February 8, 2003
Interview with Anton Newcombe
By: Aaron Brophy
www.chartattack.com
[ChartAttack]: So you've just re-released your early album Spacegirl And Other Favorites, you've got a live record on the way called Got Live If You Want It and you've got three other records in the works. What's that all about?
[Anton Newcombe]: It's about being super creative! I have always been super-productive, I just choose not to share everything. I feel like it's a very important time to go full-force. If we don't set the pace the biz is just going to repackage heavy metal and grunge. My label [The Committee To Keep Music Evil] is kicking ass worldwide now. We're driven not by sales, dollars or volume but rather by integrity. I re-released Spacegirl because people were paying $150 U.S. per copy on eBay and [I] felt bad. Go to our website [www.brianjonestownmassacre.com] and download all of our songs for free right now. We are taking over the world.
[ChartAttack]: Early on in BJM's history you were pretty prolific, but then things slowed down dramatically for a few years. What's been the catalyst for the current, renewed burst of creativity?
[Anton Newcombe]: This world sucks ass. This is an accepted fact. I could conform, but why? I would much rather move as the spirit moves me. See, in case you don't know, I live in a world of my own creation. I do as I please. My credibility is not in question. I am a man of good standing in my community and I mind my own business. Free and accepted. Simple as that really.
[ChartAttack]: More and more often you're being credited with shepherding bands like The Dandys, BRMC, Vue, Warlocks and a number of others. In many ways, you're the Mudhoney - the first one on the block - compared to the Pearl Jams and Nirvanas who ended up getting more mainstream attention. How do you reconcile being in a position like that?
[Anton Newcombe]: Well it's fucking true and it goes much further back. Singapore Sling and many international acts... but wait a goddamn second, before the BJM I had been playing in garage bands in Southern California since 1980. We have videos of us doing the Spaceman 3 trip in '81-'82. I was influenced by the same records and spirit. My partner [Greg Shaw] runs Bomp Records; he put out Flaming Groovies in '72 and started the Oracle in San Francisco when he was 16. Harry Smith collections, dusty 78s and the Folkways Anthology that Dylan used to hear. Lightning Hopkins, Alan Lomax and others that came before him. This story is old. I just carry the torch so that others might see the path. Illumination.
[ChartAttack]: What do you think of the fact that The Dandys seem to have gone all new wave?
[Anton Newcombe]: "I Am Sound" is a 100 per cent rip-off of one of my songs. I don't like their new album, but they're my friends so I just mind my own business. The real question is "What are people going to think about BJM's new album And This Is Our Music?" I'm going to rip this world a new asshole. The cover says "Tomorrow's heroes today." What do you think I meant by those words?
[ChartAttack]: The Wilderbeat Festival is going to be a gathering of like-minded mod/rock/psych fans that's near unique these days. Describe the spirit you envision for an event like this:
[Anton Newcombe]: I like the idea of being able to see a lot of my Canadian friends in an open setting outside of a club. I know that if my health holds up we will put on the best show out of everyone. I'm not impressed by the roster. I'm doing this because I respect my brother, [promoter] Mr. Davy Love. We go way back.
[ChartAttack]: Are you familiar with any of the other bands on the bill, like The Gruesomes, High Dials or The Sights?
[Anton Newcombe]: Some of those bands have opened up for us. I don't give a flying karate penis kick one way or the other. I would be impressed if Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan could come back to life and perform. I hate fashion. It's almost fascism, really. Think about it.
[ChartAttack]: What do you think about The Rolling Stones' playing for 450,000 people in Toronto?
[Anton Newcombe]: I wish they would follow one of the following examples: make like Brian Jones or Gram Parsons. It's time for them to step aside really. The magic is gone. I could play any one of their songs with Charlie Watts better than them. Put me with The Chemical Brothers and I will have people humping the air and slipping in their own juices. The thing that made the Stones so great was sex. Who would fuck any of those people nowadays besides Charlie? A sick person. That's the fact.
[ChartAttack]: Do you think it's a coincidence that Canada got Mad Cow Disease and SARS shortly after we declared we wouldn't participate in the War On Iraq?
[Anton Newcombe]: There are public and private think tanks all around the world. These people are paid to come up with wacky scenarios. Nothing is impossible, everything is permitted.
Like I say, politics imply policy. My policy is to dwell in a world of my own creation. I don't believe in conspiracy. I believe in the power of the one almighty God. There is no God but God and I am his servant. These folks can do nothing to hurt me. I am what I am.
The fact is I write love songs for a living. I employ people. I entertain. I respect what is respectable. I speak the truth. Thy will be done.