Anton Newcombe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Anton Newcombe | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Anton Alfred Newcombe | |
| Born | August 29, 1967 | |
| Origin | Newport Beach, California | |
| Genre(s) | Neo-psychedelic Rock | |
| Years active | 1990-present | |
| Label(s) | Bomp! Records, TVT Records, Tee Pee Records | |
Anton Alfred Newcombe (born August 29, 1967, Newport Beach, California) is the founder, lead singer, lead guitarist, and head of the neo-psychedelic rock band, The Brian Jonestown Massacre. He currently resides in New York City.
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[edit] Early life
Anton Newcombe was born to Patsy Latschea and Robert Newcombe. According to his mother, he was often in trouble with the law as an adolescent for offenses such as curfew violation and growing and smoking marijuana. His father (an alcoholic later diagnosed with schizophrenia) abandoned him and his mother when he was young, and Anton Newcombe has stated his mother was emotionally distant. He later recounted this in his song "The Devil May Care (Mom & Dad Don't)", which he has attested is autobiographical.[1]
[edit] Music
A multi-instrumentalist, he claims to play over 80 musical instruments. Instruments that he has been credited as playing on albums or has been observed to play are the guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, sitar, tambura, moog synthesizer, mellotron, piano, accordion, organ, drums, cello, koto, samisen, mandolin, lute, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, and harmonica. Newcombe writes most of The Brian Jonestown Massacre's songs, though until the departure of band member Matt Hollywood, some of the band's songs were Hollywood's compositions. Newcombe is also heavily involved in post-production of his albums, often engineering and mixing them on his own. A prolific artist, he authored over 150 songs in a fifteen year period. He founded The Brian Jonestown Massacre in San Francisco, California, in 1990. Core members in the early years of the band were Matt Hollywood, Jeffrey Davies, Joel Gion, Travis Threlkel, Ricky Maymi, Brian Glaze, Mike Whitemann, Mike Sharperson and Dean Taylor, though the line up was subject to frequent changes. The Brian Jonestown Massacre broke-up in 1997 due to differing views and Anton's legendary fights with members of the band/audience. Drugs seemed to be wrecking his mind and his capacity to work with others. He now claims that he has been sober since 1999, and has been touring the world with a new group of musicians. He has cited as some of his musical influences The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Elvis, Donovan, The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, The Smiths, and My Bloody Valentine. He is known for his eclectic musical tastes, and reportedly has a vast collection of world music, including Indian, Arabic, and Spanish.
Newcombe has also worked with fellow 1960s revival bands, most notably The Dandy Warhols, The High Dials, The Manvils, Innaway, and The Quarter After. He also recorded and produced the indie rock group Dead Meadow's album Got Live if You Want It.
Unusual for a signed recording artist, all of his music is available on his official site for download in DRM-free formats.
[edit] The Committee to Keep Music Evil
Newcombe founded this record label, which has released albums by The Brian Jonestown Massacre (Bravery, Repetition and Noise and the re-release of Spacegirl and Other Favourites), The Lovetones (Be What You Want), and Dead Meadow (Got Live if You Want It). According to the official website, the purpose of the label is to "...release BJM music not available through other channels, and to record new bands which we will be producing from time to time, while pursuing the goal of making the world unsafe for rock and roll". [2] Many of the releases on this label are produced or engineered by Rob Campanella.
[edit] Eccentric behavior
Newcombe generally wears outfits evocative of the late 1960s and early 1970s, or other idiosyncratic garb, such as a cowboy outfit or serape. Sometimes this is done for obvious comedic effect, as in the case of his publicity stunt outside of the 1997 CMJ Music Marathon, where he presented attendees with his own records, while wearing an oversized furry hat, roller skates, and dark sunglasses (at night). He is fond of dramatic and unusual phrasings to get his point across; when complaining about other musicians supposedly stealing ideas from him, he remarked: "I don't like being robbed from, it's highly against the law", and in regard to his policy of distributing his music online: "The Beatles were for sale, I give it away. I'm not for sale." Once, when asked how he got a rare item, he responded: "Because I am the son of God and I take whatever I need." He admittedly has a very clear idea of how he wants his music to sound and is generally not receptive to input from other band members, which has led to friction with his bandmates in the past. "I don't want to compromise...people [other musicians] want to throw in something quirky. It becomes a train wreck."[3] He has expressed fascination in cult leaders, notably Jim Jones (of whom his band was partially named for, via the famous mass suicide of 1978) and Charles Manson, and in secret societies such as the Masons. He is also well known for several battles with drugs, seriously compromising his work and the patience of his bandmates. Newcombe has stated on the Massacre's website that he has been clean since 1999.
