Photo: Press
The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s leader and major domo, Anton Newcombe, has been announced as Record Store Day’s UK champion.
Given the psychedelic band’s prolific output – that’s five albums in the last three years and two of those have been in the last six months – the choice of Newcombe is an apposite choice.
Speaking on a specially filmed video to celebrate the upcoming vinyl orgy of limited edition releases and major labels clogging up production at vinyl pressing plants, Newcombe extols the pleasures of the your independent record store.
“Independent record stores are still a source of community and cultural centres. We’re living in time of MP3s and people hoarding things and downloading so much stuff… the record experience could be more personal,” he explained.
For him, it’s the fact that one purchase can lead to the unearthing of new pleasures: “There’s a discovery that happens by osmosis. When you go looking for one thing and you discover something else.”
Not only that, The Brian Jonestown Massacre have also announced the release for the first time on vinyl of Pol Pot’s Pleasure Penthouse. The album, which was recorded in 1990/91 on 4-track in Newcombe’s San Francisco home, is being released on vinyl for the first time.
Writing on the Record Store website, Newcombe explained the history behind the release:
“When I left home and moved to San Francisco, first thing on my mind was joining a band. The problem for me was that there were not any bands that would have me or even played the type of music I imagined I wanted to hear… so I decided to start my own.
I would make small down payments at pawnshops for gear, buy recording machines, amps, guitars, whatever. Within three months of teaching myself the 7 folk chords I use nonstop to this day, I had already taught a few new friends how to play as well and we were off.
“I used to make up songs everyday on the 4-track just to teach myself how to write. I understood what I liked about music, I just didn’t know how to pull it out of the ether and bring them into being. At the same time, I would make demo tapes and share them with friends, endless demo tapes. I would send them to magazines and record labels with no return address, just for the fuck of it.
“It was never my intention to actually release this music... for instance if I came up with a country song, I would finish it just to learn more about writing. I didn’t want to be in a classic country group, this is a document of my learning process. Good times… this album is one such tape from 1990/91 I can’t remember. Enjoy.”
Record Store Day takes place on April 22nd.
