FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| MUSIC BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE Admittedly a shy introvert during his early years, Anton Newcombe has been blissfully in love all of his life. The lead singer, multi-instrumentalist and main lyricist for the Brian Jonestown Massacre was born during the summer of 1967 - the summer of l-uhh-ve, according to his calendar - and it has been one secret crush after another ever since. The culmination of some of his deep wishes and desires is animated on the quintet's latest record, Strung Out in Heaven. Recorded in the band's new studio nestled away in their Echo Park, L.A. home, Strung Out may be the album for people who are too old for bedtime stories, but still need something to ease them into peaceful slumber. Dreamy '60s Sweet Tart heart rock with resplendent organs, bells, 12-string guitars and sweet love song lyrics serves as the perfect springboard into pleasant dreams where you indulge and bask in longing or get the object of your desire even if you're too shy to pursue it in reality. "I'm a real big fan of love, that feeling and any poetic way to express it," Anton professes over the phone. He explains that a person doesn't have to be in love with a another person, but can feel love by pining for it - a quality which is realized and heightened through music. "I love that in music and I love taking any other kind of sad feelings I might have and transforming them - trying to elevate it one step up to a sincere love for people instead of a destructive kind of... you know when you're just sad and lonely? If you look at it a different way, you don't necessarily have to be lonely you could be just longing - it's all how you look at it." Any which way you look at it, Strung Out nails the emotion of passionate yearning and constantly creates butterflies in the stomach - a powerful accomplishment for a record. Anton - who readily confesses to harboring secret puppy dog crushes from kindergarten to present day - thinks about things in emotional terms and wants to represent a spectrum of human emotion in his songs. He hasn't fallen short of his goal. A man who hardly sleeps (a couple hours here and there when he's tired), he dreams with his eyes open, embraces the real thing (actress Tara Subkoff) and shares his romance with life with the rest of us, despite the few cynical or apathetic people who seem to be more and more representative of a modern day audience. "A lot of people don't want to feel that way, you know what I mean? A lot of people don't like to feel it because it's vulnerable, especially when you meet people. I was just so shy my whole life. People couldn't even believe that I was shy. "I'm really opinionated," he continues, "but as an adult, an individual and eccentric, I think that it's important to make your own life. You can be fascinated by other things, you know? It's like, if you don't care if you dislike something, why are you going to have it dominate your life? Don't even give it any sort of weight at all or energy or whatever you want to call it. Don't even think about that.... "I don't even think about stuff I don't like, like Swedish death metal or something, I don't worry about these people doing that stuff." As Anton declares his love of romance, those who are daydreaming optimists can exhale a sigh of reassured relief. While the view from behind rose-tinted glasses may be as intangible as clandestine crushes and others may bitterly scold the optimists as naive, the view is far more panoramic and thrilling for those who are unabashedly enchanted with life and love. |