The Brian Jonestown Massacre

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The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Also known as	BJM The BJM
Genre(s)	Psychedelic rock
Years active	1990 – present
Members
Anton Newcombe Collin Hegna Frankie Emerson Frankie Teardrop Ricky Maymi Daniel Allaire Joel Gion Rob Campanella
Former members
Matt Hollywood Dean Taylor Dave Koenig Kirpatrick Thomas Mike Sharperson Jeffrey Davies Miranda Lee Richards Peter Hayes Matthew J. Tow Reggie Shumway Bobby Hecksher Raugust

The Brian Jonestown Massacre (frequently abbreviated as BJM or The BJM) are a neo-psychedelic rock band founded in San Francisco, California, in the early 1990s, led by Anton Newcombe.

Contents 1 Line-up 2 Name 3 Music 4 Soundtrack and television 5 Related acts 6 Lineups 7 Discography 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Line-up

Since its formation, the band has undergone a large number of personnel changes. Multi-instrumentalist and main songwriter Anton Newcombe is the only member who has stayed with the Brian Jonestown Massacre since its beginning, when it was founded by Newcombe and guitarist/bassist/vocalist Matt Hollywood.

The current line-up of The BJM consists of members:

• Frankie member since March,2000. A multi-instrumentalist,notable for his 12-string guitar work in BJM. Member of the Screen Actors Guild. Also involved with bands, Spindrift The Situation and many more....
• Ricky Rene Maymi, a guitarist and founding member of The BJM. Ricky started out in the original line-up for the band as a drummer. (He was recently replaced by Irina Yaikowsky, who was in turn replaced by Ricky again).
• Rob Campanella, a Los Angeles-based studio producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist. He plays organ, guitar and keyboard for The BJM. He has worked with bands such as The Tyde, Beachwood Sparks, Dead Meadow, Mia Doi Todd, Frausdots, Scarling., and his own band, The Quarter After.
• Collin Hegna, a bass guitarist, also a song-writer/musician in his own band, Federale^[1].
• Dan Allaire, a drummer, most noticeable for his powerful style of drumming.

There are at least two dozen musicians who have been in The Brian Jonestown Massacre at one point or another. Former members include:

• Joel Gion, Tambourine Man and "Spokesperson for the Revolution", a founding member and currently a front man for San Francisco indie/garage rock band, The Dilettantes. Gion clocked the most time with Newcombe and has quit and rejoined the band more times than anyone else. He now performs with The BJM as an on/off member.
• Matt Hollywood, a founding member and primarily a bass guitarist in the band for roughly seven years. Hollywood was also a founding member of Portland-based indie rock band, The Out Crowd, before going on to create his newest band, The Rebel Drones.
• Jeff Davies, a founding member and guitarist for The BJM from 1992 to 1999, rejoining in 2001, only to quit again in 2003. He is currently a guitarist in the folk rock/country/pop group, The Burlington Family. He has also been involved with the bands, The Tulips, and Smallstone.
• Dean Taylor, an early member and guitarist for the band, he is currently a member of the shoegaze/indie rock band, The Mandarins. Taylor left The BJM permanently in 1998.
• Peter Hayes, a guitarist for the band. Hayes is a founding member of San Francisco-based rock trio, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
• Brad Artley, a member and drummer for The BJM. He was also a former member for the post-punk rock band, The Richmond Sluts. He appeared in DiG!.
• Miranda Lee Richards, a part time member providing vocals and guitar accompaniment. She is also a solo recording artist.
• Brian Glaze, an original member and drummer for The BJM. He is currently a solo artist and member of the psych rock band, The Gris Gris.
• Tommy Dietrick, an early member and former bassist for The BJM. He is currently a member of the band, Sky Parade.
• Jeff Levitz, a short-term member and guitarist for the band.
• Sune Rose Wagner, a part-time member, a founding member of Psyched up Janis, The Tremolo Beer Gut and The Raveonettes.
• Bobby Hecksher, a part-time member, he is a founding member of Los Angeles-based neo-psychedelic/hard rock band, The Warlocks.
• Matthew J. Tow, a part-time member/collaborator, a founding member of Australia's answer to The BJM, Melbourne-based neo-psychedelic rock band, The Lovetones. He was also a former member of the band, Drop City.
• Dave Koenig, a part-time member, he is also a member of the neo-psychedelic rock band, Spindrift and The Clean Prophets.
• Lenny Pops, a short-term member, is also a founding member of rock band, The Red Hearts and The Snakes.
• Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo, a short-term member and drummer in 1998. He is also a member of the rock bands, Chokebore, Shadow Project, and Christian Death 1334.
• Tony O'Neill, a short-term member and keyboardist/organist for the band. He was also a former member of the band, Southpaw, and is now a published author.

