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Tortured genius

Charles Spencer

Wednesday, 6th August 2008

Charles Spencer of the Brian Jonestown Massacre

One former manager wearily describes Newcombe as ‘so horrible, in so many ways’, but even those with most cause to loathe him bear witness to his talent in Dig! And there is something strangely admirable about his cussedness, his messianic self-belief and the warped sense of humour witnessed in his inspired name for the band, his hilarious sleeve notes and such album titles as Their Satanic Majesties Second Request and Thank God for Mental Illness. The band’s latest album My Bloody Underground may be a serious disappointment in comparison with former glories, but it’s hard to resist a record that features an opening track called ‘Bring me the Head of Paul McCartney on Heather Mills’s Wooden Peg’.

The best place to start with the Brian Jonestown Massacre is with the movie Dig! and the superb double CD retrospective Tepid Peppermint Wonderland (also available on Amazon) where for once Newcombe has steered clear of his usual self-sabotaging tendencies and picked the band’s most appealing and accessible music. If you are anything like me, however, you will then want to collect the entire, criminally neglected back catalogue. Newcombe strikes me as perhaps the most fascinating cult figure in rock music since Syd Barrett, whose work he delightfully pastiches on a song called ‘My Man Syd’. I just hope that, unlike Pink Floyd’s lost leader, Anton somehow manages to keep making music while finding a measure of the serenity that has always eluded him so far.

Charles Spencer is theatre critic of the Daily Telegraph.

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