[edit] Controversy and conflicts with other artists
He is known for his somewhat volatile personality. At the Viper Room show in 1996, he became involved in a fist-fight on stage with his own band. As several music industry representatives were in attendance, many people feel this incident resulted in him not being signed to a major label (in this case, Elektra Records). In an incident made famous in the 2004 Ondi Timoner documentary DiG!, he kicked a scornful audience member in the head, resulting in his arrest for assault. (Newcombe himself is critical of the film DiG!, calling it "a series of punch-ups and mishaps taken out of context, and at worst, bold-faced lies and misrepresentation of fact.")[4] He is quite frank with his opinions on other musicians. During Lollapalooza 2005, he mocked and insulted Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, whom he called "The poster child for legalized abortion". In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, he dismissed the legacy of Eric Clapton in rock music, and referred to 1991 incident where Clapton's 4-year old son fell to his death: "People talk about Eric Clapton. What has he ever done except throw his baby off a fucking ledge and write a song about it?"[5]
His feud with Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy Warhols was long standing, as well as those with his ex-band members, Matt Hollywood and Joel Gion. He once sent a "care package" to the Dandy Warhols which contained several menacing items, the worst of which were a collection of four shotgun shells with the Dandy Warhols' names written on them. (Newcombe later explained this was a joke). Courtney Taylor-Taylor has stated that he has always been very fond of Anton, and he truly believes that Anton is a musical genius. However, when the Dandy's took off, Anton began to say that they sold out and haven't stayed true to themselves. The Dandy Warhols and BJM played two shows together in Portland and Seattle in September 2006. Matt Hollywood even joined the new BJM onstage for a few songs. Joel Gion has also rejoined the band frequently. Most of the passion of the so-called feud has ended.
[edit] Personal life
Adding to an already tumultuous family history, his father, Robert Newcombe took his own life on Anton's birthday in 1997. He has battled substance abuse (heroin, alcohol, marijuana) in the past, but he states he has been "clean" since 1999. Newcombe has one child, a son (Hermann Oliver Vessey), by the actress Tricia Vessey (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Coming Soon).
[edit] References
- ^ Timoner, Ondi (Director). DiG! [DVD]. United States of America: Palm Pictures/Interloper Films.
- ^ The Committee to Keep Music Evil/Bomp! Mailorder (No Date). Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
- ^ Huhn, Mary (2004). Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective (Liner Notes), United States of America: Tee Pee Records. TPE-059.
- ^ Newcombe, Anton (January 30, 2004). Dig Statement. Retrieved on 2006-07-22.
- ^ Anton Newcombe on Hendrix, Clapton (May 25, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
[edit] External links
| The Brian Jonestown Massacre |
| Anton Newcombe | Matt Hollywood | Joel Gion Peter Hayes | Jeffrey Davies | Rob Campanella | Miranda Lee Richards | Dean Taylor | Ricky Maymi | Frankie "Teardrop" Emerson | Collin Hegna | Daniel Allaire | Raugust |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums and extended plays: Spacegirl & Other Favorites | Methodrone | Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request | Take It From The Man! | Thank God For Mental Illness | Give It Back! | Strung Out in Heaven | Bringing it All Back Home - Again | Bravery, Repetition and Noise | And This Is Our Music | Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective | We Are the Radio |
| Related articles |
| DiG! | Ondi Timoner | Bomp! Records |
