The Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM) is a neo-psychedelic rock band, led by Anton Newcombe. The group was founded by Newcombe, Matt Hollywood, Ricky Rene Maymi, Patrick Straczek and Travis Threlkel in the early 1990s in San Francisco, California. According to the band's MySpace page, the current line-up consists of Anton Newcombe, Matt Hollywood, Frankie "Teardrop" Emerson, Ricky Maymi, Collin Hegna, Dan Allaire, Rob Campanella and Joel Gion.

Band leader Anton Newcombe is influenced by the surrealist technique of pastiche and image appropriation, "Brian Jonestown Massacre" itself being a portmanteau of The Rolling Stones' guitarist Brian Jones and the infamous mass cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The band's name has been noted (in the documentary DiG!) to likely be a reaction against a late 80s and early 90s trend toward monosyllabic band names such as Blur, Loop, and Ride.

The band have recorded albums that could fit into a variety of musical genres across their history. 1995's Methodrone approximates the UK shoegazing sound of the time, a sound they would return to with the band's most recent album, My Bloody Underground.

Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request from 1996 reflects a pastiche of '60s psychedelia that continues to characterize the BJM sound to the present day. Newcombe defines the term 'psychedelic' as "mind-expanding," and BJM's output is generally referred to as such because of the revivalist nature of the music. Elements of Middle Eastern and Brazilian music are also apparent along with influences by 1960s artists such as The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Donovan, The Byrds and Bob Dylan. The song "Jesus" is reminiscent of Spacemen 3's The Perfect Prescription. The album's title is an homage to Their Satanic Majesties Request by The Rolling Stones.

Thank God for Mental Illness displays a country and rhythm and blues oeuvre with voice and acoustic guitar dominating the overall sound. This is a format that Newcombe occasionally resorts to when presenting live material during times of transition in the band. A further country/folk approach was applied to the Bringing It All Back Home - Again, the title itself an homage to Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home.

Electronic music crept into 2003's And This Is Our Music, evidencing more contemporary influences as well as name-checking the identically-titled albums This Is Our Music, each by the artists Galaxie 500 and Ornette Coleman. In 2005 the band released the EP We Are the Radio on Newcombe's label The Committee to Keep Music Evil, which featured a close collaboration with indie singer-songwriter Sara Beth Tuceck.

My Bloody Underground was released on Cargo Records in 2008, and demos were available since September 2007 from the band's website. The title has been interpreted to be a name-check to the bands My Bloody Valentine,and The Velvet Underground as well as referencing BJM's endless procession of bandmates and the "scene" they collectively created. Newcombe has down-played such interpretations in an interview, however. Music videos of the songs on the album have also been released, including a music video compilation DVD entitled 'Book of Days'.

Their next records will two EPs that were origanally released on vinyl in the 90s, LOVE and the This Is Why You Love Me EP set for release in September, 2009.

BJM has undergone many personnel changes, with Anton Newcombe being the only consistent member.

Current BJM line-up:

• Dan Allaire - drums. Also a member of Spindrift.
• Ricky Maymi - guitar (formerly drums & bass). Is a founding member.
• Frankie "Teardrop" Emerson - six and twelve string guitar. Member since March, 2000. Said to be a "multi-instrumentalist"^{[citation needed]}. Also plays for Spindrift, The Situation, and formerly with The Cold War Direction.
• Rob Campanella - organ, keyboard and guitar. Also leader, producer and engineer of The Quarter After. Previous projects include The Tyde, Beachwood Sparks, Dead Meadow, Mia Doi Todd, Frausdots, Scarling.
• Anton Newcombe - leader, guitar and vocal. Also a "multi-instrumentalist".

Other members who play with the touring line-up of BJM:

• Joel Gion - percussion.
• Will Carruthers - bass.
• Matt Hollywood - guitar^{[citation needed]}.
• Travis Threlkel - guitar^{[citation needed]}.

