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Review: Brian Jonestown Massacre – ‘A warm mellow wash of noise’
Gigs on Sunday night are always tricky. I would go a step further and say that they’re one of the trickiest jobs for touring bands. As a musician, you’re performing for people who are battling against one of the most powerful forces of the public’s psyche: the Sunday scaries.
If, however, the performance is so good that it manages to dissuade the despondent audience from retiring for an early night, then you’ll be left with a gig so memorable that the impending working week will feel like a breeze.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre broke onto the scene in 1995 with two hallmark psychedelic rock projects. Spacegirl And Other Favourites kicked off the group’s studio career with a staple mid-’90s noise-rock album, although lead singer Anton Newcombe’s apathetic referral to the album as simply ‘studio trash’ suggested that he was keen to quickly develop their early sound.
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What came next from the group was a far more abstract record, one more polished and less robust in structure, with the menacingly titled Methodrone. As the name suggests, it possessed an addictive allure, with far fuzzier guitar tracks tinged with grit that arrived in the wake of the explosion of shoegaze in the United Kingdom.
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Amid the washy blue textures of the band’s distorted faces on Methodrone‘s album cover, the sonic landscape of the album is more complex and warm, one which leads the band to venture further into experimental sonic territory that is – unlike many of their shoegaze contemporaries – not always played live at a shatteringly loud volume.
Whether you like your shoegaze live and loud or quiet and soothing is up to you, but it has to be said that I would much rather be attending a gig of the latter style late on a Sunday night.
With Newcombe commenting, “I’ve got a chesty cough” between songs while clutching a herbal tea, the feeling in Marble Factory was unexpectedly mellow as the hours became later.
Newcombe’s voice was not significantly dissimilar from his studio presence, which is to say that it was quiet and almost instrumental in quality rather than lyrically pronounced in most cases. As the group moved from more atmospheric songs to older tunes in their repertoire, the louder guitars took a backseat, and his voice adopted a more intimate timbre.
Marble Factory was packed to the rafters with fans there to see the legends of the scene on their European tour – photo: Benji Chapman
Newcombe responded at one point to a heckling audience member by saying, ‘Sorry mate, I’m trying to save my voice’, before he lifted his polished Vox Starstream, delicately glittering against the industrial stage lights of the warehouse, into the air.
Before strumming the warm 12-stringed opening to the next song, he quipped, ‘only joking’ as a warm wash of noise filled the venue.
Staying largely rooted in the same spot, Newcombe shuffled on one of the many large Persian rugs that adorned the stage with a comfortable demeanour. Behind his wide-brimmed feathered hat he watched on, with a distant look, as members of the band switched roles between various percussion and string instruments.
Newcombe remained stationary on one spot stage right, unexpectedly – for a definitive rock star – nursing a herbal tea – photo: Benji Chapman
Between quiet song transitions, it was pleasant to observe that very few phones were on display amid an older crowd, besides a gentleman in front of me drunkenly searching for Ubers between short sips of a beer-too-many.
A respectful audience, the crowd turned to each other anxiously rather than cheering in dismay when the band left the stage, leaving a humming note ringing out from the feedback of Ricky Maymi’s Fender Jazzmaster laid against his amp.
Half-expecting the band to return for an encore, I waited as assembled fans began to dribble towards the door. As the clock struck half-past, the group confirmed they unfortunately wouldn’t be returning when the PA system faded to silence, and an after-show soundtrack began to play.
A gentle take on psyche for a Sunday night – photo: Simon Alexander
While a gentle take on psychedelic rock might not be for everyone, I was happy to be part of a gig that was more relaxed than some fans may have hoped.
The crowd was also cheery despite the looming Monday slog – perhaps the highest compliment of all that can be paid to the quality of the performance.
Main image: Simon Alexander
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