The Brian Jonestown Massacre has today released their new single titled ‘Don’t Look At Me’ featuring Aimee Nash (The Black Ryder). Like a wall of sound that starts with a simple beat before hitting that wall with a suave feeling and smooth grandiose guitar and bass, The Brian Jonestown Massacre include Aimee Nash into their woven sonic fray with all of the subtle signature nuances that instantly say BJM.
My first thought is how BJM can stay the course of that balancing act of remaining signature, relevant and fresh with each new release, but, here it is. Steady chug with that atmosphere laying just above ground. Different from their other tracks and set aside from whatever else is out there, BJM and Aimee team up and dive in with a song that was definitely that ‘aha’ moment during the writing process.
Check out our exclusive interview with The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Joel Gion HERE.
About The Brian Jonestown Massacre & ‘Don’t Look At Me’
Anton Newcombe, frontman, songwriter, composer, studio owner, multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer, father, force of nature – has collaborated with Aimee Nash – Australian singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer and co-founding member of Australian duo The Black Ryder – to release the first Brian Jonestown Massacre music since the 2023 album ‘The Future Is Your Past’.
It is over 30 years since the release of the first BJM single She Made Me / Evergreen. Released in 1992, as the British music press descended on the US to anoint the next US guitar band as flavor of the month and major labels were on the hunt for the compliant hopefuls to be their latest quick fix, Anton Newcombe had an idea: say no. As leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Newcombe had already established himself as a visionary songwriter, a man to whom making music wasn’t a lifestyle choice or a hipster haircut but the very fabric of existence itself, and he had observed in silent horror as his peers meekly acquiesced to everything – yes to contracts, yes to management, yes to suggestions, yes to this, yes to that, yes, yes, yes. But he was different. Anton Newcombe was going to say no to everything. “I just knew I would be more successful in a certain way by saying no, just being contrary because I figured that if people liked me they were gonna like me anyway,” he says. “Or dislike me. It doesn’t matter.”
Much of this was documented on the controversial documentary ‘Dig!’, which is still hailed as one of the best rock documentaries ever made, and celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year. The remastered, expanded version premiered at Sundance in January.
Brian Jonestown Massacre’s shoegazing-tinged debut album Methodrone was released in 1995 and since then numerous band members have joined Newcombe on his sonic escapades, but he has remained the sole constant, the creative mastermind at the centre of one of music’s most fascinating bands. There have been a further 20 albums under the Brian Jonestown Massacre moniker since then, each embarking on their own mind-expanding adventure and exploring the outer realms of rock’n’roll; psychedelic rock, country-blues, snarling rock’n’roll, blissed-out noise-pop and more.
Along the way, Newcombe has established himself as a once-in-a-lifetime talent who saw the direction in which mainstream indie-rock was heading and opted to take the long way round. He’s emerged as a revolutionary force in modern music, an underground hero. There was no other way, this was how it had to be. “My only option with everything in life has always been that you just jump into the fire,” he declares. “It doesn’t matter what it is.”
It’s with that spirit that he’s hopped around the globe, from the West Coast to New York, from Manhattan to Iceland, and then to Berlin, where he’s lived for 15 years and has two flats, one to live in and one that’s been converted into his studio.
After a hugely prolific 2010s that saw the release of eight long-players and one mini-album, Newcombe had been going through a period of writer’s block when one day he picked up his 12-string guitar and The Real (the opening track on previous album Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees) came out of him. Like the kraken, it was as if he’d summoned it. “All of a sudden, I just heard something,” he says. “And then it just didn’t stop. We tracked a whole song every single day for 70 days in a row.” By the end of it they had 2 albums ready to go. Joining Newcombe in the studio for The Future Is Your Past were Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar) and Uri Rennert (drums).
There is no such thing as a defining statement in Anton Newcombe’s world anymore, just more chapters that contribute to the tale. “Nobody can stop me, I’m not asking somebody, I’m not making the rounds at Warners, saying ‘please put out my record!’. It’s just for me,” he says. He hopes he can be an inspiration to others. “I would love to see more groups, people playing music in the UK and everywhere else because I really enjoy it. That’s the only reason I need. It’s the only reason to do stuff.” That hits to the core of what makes Anton Newcombe and Brian Jonestown Massacre tick. He’ll keep jumping in that fire. That’s how he rolls. Savour it.
Brian Jonestown Massacre released their 20th full-length studio album The Future Is Your Past, in February 2023 on Anton’s record label A Recordings. In 2022 / 2023 they completed a massive world tour that saw them play 34 dates in North America, 25 dates across Europe and 16 dates in the UK.
Brian Jonestown Masscare will embark on an 18-date UK and Europe tour on 28th January 2025 in Hamburg. They will kick off the UK leg of the tour on 1st February in Bexhill.
Featured image by Francis Dalacroix.
LINKS:
https://www.brianjonestownmassacre.com/
https://www.instagram.com/thebrianjonestown/
https://www.youtube.com/user/bjmworld
https://www.facebook.com/thebrianjonestownmassacre/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/30uiS1n3uIGXJEYFR1GVDy
https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCXybUoBoCwQntpbpblywN4Q
