombe says, warming to his theme.<\/p>\n

Shot over a period of eight years, the film purports to show the former friends turning into rivals as The Dandy Warhols’ career sky rockets, while BJM’s degenerates into on-stage brawls and substance abuse.<\/p>\n

Newcombe\u00a0claims the film that won the Sundance Film Festival<\/strong> Grand Jury prize for documentary, was not the edit that went on to play in cinemas.<\/p>\n

“I never saw myself up there on screen,” he explains. “I saw the actual film that won Sundance before it played the festival in a lawyer’s office. I gave them permission to show it. \u00a0It won, that movie won, however many of the people in the film declined to lend their image and\/or recordings, because I, and\/or it, made actual monkeys out of the machine. They changed the edit.”<\/p>\n

Adamant that he and Taylor-Taylor remain friends, Newcombe says he’s never bothered to watch the film.<\/p>\n

“To be honest this is the most I’ve talked about it, because I could[n’t] give a flying fuck. I\u00a0sell out concerts all over the world and own all of my masters.”<\/p>\n

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Picture by Katy Lane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Happily, though Dig!<\/em> suggests a band in terminal decline, both BJM and Newcombe are in rude health and riding high on the back of a clutch of critically-acclaimed recent albums like –\u00a0Revelation<\/i>;\u00a0Musique de Film Imagin\u00e9<\/i><\/strong>,\u00a0M<\/em>ini Album<\/strong>\u00a0Thingy<\/strong> Wingy, Third World Pyramid\u00a0<\/strong><\/i>and I Declare Nothing<\/strong><\/em> with\u00a0Tess Parks<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

We’re talking because Newcombe has been chosen to front the\u00a0Pure Phase Ensemble\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>at this year’s Gdansk-based\u00a0SpaceFest<\/strong><\/em>, which runs from December 2-3.<\/p>\n

Preceded by a weeklong series of workshops, PPE is an ephemeral group of musicians put together especially for the festival.<\/p>\n

Joining Newcombe and multi-instrumentalist\u00a0Emil Nikolaisen\u00a0<\/strong>in this year’s ensemble are members of Polish alternative bands and festival organiser\u00a0Nasiono Records<\/strong>\u2019 own\u00a0Karol Schwarz.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The PPE collective play live at the festival on December 3, with the show recorded for release as a CD in 2017.<\/p>\n

The latest in a line of top musicians to front PPE – ex-Ride\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>mainman Mark Gardener<\/strong> among them – Newcombe seems excited by the project.<\/p>\n

Working with\u00a0Nikolaisen<\/strong>\u00a0of Serena-Maneesh,\u00a0<\/strong>he hopes to direct the other players “to scalp an amazing evening of entertainment and sonic exploration – something way beyond just making noise for an hour”.<\/p>\n

But woe betide anyone who strays beyond his musical blueprint.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m not into bullshit,” he says. “For instance, if a group of people think it\u2019s fun to play one note full blast and noodle leads like Slash<\/strong> over the top of it, then pat themselves on the back, I\u2019ll just\u00a0split because i know for a fact i can create something amazing by myself.”<\/p>\n

Now 49, Newcombe has kicked drink and drugs and lives in Berlin, where he’s been based since 2010.<\/p>\n

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Picture by Mary Martley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Always prolific, he’s as active as ever, working on numerous projects with various musicians, while maintaining an active and open presence online and on social media.<\/p>\n

“I want to work non-stop,” he says, reeling off a list of people he’d like to team up with. including:\u00a0Bobby Gillespie<\/strong> and\u00a0Andrew Innes<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0Primal Scream<\/strong>,\u00a0The Jesus And Mary<\/strong> Chain<\/strong>‘s\u00a0Jim Reid, <\/strong>actress and singer\u00a0Asia Argento<\/strong>,\u00a0Melody’s Echo Chamber <\/strong>and Kevin Shields<\/strong> of\u00a0My Bloody Valentine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Constantly experimenting to try and “capture what I hear in my head,” he’s always thinking about the next project.<\/p>\n

“Right now I\u2019m striving to figure out the harpsichord part to Two Sisters<\/strong><\/em> by The Kinks<\/strong>,” he says. “I’m covering it with The\u00a0Limi\u00f1anas <\/strong>for a CD.”<\/p>\n

“I work in every way,” he goes on, “I\u00a0write walking down the street like Mozart – I play a drum beat and make things up, or pluck a note on a certain acoustic – it could be any way\u00a0–\u00a0but I\u00a0write non-stop.\u00a0I\u00a0don\u2019t share it all, but I write every day.”<\/p>\n

Newcombe says he enjoys the invisibility he has in Berlin and there’s no love lost for his homeland, particularly in the wake of Donald Trump<\/strong>‘s election win.<\/p>\n

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Picture by Shoko Ishikawa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“This is the absolute most ugly collection of Neanderthal neo-con fascist extremists cultivating serious bad energy from every direction,” he says, before going on to lambast “joke” liberals and accusing tabloids like The Sun<\/strong> and Daily Mail <\/strong>for being the\u00a0true proponents of fake news.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t sit and fucking scream at the newspaper and TV [about]\u00a0every outrageous thing all these global thugs do daily.<\/p>\n

“I need to work on my spiritual core –\u00a0and focus as if i\u2019ve just escaped a Nazi death camp and my plan is to fucking live no matter what\u2026because I\u00a0take all of this shit that seriously,” he says.<\/p>\n

So what can we expect from BJM in the near future?<\/p>\n

“Great shit,” he replies. “I will keep up the good fight. I\u00a0will never shut up, I\u00a0will call bullshit on anything or anyone – and fuck war.”<\/p>\n

It seems ridiculous to suggest, but having become a father, with a settled home life and a 26-year career behind him, has his music changed at all?<\/p>\n

“Well it\u2019s been quite awhile – over eight years so\u2026I dunno, listen to The\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Sun<\/strong>\u00a0Ship<\/strong><\/em> on youtube. – you tell me,” he says.<\/p>\n

Happy to oblige, thanks Anton.<\/p>\n

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