Peter Doherty

In the organizer's words:

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ANTON NEWCOMBE - frontman, songwriter, composer, studio owner, multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer, father, force of nature - announces an 18-date Brian Jonestown Massacre UK and European tour for January and February 2025.

It's been over 30 years since the first BJM single She Made Me / Evergreen was released. Released in 1992, as the UK music press flocked to the US to pick the next US guitar band as flavor of the month and major labels were on the hunt for pleasing hopefuls, Anton Newcombe had an idea: say no. As leader of the band Brian Jonestown Massacre, Newcombe had already established himself as a visionary songwriter. A man for whom making music was not a lifestyle choice or a hipster haircut, but the very fabric of existence. And he had watched in silent horror as his colleagues meekly acquiesced to everything - yes to contracts, yes to management, yes to proposals, yes to this, yes to that, yes, yes, yes. But he was different. Anton Newcombe wanted to say no to everything. "I just knew that in some ways I would be more successful if I said no, just went against it. Because I thought that if people liked me, they would like me anyway," he says. "Or not like me. It doesn't make any difference."

Much of this was documented in the controversial documentary "Dig!", which is still regarded as one of the best rock documentaries of all time and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The remastered, expanded version premiered at Sundance in January.

Brian Jonestown Massacre's shoegaze-tinged debut album Methodrone was released in 1995. Since then, Newcombe has been joined by numerous band members on his sonic escapades. But he has remained the one constant, the creative mind at the center of one of the most fascinating bands in music history. There are 20 more albums under the name Brian Jonestown Massacre, all of which embark on their own mind-expanding adventure, exploring the outer reaches of rock'n'roll: Psychedelic rock, country blues, snarling rock'n'roll, rollicking noise-pop and more.

Along the way, Newcombe has established himself as a unique talent who recognized the direction mainstream indie rock was heading and decided to take the long way around. He has emerged as a revolutionary force in modern music, a hero of the underground. There was no other way, that's the way it had to be. "My only option in life was always that you just jump into the fire," he explains. "It doesn't matter what it is."

With this attitude, he has traveled around the globe. From the West Coast to New York, from Manhattan to Iceland and then to Berlin, where he has lived for 15 years and has two apartments. One to live in and one that he has converted into his studio.

After a highly productive 2010s decade that saw the release of eight long-players and a mini-album, Newcombe found himself in a period of writer's block until one day he picked up his 12-string guitar and The Real (the opening track from latest album Fire Doesn't Grow on Trees) came out of him. It was as if he had conjured it up like the Kraken. "Suddenly I heard something," he says. "And then it just didn't stop. We recorded a whole song every single day, 70 days in a row." In the end, they had two finished albums. For The Future is The Past, Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar) and Uri Rennert (drums) were in the studio with Newcombe.

In the world of Anton Newcombe, there is no longer such a thing as a defining statement. Just more chapters that contribute to the story. "No one can stop me, I don't ask anyone. I don't make the rounds at Warner and say: 'Please release my record! It's just for me," he says. He hopes he can be an inspiration to others. "I'd like to see more groups and people playing music in the UK and everywhere else because I really enjoy it. It's the only reason I need. It's the only reason to do anything." That gets to the heart of what makes Anton Newcombe and Brian Jonestown Massacre tick. He'll keep jumping into that fire. That's who he is. Enjoy it.

Brian Jonestown Massacre released their 20th full studio album The Future Is Your Past in February 2023 on Anton's record label A Recordings. In 2022 / 2023 they completed a world tour during which they played 34 dates in North America, 25 dates in Europe and 16 dates in the UK.

In addition to the already confirmed shows in January 2025, THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE announce two more concerts in Germany. Tickets for the shows in Berlin & Munich are available Friday, December 20 at 1:00 pm at www.eventim.de & www.ticketmaster.de