Anton's Anxieties

It is 9am in Berlin when Newcombe picks up the phone, but he doesn't seem fatigued. Just a bit sniffly. He'd spent the weekend DJing in Switzerland for a photographer friend's gallery opening and, he reassures, he played good music – definitely not Skrillex. The conversation quickly changes direction, as he begins to explain his attempts to craft The Brian Jonestown Massacre's 13th studio album in time for their Australian tour.

“I'm not really a singles artist, so an album format is something that's important to me,” he says. “So I have more than enough songs for an album if I wasn't thinking about an album playlist, but to me, it's missing the glue, where I don't think about [how] this song worked with the last song. What I want to do is play it through, a certain amount of minutes, and think yeah I really enjoyed that, what just happened at that time, where you just lose track of yourself a little bit.

“I have about eight [songs] that I really like, that I think are really good, and there's more than that, so that's more than enough for a decent record. In my mind if I've got the album and these songs that are really good I'd be like very pleased with my purchase or whatever, but it's really tough for me because I also don't know what that glue would be, what I think is missing, which is very rare for me. I think when I used to drink or whatever I used to do that it was easier for me to roll through that stuff.”

Now, without the help of drugs, he worries: “I sit there like the kid in class who doesn't have his homework done. I sit there and I fret, waiting, hoping the teacher doesn't call on me.” He explains, “I don't know what [the glue] is this time so I can't sit there and write it; instead I'm just getting sort of anxieties about the whole thing. This only came about because they told me I should have an album ready for Australia and then I started to think to myself, 'Well, what if I don't; are you going to fire me?'”

For the moment the album is Newcombe's pet project, and features guitar-work from The Brian Jonestown Massacre's Ricky Maymi, and drums from Dimmer's Constantine 'Dino' Karlis. They're creating what Newcombe calls “song-based songs”. “Several of them are very short, they're like two-and-a-half minutes long and I would say it's more intimate whereas the other thing, the last record [2012's Aufheben] was like daydreaming… The thing that I'm excited about is some of the songs are as good as anything I've ever made up which is encouraging but that set the stage for me to be really nervous, because I set the standard high for me in my own head.” He maintains, “I've got nothing to lose. That's why I haven't just created some toss-ins or whatever. And I was so productive when I started out I usually had leftover ideas for songs since the first days when we started as a group. It was like all these demos and things. I always thought it was funny to keep throwing one really old thing, like something from 1990 into the mix.” 

When he's not working on the record he has other projects to attend to, including his record label, A Recordings. Newcombe's process of selection is to choose acts that catch his ear, and he offers the best royalties in the business, an 80/20 split in favour of the artist. However, he will not accept demos. “I hate getting demos and links to Soundcloud and all that stuff because I try and work on my own music and you just wouldn't even believe it, it's just like four or five times a day somebody's like, 'Please check out my music' and I'm just like, 'I can't'. There's no way I can spend every day listening to somebody else's ideas. It's why I play music and not collect it in that way.”

He also has an ambition to produce film soundtracks. He's been offered the opportunity to create the music for a James Joyce biopic for Irish public television, but thinks he will turn it down (“What the fuck am I going to do?”). He is clear that he needs a point of reference, that 'do whatever' is not enough of a starting point because he makes all kinds of music. Ideally he'd be working on something in Eurocinema: “Something like if Lars von Trier said 'I want you to make up a weird soundtrack with some of your friends' that'd be great. It would be phenomenal… I think I'd excel at that.”

But in the meantime he's headed to Australia to play a string of shows before their headline slot at Meredith. Coming on tour with Newcombe is “the whole army”: Joel Gion, Matt Hollywood, Frankie Emerson, Maymi, Dan Allaire, Collin Hegna and Rob Campanella. They'll be heading first to Perth, where they'll rehearse. When speaking about what to expect, Newcombe says, “We're like more of a cult act, I think, where I'm not so sure whether it matters whether we play new or old songs. I think it matters whether we do something notable and that people enjoy themselves or they're shocked; either one. I'm not out to shock people but shocking things have happened.”

After the tour he plans on coming straight home to celebrate his son's first birthday. He seems to have embraced fatherhood. “He's so cool. He's got a cool name and I can tell that he's an interesting little guy and I'm going to make sure he stays that way. Like for instance I'm not going to push him towards any particular ideology, or occupation, I'm just going to see what he wants to do.” He's not yet subjected Wolfgang to his music, but, “Like if we're doing some music or some music comes on then I'll dance with him, y'know, like hold him up really close,” Newcombe chuckles. “He likes to dance around and he laughs.”