Much has been made of the fact that Newcombe is head-strong and has just one vision in mind: his own. However, many of the musicians who quit his band have stayed in his orbit and continue working with him in some capacity. Newcombe was, at one point, a drummer in Hecksher's band, The Warlocks. Rob Campanella produces and engineers many of the records on Newcombe's record label, The Committee to Keep Music Evil/'a records'. Gion is forever showing back up shaking the tambourine at BJM shows. Ricky Rene Maymi was a drummer in an early incarnation of the band, then came back playing guitar several years later, and has since quit and rejoined the band at least once. Even The Dandy Warhols appear to have buried the hatchet with Newcombe, as he joined them onstage at Lollapalooza in July 2005, with Matt Hollywood.

[edit] Name

Newcombe's art is heavily influenced by the surrealist techniques of pastiche and image appropriation, and this influence is readily apparent in the name and logo of the band. The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a portmanteau of the name of original member and guitarist of The Rolling Stones, Brian Jones, and the infamous mass cult suicide at Jonestown, Guyana. The name was also a reaction against a trend toward monosyllabic band names at the time, in particular the British bands Ride, Lush and Blur.^{[citation needed]}

Newcombe's interest in cults like that of Jim Jones and Charles Manson is well known, and made quite plain by songs such as "The Ballad of Jim Jones" and "Arkansas Revisited" (a rework of Charles Manson's song "Arkansas", which appeared on the album Lie: The Love & Terror Cult) Similar interests include a fascination with the Masons.

[edit] Music

The first BJM album, 1995's Methodrone, approximates the UK shoegazing genre, however by their second album, Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request (a homage to the Stones' 1967 album entitled Their Satanic Majesties Request), they began the pastiche of '60s psychedelia that has characterized most of their music. Even the incorporation of influences from world music such as Middle Eastern and Brazilian music seem to be filtered through the matrix of their '60s heroes, who also include The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Donovan, The Byrds and Bob Dylan.

The album track "Jesus" from Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request is extremely reminiscent of the early Spacemen 3 sound on The Perfect Prescription.

Stylistic divergences have occurred. A country/roots rock approach was applied to the Bringing It All Back Home - Again EP (another homage title, this time to Dylan), and electronic music crept into 2003's And This Is Our Music, whose title (a reference to a 1990 album by Galaxie 500, which in turn was a reference to an Ornette Coleman album) betrays much more recent influences. Thank God for Mental Illness displays a stripped-down country/rhythm n' blues sound, relying mostly on voices, and acoustic guitars. This is a format that Newcombe has occasionally resorted to presenting live during times of transition in the band.

In 2005 the band released the EP We Are the Radio, on Newcombe's record label The Committee to Keep Music Evil.

The band announced the release of a new studio album, tenativley titled My Bloody Underground, is due for 2008. On September 3, 2007, the band released rough recordings from the album for download from their website.^[2] Music videos of the songs on the album have also been released, including a music video compilation DVD entitled 'Book of Days'.

[edit] Soundtrack and television

• The BJM and former friends/rivals The Dandy Warhols were the subject of the acclaimed documentary DiG!.^[3]

• "You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up" was featured in the last minutes of Episode 5 of Series 1 of the British comedy/drama television series Skins, which was shown on E4.

• "Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth" appeared in the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers.^[4]

• "Going to Hell" appeared in the 1999 film American Pie.^[5]

• "Going to Hell" appeared in the 1998 film Dead Man's Curve.

• "Going to Hell" also appeared in Habitat's 2008 skateboard film Inhabitants.

• "Open Heart Surgery" appeared on the soundrack to the TV series Rescue Me.

• "13" appeared on the episode "The Devil's Threesome" of the TV series Californication.

[edit] Related acts

• The Out Crowd
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
• The Warlocks
• The Quarter After
• Spindrift
• The Dilettantes
• Dead Meadow
• Miranda Lee Richards
• Sky Parade
• The Black Angels
• Lechuza
• The Mandarins

The band has also influenced many other indie bands noted in the Brian Jonestown Massacre Covers Project.^[6]

[edit] Lineups

The Brian Jonestown Massacre frequently change their lineup.

