The BJM – re-vamping hippy
MUSIC & FILM — 18/06/2015 — by Christian B.
In 2006 my life changed considerably. I spent my days in Perth, the beautiful wild-west of Australia, hanging out with a guy who had just come back from a 5 year stint of intensified self-actualization in San Francisco.
„You don‘t know the BJM …!” were the words to form the background noise while I was making first ear-contact with You Have Been Disconnected by the Brian Jonestown Massacre. To date I cannot really say whether it was the bush-weed or indeed the flutes out of the speakers which kinda gave me love at first feel sensation. As the reference hints i d considered myself more of an early acdc guy beforhands – the BJM totally re-vamped hippie for me.
From this date on it would be the old Mitsubishi, Perth‘s yellowish winter-night-light and the BJM. All the songs I could get hands on and tapes made of, … and there are a lot actually.
I am personally not so much a fan of the songs where the band tries to illustrate the pains of love with the corresponding, moll-ish kinda slow-mo sounds. What really got me though are the more upbeat ones (songs) flying on a melody while tuning your head into whatever you want feel – this is when the Brian Jonestown Massacre really develops it‘s full post-modern hippy flair.
When I write „the band“ – that‘s what I learnt a year later when watching the BJM documentary DIG – I mostly mean their mastermind Anton Newcombe. The guy, or the movie about the guy, ruined the BJM for me quite a bit. I think it is fair to say Anton is not only a genius of the small things bit a bit of a cunt too. Yes, I am dropping the c-bomb here as it is as appropriate as it could be. The guy has had a hard upbringing, but nevertheless, the behavior he expels in the documentary simply stinks. The fact he treats people – friends or foes – like shit is what ruins the beautiful music. What went straight to your heart before, now wants to be observed from a distance… a tragic artistic fail in a way.
Anyways: Amongst all the paranoia and egomaniac traits Anton happily nourishes, the one to be perceived as a sell-out is probably his greatest. So in this respect it is only fair, the extremely hot sell-out machinery called board-sport-industry has discovered the BJM in the last five years in order to illustrate a new, ready to buy type of guy who will sell you the latest brand-gear styled gypsy. Life is perfectly fair!
I am not all cynical though! There is a lot of positive energy and evolvement coming out of this specific style and attitude, which has been perfectly captured in this clip by Mr. Dane Singleton.
Remember the BJM – Never Ever.
Notes From: Vicious
04/02/2016 — by Christian B.
Because we all love it when things get a bit Vicious.
Pool Service Announcement – A Short Film by Dean Dickinson
25/08/2020 — by Jakob Oster
During the Regan administration in the USA, Nancy (Regan) created the “Just Say No” campaign. This encouraged children to simply say no to drugs. The movement was part of the government’s efforts into improving the War on Drugs. In the early 80’s, BMX was on the rise and so was a cheap, highly addictive form […]