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The Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM) is a neo-psychedelic rock band, led by Anton Newcombe. The group was founded by Newcombe, Matt Hollywood, Ricky Rene Maymi, Patrick Straczek and Travis Threlkel in the early 1990s in San Francisco, California. According to the band's MySpace page, the current line-up consists of Anton Newcombe, Matt Hollywood, Frankie "Teardrop" Emerson, Ricky Maymi, Collin Hegna, Dan Allaire, Rob Campanella and Joel Gion.
NameBand leader Anton Newcombe is influenced by the post-modernist technique of pastiche and the re-contextualization of images; "Brian Jonestown Massacre" itself being a portmanteau of The Rolling Stones' guitarist Brian Jones and the infamous mass cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The band's name has been noted (in the documentary DiG!) likely to be a reaction against a late 80s and early 90s trend toward monosyllabic band names such as Blur, Loop, and Ride.
MusicThe band have recorded albums that could fit into a variety of musical genres across their history. 1995's Methodrone approximates the UK shoegazing sound of the time, a sound they would return to with the band's most recent album, My Bloody Underground.
''Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request'' from 1996 reflects a pastiche of '60s psychedelia that continues to characterize the BJM sound to the present day. Newcombe defines the term 'psychedelic' as "mind-expanding," and BJM's output is generally referred to as such because of the revivalist nature of the music
. Elements of Middle Eastern and Brazilian music are also apparent along with influences by 1960s artists such as The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Donovan, The Byrds and Bob Dylan. The song "Jesus" is reminiscent of Spacemen 3's The Perfect Prescription. The album's title is an homage to Their Satanic Majesties Request by The Rolling Stones.
Thank God for Mental Illness displays a country and rhythm and blues oeuvre with voice and acoustic guitar dominating the overall sound. This is a format that Newcombe occasionally resorts to when presenting live material during times of transition in the band. A further country/folk approach was applied to the Bringing It All Back Home - Again, the title itself an homage to Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home.
Electronic music crept into 2003's And This Is Our Music, evidencing more contemporary influences as well as name-checking the identically-titled albums This Is Our Music, each by the artists Galaxie 500 and Ornette Coleman. In 2005 the band released the EP We Are the Radio on Newcombe's label The Committee to Keep Music Evil, which featured a close collaboration with indie singer-songwriter Sara Beth Tuceck.
My Bloody Underground was released on Cargo Records in 2008, and demos were available since September 2007 from the band's website. The title has been interpreted to be a name-check to the bands My Bloody Valentine,and The Velvet Underground as well as referencing BJM's endless procession of bandmates and the "scene" they collectively created. Newcombe has down-played such interpretations in an interview, however. Music videos of the songs on the album have also been released, including a music video compilation DVD entitled 'Book of Days'.
MembersBJM has undergone many personnel changes, with Anton Newcombe being the only consistent member.
Current BJM line-up:
- Dan Allaire - drums. Also a member of Spindrift.
- Ricky Maymi - guitar (formerly drums & bass). Is a founding member.
- Frankie "Teardrop" Emerson - six and twelve string guitar. Member since March, 2000. Said to be a "multi-instrumentalist" Other members who play with the touring line-up of BJM:
- Joel Gion - percussion.
- Will Carruthers - bass.
- Matt Hollywood - guitar
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