Planet Notion - When Dangerous Dave met Anton Newcombe

Surely you’ve seen DiG!? The greatest rock ‘n’ roll documentary, like, ever. Certainly a supreme contender alongside Cocksucker Blues; though in fairness, Cocksucker Blues was banned because it was so wrought with the kind of - “we can‘t have our kids watching this filth” - material you‘d expect from the Stones in the peak of a drug-ingested heroin haze. In fact, the Stones felt they were portrayed badly and so banned CB themselves, which is why it’s an interesting point in relation to Anton Newcombe.

Anyway, the fact is that if Newcombe, the wild, eccentric, genius of American underground garage band the Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM), had his way, DiG! (tracking the BJM on the road with the Dandy Warhol’s with ‘rock star’ incidents around every fucking corner and under every crack) would be banned. Or would it?

See, Newcombe’s a kind of contradictory study. On the one hand he feels betrayed by the documentary film’s makers, who he claims “misrepresented” his character (drugs and fighting and tantrums and the like), and on the other hand DiG’s being re-released as a special edition DVD to coincide with the release of the BJM’s new album ‘My Bloody Underground’ (MBU).

This is either a very clever PR stunt by the Brian Jonestown Massacre, or a means of cashing in on the new album (the original subject matter of this interview) by the makers of DiG. In which case Anton’s probably pretty pissed-off because he does have a tendency to snap. (I say original subject of this interview because like all the best laid plans the new album became buried under verbal onslaughts and any structure went belly-up).

In fact, DiG! and ‘My Bloody Underground’ are released so close together, they’re practically touching nipple. Anyway, here’s the lowdown. Anton’s an ex-junky, who hates people breaking his sitar “man” and has an ego that’s, like, a cross between Liam Gallagher’s testicles and Axl Rose's bell-end. Alas, the BJM’s music is fucking great, and they have like thirteen full-length LP's, delving into everything from psychedelic rock to world music, and every in-between you could possibly find along the way. ‘Their Satanic Majesties Second Request’ (paying homage to the Stones’ psychedelic masterpiece ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request‘) is literally a work of brilliance.

Anyway, Planet Notion caught up with Newcombe to talk, rant, and almost fight in a sort of “wildly anticipating a verbal onslaught because the photographer guy from another mag told me Anton threatened to kill him”, kind of way. If you don’t read this “you’re not gonna make it to the tube station man” because I, or Anton (who was apparently hitting the vodka throughout the interview day), will kill you. Only kidding; though, seriously, Anton might actually kill you……… Have you seen DiG!?

Not really, I did an EP and I’ve been producing other people’s records too, and raising a son and doing all that good stuff; and travelling and playing, y’know? Getting acquainted with all of Europe and all that stuff, y’know?

Ah - It was the best, I had my own studio, y’know? And I had the keys to many peoples studios, and it’s just like… It’s easier to kind of control people I think, from like, fucking off and being like “Oh, my girlfriend just called, she says she’s gonna screw the next door neighbour”, or something, “and I can’t do the bass track”. It’s just easier to be in another environment and, I don’t care if the people I play with live show-up or don’t show-up to do records, that’s not important, y’know? You can just pull people out of a pub and make a midnight choir. If you get the right people, y’know? You’re just, like, “let’s do this!”

Well, I was talking for a long time about doing something over here… I might end up doing it in Oxford, I don’t know, but I’m gonna work on that; I’m working on five albums right now. It would be great to come over here and do it; if we could get people to just work for… just… Look, it’s not like working in Boots or something, just: “Thirty-minutes, hmm, okay we’ve got the track let’s go”, pump, pump, pump and work like that, y’know? It’s different.

Mmm, and the new album's taken a different musical direction, right? From how the Brian Jonestown Massacre have approached material in the past. I mean, the title, ‘My Bloody Underground’ suggests that you’ve taken the music on this album in a similar direction to ‘My Bloody Valentine’…

Erm, well, y’know, I have videos before they had that band, of… Y’know, when they started they sounded like ‘The Cramps’, y’know and I’m full into Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine guitarist/singer). But the album has nothing to do with them specifically… Not taking anything away from Kevin because he’s a genius and he touched people on a way deeper level, I think, than I have. I don’t know, but I assume, y’know?

Yeah, just kind of, just a little bit. And people are really interested in Kevin’s stuff; it’s just a different animal in a way to the album (MBU). Like a kindred spirit - just a different beast. In the way that a Cheetah’s different from a Tiger. Hey, you’ve got fangs; speaking of that, you’ve got fangs!

Well, Mark Gardner from Ride, but… I don’t know what that means because I don’t really look at my shoes, y'know? Zipping laser beams and communicating with other planets is really a completely different thing… I just like all kinds of stuff… Y’know, we recorded videos to everything?

