Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch appears on the cover of the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s latest full-length, Bravery Repetition and Noise. What is the “Ghost Dog” creator’s relationship to the band? Who knows. They are both amazing, young, creative forces out of SoCal, for one. Did I say young? Actually, the Brian Jonestown Massacre has been drowning audiences in psychedelic monsoons and droney tidal waves since the twentieth century — 1991 to be exact.
Their albums have vacillated in style from folk to heroin-chic and rock & roll to save your soul. 1998’s Strung Out in Heaven (TVT Records) was their most commercially successful recording to date, but their latest album is on the top of critics’ lists.
Bravery is a joint release on über-hip L.A. indie-label Bomp Records and their own label, Committee to Keep Music Evil. Hmmm, maybe reported bouts over master tapes with record executives at TVT Records had something to do with that choice of title.
BJM last played in Madison on Halloween 2001, and they rocked out the notorious Madison basement venue, The Vault. The crowded basement of kids from Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison all got a sugar high on the ’60s candy pop of opener Smallstone, then bottomed-out to the ’60s electric Kool Aid suicide of The Massacre. A basement is the ideal stage for the band’s dank and echoing sounds.
Jiji Johnson interviewed lead singer (and only original member) Anton Newcombe in Underscope magazine after the release of Methodrone. Anton talks about his fascination with all that doesn’t glitter.
“Not to be some tweaker paisley shirt guy, but 1967 was it. There was a sense that anything could happen — the youth culture and everything — and technologically, a lot of people did all the greatest, most amazing stuff. I love psychedelic music and the blues.”
True dat. But don’t be confused — Anton does wear paisley shirts and white corduroy jump suits, and frankly he is a little tweaked-out. Since the early nineties, Anton and his crew of rotating musicians have been reviving the real days of rock and roll. You’ve got to wonder if the Kelso haircut or the resurgence of, well, paisley shirts had anything to do with Anton’s followers and that whole underground style.
Later in the “Underscope” interview, he goes on to describe that intangible allure of the band’s instability.
“With us, there’s an energy when you can barely hold on to something. Watching it slip through your fingers.” Some might translate that characteristic into “hit or miss.” That kind of tension on stage, however, is undeniably exciting. The audience is so happy for them when they pull off their rickety rickshaw rock. Riveting.
Brian Jonestown Massacre performs tonight with touring act The Asteroid Number 4 and local boys Solid Gold at der Rathskeller in Memorial Union. Show starts at 9:30pm sharp. See BJM break promises and guitars and shit.