	Guitar	Bass	Drums	Vocals	Miscellaneous, Guests, Etc.
1991	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Ricky Maymi Patrick Straczek Travis Threlkel	Matt Hollywood Ricky Maymi	Ricky Maymi	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood
1992	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Jeff Davies Ricky Maymi Travis Threlkel	Matt Hollywood Ricky Maymi	Ricky Maymi Greg Helton	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood
1993	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Jeff Davies Ricky Maymi Travis Threlkel Elise Dye	Matt Hollywood Ricky Maymi Chris Dupré	Ricky Maymi Greg Helton Brant Graff	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood	Ian Sefchik - Guitar
1994	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Jeff Davies Elise Dye Dean Taylor	Matt Hollywood Chris Dupré	Brian Glaze Milo Warner Martin	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas Sophie Guenan - Tambourine Mara Keagle - Organ Dawn Thomas - Accordion
1995	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Jeff Davies Elise Dye Dean Taylor	Matt Hollywood	Brian Glaze Milo Warner Martin Graham Bonnar	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Miranda Lee Richards Mara Keagle	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas Sophie Guenan - Tambourine Mara Keagle - Organ (appears as "Mara Kagel" on Take It From The Man!) Dawn Thomas - Accordion Eufloria - Vocals on “Evergreen” & “Wisdom (Demo)” Paolo Simmonds- Vocals on “Everyone Says”
1996	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Jeff Davies Dean Taylor	Matt Hollywood	Brian Glaze Mike Burns Brad Artley	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Miranda Lee Richards Mara Keagle	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas Derek Hoeckel - Guitar/Tambourine/Maracas Dawn Thomas - Accordion Dan Knop - Vocals on “All Around You (intro)”
1997	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Jeff Davies Dean Taylor Miranda Lee Richards Peter Hayes	Matt Hollywood	Brad Artley Jussi Tegelman Adam Hamilton	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Miranda Lee Richards	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas Raugust - Flute
1998	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Jeff Davies Dean Taylor Christof W. Certik	Matt Hollywood Charles Mehling	Norm Block Adam Hamilton Johnny Haro Marty Smith	Anton Newcombe Matt Hollywood Miranda Lee Richards	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas Miranda Lee Richards - Flute Christof W. Certik - Organ
1999	Anton Newcombe Jeff Davies Dean Taylor Miranda Lee Richards Jeff Levitz Lenny Pops	Charles Mehling Bobby Hecksher	Hunter Crowley William Pleasant	Anton Newcombe Miranda Lee Richards	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas
2000	Anton Newcombe Frankie Emerson aka Frankie Teardrop Jeff Levitz	Bobby Hecksher Tommy Dietrick	Hunter Crowley Greg Epman	Anton Newcombe	Mara Keagle - Vocals
2001	Anton Newcombe Jeff Davies Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson Rob Campanella	Dave Koenig	Hunter Crowley	Anton Newcombe	Mara Keagle - Vocals on Bravery, Repetition and Noise (appears as "Mara") Joel Gion - Tambourine/Percussion Jason Anchondo - Tambourine Raugust - Flute Rob Campanella - Organ/Mellotron/Mandolin Christopher Tucker - Wrote “If Love Is The Drug…”
2002	Anton Newcombe Jeff Davies Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson Rob Campanella Kirpatrick Thomas	Dave Koenig	Dan Allaire	Anton Newcombe	Rob Campanella - Organ
2003	Anton Newcombe Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson Rob Campanella Ricky Maymi Matthew J. Tow Kirpatrick Thomas Bowerbird	Dave Koenig Tommy Dietrick	Dan Allaire	Anton Newcombe	Rob Campanella - Organ/Dobro/Piano/Mandolin Ed Harcourt - Vocals on "Here It Comes" Daniella Meeker - Vocals on "Here It Comes" Matt Tow - Vocals & wrote on "Starcleaner" (also wrote & sang on "A New Low In Getting High") Joseph Campanella- whistling on "You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up"
2004	Anton Newcombe Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson Rob Campanella Ricky Maymi	Collin Hegna Dave Koenig	Dan Allaire Ryan Sumner Brian Glaze	Anton Newcombe	Joel Gion (on and off)- Tambourine/Maracas Rob Campanella - Organ Zy Lynn - Violin on If Love Is the Drug... Single
2005	Anton Newcombe Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson Rob Campanella Ricky Maymi Irina Yalkowsky	Collin Hegna	Dan Allaire	Anton Newcombe	Joel Gion (on and off)- Tambourine/Maracas Rob Campanella - Organ Sarabeth Tucek - Vocals on We Are The Radio
2006	Anton Newcombe Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson Rob Campanella Ricky Maymi Irina Yalkowsky	Collin Hegna	Dan Allaire	Anton Newcombe	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas Rob Campanella - Organ/Mellotron
2007	Anton Newcombe Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson Rob Campanella Ricky Maymi	Collin Hegna	Dan Allaire	Anton Newcombe	Joel Gion - Tambourine/Maracas Rob Campanella - Organ/Mellotron

[edit] Discography

See Brian Jonestown Massacre discography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• MySpace page
• Interview with Anton Newcombe
• Band synopsis
• BJM Archives
• BJM Covers Project
• Interview with Anton Newcombe for Aloud.com

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 | Pacer Stracktrain | Daniel Allaire | Raugust Bobby Hecksher | Travis Threlkel | Brian Glaze | Mike Whitemann | Graham Bonnar | Mike Sharperson | Matt Tow | Sarabeth Tuceck
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 | My Bloody Underground
Related articles
DiG! | Ondi Timoner | Bomp! Records
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