The new album, EP’s, everything; we’re making videos for everything, and they’re all on YouTube. You can just download them right now; you don’t have to buy the record. But it’s not in the same state, it’s just in one state. But it’s automatic music for the people…

THEY MOVED TOWARDS ME! All our music’s been online for years, we had 90 million downloads, Radiohead copied me! I’m friends with Perry-Watts Russell - that signed them - they don’t give a good-god -damn! I did the greatest mash-up ever! I did the Chemical Brothers ‘Don’t Hold Back’ on top of ‘A Place for Everything and Everything in it’s Place’ [Radiohead: ‘Everything in it’s Right Place’] and blew everyone off the planet!

I don’t want to be recognised! Why would I want to be recognised? I’ve got my beautiful wife right here, my Welsh beauty, do you think we want to be hassled by a load of kids? You see where it got Britney Spears right; and Winona Ryder and, erm, Amy Winehouse and all these fucks?

I don’t. But then I’m an actual artist. I’m not a guy in a record shop, or a journalist, and so… I think she’s good for business obviously, but, whatever. It can be a lot of things and be art. It could be a sculpture; it could be many things to different people. It could be, erm, you know there was that song?

Well you know where that’s from? It’s from when they were marching out the trenches in World War One and someone said “Stiff upper lip” to all these mustard-gas, bloody-eyed guys, a teenager arm-in-arm. And he said let’s sing “My eyes have seen the glory” and somebody just said - “This is ridiculous…”

They were like “I’m blind from a German mustard-gas attack and I’m coughing up blood and you’re telling me to sing ‘My eyes have seen the glory’ because you guys are just, like, being jerks”.

And somebody started singing it and that’s why the Rugby guys sing it in the pub. And that’s like reality. And Amy Winehouse will never write a song or anything spiritually on that level… And that’s like beans on toast right there… For 50p…

What are you into? There’s so many beautiful women in London, I can’t understand why you’d be sitting here talking to a man. But whatever you’re into. But, think of the women!? What about the woman in Camden town? Top of the double decker bus - straight into the overhead. Could you imagine reading The Sun; you’re looking at the Page 3 girl and - 'BAM' - it’s a roman arch straight in your FACE! You’re laying in the street, Camden markets burnt down, what are you gonna do? How blue are your eyes by the way?

[At this point Anton and I retire outside for a cigarette break, leaving his Welsh beauty alone but for our empty glasses. Anton seems quite tense and, after stubbing out his cigarette, hurries back to his maid. When I return the BJM frontman is fondling a list of my interview questions and decides to read through them whilst I order another whiskey]

Your Uni, I don’t care where you went, didn’t prepare you for hyper-intelligence so here we go…‘I’m not trying to blow you or anything, but it’s a good return. How does it feel to be back in the studio?’ Well, y’know, it’s a very interesting experience and I’ve been recording the whole time, for a great many band, I just don’t like to talk about it, so…

‘And the highs and the lows of‘… Erm, I know that people aren’t going to understand this work, but it’s music, you’re supposed to listen to it. You don’t even have to understand Van Gogh to enjoy his pictures or why he cut-off his ear and there’s a painting of him with a bandage… That’s just reality. It’s like “How can you own a sunset?” Literally, y’know, you don’t have to. And perspective… Not every setting sun that drops below the water is drowning - it’s just your perspective. Right... Talking about DiG! they’re getting sued by my barrister, so…

[Holding up hand - agitated] EXCUSE ME! Mid-sentence my good man! They’re getting sued for, erm, absolutely misrepresenting the facts. So I’m waiting ’til both of the two people… I’m waiting until these toddlers are an age when they can sleep in cars because I’m taking their houses away. They’re automatically losing their houses… Because, y'know, that shit got busted for LSD, NOT ME! I basically saved her car with a 'masonic shake' and that’s basically it in a nutshell. Next! The question is ‘Do you thrive for perfection in your bandmates’…NO!

Okay, just chill-out. I’m really good at this, you’re not as good at fighting as me, I swear to god. [Anton raises a clenched fist and points towards it clearly agitated] LOOK AT THAT FUCKING PURPLE HEART MAN!? You don’t wanna feel it!

