That doesn't entirely capture how open Newcombe can be with his fans, however, connecting with them online via Dead TV or his Soho radio broadcasts, broadcasting entire tours via the internet, and generally just interacting with his listeners more than one might expect, bringing people together worldwide around their participation in this community - members of which have used the term "family," to talk about the bonds they feel - not just with the band, but between each other. I have plenty of people in my life who I've connected with because of music, but what I've observed (from outside, mind you) of the BJM "family" is actually rather special, perhaps a bit closer-knit than most families of this sort.
That line is like fantasyland! ....It’s the little kid in me, full-on St. George shit. It’s as much a declaration of anything that I could ever muster. A lot of the album is about affirmation by just living. Existentially, this time period has felt pretty dark, so it’s about fighting the good fight. I’m singing to empower other people. First of all, I’m getting whatever I need out of it, but I can see it as something other people can identify with... I'm trying to give comfort and support to the listener in a very matter of fact kind of way.
There are no rules, however we try and learn an hours worth of extra songs then switch it up everyday slightly- this tour’s setlist is over half unreleased music, but it is very strong so I don’t think it matters.
Are the videos for “The Real” and “Ineffable Mindfuck” are your work – where are the images coming from? Are there filmmakers whose visual aesthetic we should acknowledge? (“Kenneth Anger Meets Roger Corman?”)
My friend Mrs Muddles makes all them for us.
Do I gather you have recently recovered some stolen instruments, and that some of those are with you on this tour? How does it feel to be playing guitars stolen so long ago? Has getting those guitars back influenced your current music or your setlists…?
They are great guitars, and it was a real tragedy when all of our gear was stolen on tour. Fortunately I was able to replace everything and more but at the same time, all of my gear is old and all of it unique. I’m very lucky to get a few things back after 15 years, to be able to write and record these new album then tour with them is fantastic.
Do you often pick up instruments while you tour? What are you looking for on the road these days? Do you have places on this tour that you are looking forward to returning to, or shopping at…? (Do you pick up a lot else on the road – records, keepsakes?).
I do search for deals on old stuff, last tour I shipped 869
kilos of amps and things back, this time I’m searching for a Hammond b3 etc
Do I gather that you have a practice of doing a draw for two tickets to people who donate to Oxfam? How does it work?
It’s very simple, everyday I ask people to make a donation and show proof, I count the number of donations then pick a winner or sometimes five winners via a random number generator.
I have experienced from my limited travels that audiences are vastly different from culture to culture. Are there places – audiences in this country or that - that “get” you better than others, that listen to you better than others, that annoy you or confuse you or pleasantly surprise you? Do you have peeves, when it comes to audiences? (Any advice on “How to be a Good Audience Member?”)
Everyone seems pretty respectful and just enjoying
themselves lately - who wants to stand next to some drunk jerk yelling stuff
anyway.
Why the cat on the album cover? (It looks a bit like Robyn Hitchcock’s cat, Tubby, except Tubby only has one eye). Are you a cat person – do you have pets?
End that portion of the interview - this is Allan again: My final question was a bit involved - and Anton's answer was extremely concise, but too provocative not to include. Y'see, I have always utterly loved the bandname of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, linking Brian Jones, his death, and the cultish elements of rock and roll. It always reminds me of something Efrim Menuck once observed when I interviewed him about a Richards on Richards show by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - we'd been talking about Nina Simone and Phil Ochs, but could as easily have been talking about Brian Jones:
In the personal lives of people who are engaged in this thing of making music, there are no happy endings. There are plenty of, like, cautionary tales, tragically short lives, it’s just…It’s a train wreck. The history of modern popular music is a train wreck. It’s got all these sort of like utopian ideas bubbling everywhere, like a song can make you feel like you’re not alone in the world, that there’s purpose to your life, music has that power... but at the same time, if you dig deep and you look at the story behind it, it’ll just break your heart in 20 million places. It’s like a sucker’s game... So, out of love of music and out of making music, you end up making your own sort of hall of saints and you write your own little, what’s the word, catechisms, the Catholic thing there... those little books that teach you how to pray proper? You write your own little catechisms, if you’re a certain type of personality.
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