My evening at the Wiltern to see the Brian Jonestown Massacre turned to be a bit epic for two reasons. Firstly their music is the type to go on and on in a long drug-induced trance from what I remember – I had seen them about ten years ago – secondly, I had a photo pass, then I found out I didn’t have one, and this is a complicated story I will explain later. But back to the beginning, there were two bands opening for the BJM, Joel Gion and the Primary Colours took the stage around 8:30 and they were seven on stage, a total logical number according to their moniker. Joel has been a member of the BJM forever, despite some hiatus, and I don’t blame him for forming his own band after all these years as the tambourine man of the band – don’t get me wrong the BJM is all about the tambourine! The music was obviously getting some inspiration from what he likes, with foggy vocals, lots of guitars layered by wobbling organs, plenty of harmonies, bringing a psychedelic 70s ambiance. The sound was probably more San-Francisco-happy-flower-era than anything recorded by the BJM, and the rest sounded like a serene acid-trip with pedal effects and of course, more tambourine and percussion. Their debut album ‘Apple Bonkers’ is set to be released this summer and they had their first ever show just a few weeks ago, so may be they will work a bit on their stage charisma, but Joel had this unique way to carry himself on stage, receiving encouragements from the fans. With more members of the BJM joining them on stage, they played their very BJM single, called ‘Don’t Let Those Fuckers Keep You Dow’, which just came out last week, and they ended up their set with a cover, The Velvet Underground’s ‘Foggy Notion’,… which other band could they cover, I wonder? It was probably the most dynamic song of the set leading to an almost Stones-like energy.
The Three O’Clock was a 80s Californian band part of the ‘Paisley Underground’, a Los Angeles alt-genre coined by frontman Michael Quercio. I actually saw a woman wearing a purple shirt reading ‘Paisley Underground’ and I had no clue…. They had a big sound combined with some real punk-ish energy on stage, and they played some hard-to-follow melodies, built around guitars, synth, keyboard, shouted harmonies and pounding loud drums. I know they are from California, but their style made me think of some British invasion band for some reason, and I realized I knew their last song, ‘Jet Fighter’. Plus they covered the Beatles, in their psychedelic period,… was it ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’? I guess it was a perfect transition…
Of course, everyone was waiting for the BMJ and Anton Newcombe was spotted on the side of the stage, taking pictures with his phone during the Three O’Clock’s set. When they took the stage, there were eight of them, and that’s why you can talk about the Brian Jonestown Massacre experience: they occupy all the stage-space, although they don’t move much, and the music fill out all the airspace. Starting with the slow laid-back rhythm of ‘Whoever You are’ from the BJM’s sixth album ‘Give It Back’, distilling a druggy atmosphere with layers of guitars, keyboards, drums and tambourine. As always, Anton was the hidden frontman, wearing denim and glasses, he was stuck in the most obscure corner of the stage and not stepping out much of the shadow the whole time! But you don’t go to a BJM concert to mosh or jump, it is rather a throbbing sound growing bigger and bigger, putting you in a drug-induced coma unless, like the girl next to me, you rise your right arm and move with the flow. They started with their slowest songs, but it was still an impressive sound built by so many people on stage, not overwhelming though, and letting a guitar play its part at the right moment. They have a long career, over 26 years with 13 studio albums, so how do you pick a setlist from such a prolific pool? Simply by picking from lots of albums of the 90s to early 00s, ‘Methodrone’, ‘Take it from the man!’ ‘Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request’, ‘Give it Back’, ‘Strung out in heaven’, Bravery repetition and noise’, ‘…And this is our music’, hardly touching their last one released in 2012 ‘Aufheben’ and playing one (I think) new song from their upcoming ‘Revelation’ album due for a release on May 19. Was there a sort of krautrock-y trend on that one?
The sound was a bit muddy, but I always find it is the case at the Wiltern, and they were not very talkative the whole time, sharing the singing role, even bringing on stage a female guest to sing ‘Anemone’, and then… I missed a few songs. The day before I had communicated with Anton Newcombe on Twitter and he had offered me a photo pass: ‘done at will call under Alyson Camus’, he had written. But when I talked to the will call person, my name was not there… I had my camera, and strangely nobody searched my bag so I sneaked it in. The Wiltern has some strict camera policy and I was feeling at ease, shooting pictures, when a furious security guard caught me and asked me to follow him to see the manager. Man, I thought he was escorting me to jail or something like that, he was totally rude and didn’t even want to look at my Twitter feed as I was desperately trying to explain to him I had the authorization of the band! ‘It’s not a crime!’ I remember shouting at him… it was epic! The manager was nicer but still didn’t want to give me a pass despite my explanation, did he even know who Anton is? He confiscated my camera and that was it, I could get back to my spot… The band was going on with the set, not even taking a break between songs… it was a surprisingly peaceful BJM concert, I had witnessed some stormy ones in the past, with Anton throwing a tantrum at his bandmates for reasons that have always escaped me… no, last night he was mellow, even low-key, and totally concentrated on his guitar playing. Was he the same Anton that I saw fighting on stage and showing us half of his naked but? That was fun, but he has become this sage now, commanding his psychedelic talented circus with a mere gesture, exiled in Berlin and composing HBO’s series soundtracks.
What is totally remarkable about the BJM is their unmistakable sound, all the songs have this common groove, these dense forests of guitars going on repeat, these melodies waking up from the druggy psychedelia, throwing a spell in the dark, sweating acid through its layers and layers of guitars and vocals. I had not listened to them for a long time, and could not really identify the songs by their titles, although some sounded extremely familiar, some like ‘When Jokers Attack’, ‘Prozac vs. Heroin’, ‘Not if You Were The Last Dandy on Earth’ or ‘Servo’, or ‘That Girl Suicide’, ‘Oh Lord’,… that last one was almost a bouncy sing-along anthem. I don’t know about the back of the room, but where I was, people were religiously listening rather than singing along, and may be having some marijane with that? Having the occasion to listen to many bands around, I can tell that a lot of them try to cultivate that sort of repetitive, drug-inspired psychedelic sound, and it is difficult to say how exactly BJM’s songs stand out. I just know that, when they start, they are purring like an old hippie cat.
Setlist
Whoever you are
Who
What you isn’t
Jennifer
Got my Eye on You
Anemone
Wisdom
The Devil May Care (Mom & Dad don’t)
When Jokers Attackà Sailor
There’s a War Going On (Bobby Jameson’s 1965 cover)
You Have Been Disconnected
No Come Down
Prozac vs. Heroin
Not if You Were The Last Dandy on Earth
Days Weeks Moths
The Clouds are Lies
Servo
That Girl Suicide
Oh Lord
More pictures of the show here