YOU WILL NOT MAKE IT TO THE TUBE STOP! You need to cool your boots and listen. ‘Do you still thrive for perfection in your bandmates?’ NO! Actually I chose a load of roommates, retards actually, because I thought it was hilarious that we all, erm, are broken to make, erm, an inverse to everybody looking cool and dressing in Rolling Stones shirts and instead have people that could barely function and blowing away everybody that just went down in flames…

Now, excuse me, just listen; this’ll be interesting, you might just learn something. “What would you say to those people that say DiG! helped bring the Brian Jonestown Massacre into the public gaze?” Well, the first thing is, they only helped, they didn’t do the work. They just bought a fucking video or viewed it. That says more about the individual…There’s lots of people… We’ve done a lot of things, y’know? We’ve helped a lot of bands. So that’s nothing to do with anything. What about me and my friend invented MySpace? What would you say about every fucking band using MySpace?

OKAY! SO THERE! I just didn’t take three-hundred-and-sixty-five million for it! I’m not into that, we just used a social-networking, erm, model and I took it to the next level from Friendster and before that from Spark paths to that. And I’ve been using it from the beginning of computer dating and you can look back to Kraftwerk in 76 with computer lab. EXCUSE ME! And I was using PG Wave forms in 1979. So end of discussion. You don’t even know, you weren’t even born when I was using computers, so you’re an echo of me!

Okay, so here we go. “What do you make from the adulation you’ve received from pretty high places, Iggy Pop for example?” I AND GREG SHAW own all of IGGY POP’S BACK CATALOGUE! So, Iggy understands that! Greg Shaw started Bomp [records], we’re co-owners of that! Greg’s dead - my godson Tristan and I own all of Iggy’s shit. Besides the electro remixes that were tame enough for public. PERIOD!

He’s great, he should be an inspiration to you. Okay, “You’ve taken a new direction with this album, is it your view that music shouldn’t be confined by boundaries?” Of course, it is open to interpretation just like the Louvre is and everything in it. I really don’t like the headphone tour of it where you’re boogieing down with somebody explaining to you what to think about the paintings. You should really make your own mind up about that stuff.

“Okay let’s talk about commercial bands versus non-commercial bands. I’m not talking the likes of Radiohead or The White Stripes, I’m talking about the whole hip-hop boom…” Me and Matt Dike created, y’know, Delicious Vinyl, that bought… Y’know, the ghetto boys and all that stuff. I bought the drum set that Kevin [?] played the hip-hop beat on that started the sampling, that started the Chemical Brothers. So we’re way ahead of you! Pro-tools? I was using sound-designer - all over this stuff - before Rick Rubin and all that crap! So California all the way…

I think they’re equal parts arsehole and you cannot confuse the artist with the art. And… I just know he was murdered by their whole organisation; I’ll just leave it at that so… I don’t know what you think is fair…

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve seen the Viper Room footage, and you can be quite cruel to band mates?” Well, you didn’t see what happened about the Viper Room, but basically I had a loaded gun and a stun-gun on me! I was playing and people threw a broken tambourine right into my eye. And it was a set-up that they were doing. There’s more on that! All I know is that I walked out of there pretty clean with a broken sitar.

I’d climb up from the bottom of a patch, I’m not gonna be beat-up by people, especially when I didn’t do anything! It was a set-up. I just don’t do that. First of all, I never kick or hurt people when they’re down. I mean, I’ll let them get-up, and tell ‘em like “You’ve gotta end this.” I’ll put my head into a wall once and fall down, y’know, but if I punched someone’s glasses off I’d pick up you’re glasses because you’re gonna need ‘em. Straight-up! I’ll never give-up! I don’t care how hard you beat me down, you’re not gonna beat me, you’re not gonna keep me down, never! I’m like… Chumbawumba!

IT DOESN’T MATTER! I’m gonna end this thing and you can speak to yourself on the fucking tube! I don’t give a good god-damn! “How influential have you been on the success of previous bandmates?” Peter Hayes [Black Rebel Motorcycle Club] I taught him how to play guitar so you figure it out! Get sound scan, get people and figure out how many records they’ve sold! I dunno! That’s the fact! Peter Hayes, I taught him how to play guitar - high five! “How happy are you with the current line-up?” Well, It’s not unpredictable, we’ve been doing this since, like 2000, so that’s longer than…

IT DOESN’T MATTER! When I’m in the dialogue I’m in the dialogue! Your mental notes… We can talk afterwards about what’s been said, I’m moving this along, because my time’s too valuable. I have forty-nine paid employees, I don’t know what you’re doing; fetching FUCKING COFFEES…

I GIVE AWAY MORE MONEY TO OXFAM THAN YOU WILL EVER MAKE! I’m not well paid! Smell my shoes I’ve been walking in these for two years! I work very hard… I’m not gonna have a discussion about this!

The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s thirteenth full-length studio album ‘My Bloody Underground’ is released on March 31st. The DiG! Special Edition (2 Disc) DVD is released on March 24th… Just don’t tell Anton, right? Words: Dangerous Dave Dryden