1996. Methodrone. The first LP from the Brian Jonestown Massacre was the inspiration for Mike G and I to finally start a band after months of talking about it. You see, I had gotten in his car with some friends not really knowing Mike, and lo and behold, playing in his car stereo was Lilys’ Eccsame the Photon Band, which was my favorite album at the time. Mike and I quickly became good friends, yet the band talk continued until Mike brought over the Methodrone CD. Mike drafted in Chris on bass (I’d have to play the basslines before each song so Chris could remember) and Tom on drums (He was a skater kid so every song gradually got faster and faster while we played). We advertised for a lady singer and the auditions consisted of Mike and I playing BJM songs while getting the wannabes to sing to them. After several hilarious auditions, we had the good fortune of meeting Jessica Foxylady and convinced her to join us. Our first song: BJM’s “Wisdom.”
Anton Newcombe has put out seemingly dozens of albums in dozens of styles with seemingly hundreds of band members, is the subject of the film Dig, and has been called every name in the book and visited every city in the country. All of those albums are available for free download from the BJM website as zipped ogg files.
Also of note is the Brian Jonestown Massacre Fans’ Cover Project, a fantastic site which has collected an ever-growing number of songs. My two faves are below.
www.brianjonestownmassacre.com
www.teepeerecords.com
hellospaceman.com/bjmcovers