Notes on some former BJM members:

• Matt Hollywood - bass, guitar, vocal, songwriting. Founding member and in the band for seven years. Also leader and founding member of The Out Crowd and The Rebel Drones.
• Jeff Davies - guitar. Member of BJM from 1992-99 and 2001-03. Currently with the country-pop/folk rock band The Burlington Family. Previously with Dead Meadow, The Tulips and Smallstone.
• Joel Gion - percussion, specifically tambourine and maracas. Has been an on/off member of the group since 1994. Has had the longest-standing collaborative relationship with Newcombe to date and has quit and rejoined the band more times than anyone else. Also leader of The Dilettantes.
• Dean Taylor - guitar. Currently contributes to Tokyo Raid (formerly The Mandarins). Left BJM permanently in 1999.
• Peter Hayes - guitar. Was a member circa 1996. A founding member of alternative rock trio Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
• Brad Artley - drums. A touring member circa 1996-97. Former member of punk rock band The Richmond Sluts.
• Travis Threlkel - guitar. A founding member. Is leader of psychedelic/experimental rock band The Imajinary Friends.
• Miranda Lee Richards - guitar and vocal. Currently a solo recording artist.
• Brian Glaze - drums. Founding member. Currently a solo recording artist and member of The Gris Gris.
• Bobby Hecksher - bass and guitar. A member circa 2000-01. Is currently leader and founding member of The Warlocks.
• Jeff Levitz - guitar. Previously with The Warlocks.
• Lenny Pops - guitar. Founding member of The Red Hearts and The Snakes.
• Sune Rose Wagner - guitar. Founding member of The Raveonettes, Psyched Up Janis and The Tremolo Beer Gut.
• Irina Yaikowski - drums. Replaced original drummer Ricky Maymi.
• Tommy Dietrick - bass. Currently with Sky Parade.
• Tony O'Neill - organ. Former member of Southpaw and currently a published author.
• Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo - drums. Member of BJM in 1998. Previously involved with Chokebore, Shadow Project and Christian Death 1334.
• Johnny Haro - drums. Formerly of Freak of Nature and currently with The Dreaming.
• Will Carruthers - bass and guitar. Previously with Spaceman 3 and Spiritualized. Currently a solo recording artist under the moniker "Freelovebabies".
• Matthew J. Tow - guitar. Leader of Australian band The Lovetones. Previously with indie rock bands Drop City and Colorsound.
• Dave Koenig - guitar. Currently with Spindrift and The Clean Prophets.
• Robert Desmond - guitar and vocal. Previously with Pusher, The Minstrels and currently with BJ & The Green Apples' Corps. Involved in the Viper Room showcase brawl featured in DiG!.

Guitar

1990- . Anton Newcombe

1990-1993. Patrick Straczek

1990-1993. Travis Threlkel

1993-1996. Elise Dye

1997. Robert Desmond

1999. Tom Thomas

1999-2000. Jeff Levitz

2000-. Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson

2001-2002. Jeff Davies

2002-2003. Kirpatrick Thomas

2003-. Ricky Maymi

2009-. Matt Hollywood

Bass

1990-1999. Matt Hollywood

1993-1994. Chris Dupré

1995-1997. Nanker Phelge

1998-1999. Larry Thrasher

1999-2000. Bobby Hecksher

2000-2003. Dave Koenig

2003-2004. Tommy Dietrick

2004-. Collin Hegna

2008-. Will Carruthers

Organ/Guitar

1994-2000. Kieran McCartney

2001-2007. Rob Campanella

Drums/Bass/Guitar

1990-1993. Ricky Maymi

Many former BJM members continue to collaborate musically with Newcombe. Newcombe was briefly a drummer in Bobby Hecksher's The Warlocks. Rob Campanella produces many of The Committee to Keep Music Evil's releases. Joel Gion is an occasional member of the touring lineup of BJM. Ricky Maymi returned to BJM as a guitarist after a multi-year hiatus from his original role as drummer and is also an occasional member. The Dandy Warhols and Matt Hollywood joined BJM onstage at the 2005 Lollapalooza festival.

• The Dandy Warhols
• The Black Angels
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
• Dead Meadow
• The Dilettantes
• The Quarter After
• Miranda Lee Richards
• Spindrift
• The Cold War Direction [1]
• Molecules [2]
• Sky Parade
• The Parties
• The Out Crowd
• The Warlocks

The band has also influenced many other indie bands noted in the Brian Jonestown Massacre Covers Project.

See Brian Jonestown Massacre discography

• The BJM and former friends/rivals The Dandy Warhols were the subject of the acclaimed documentary DiG!.

• "You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up" was featured in the last minutes of Episode 5 of Series 1 of the British comedy/drama television series Skins, which was shown on E4.

• "Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth" appeared in the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers.

• "Going to Hell" appeared in the 1999 film American Pie.

• "Going to Hell" appeared in the 1998 film Dead Man's Curve.

• "Going to Hell" appeared in Faith, Hope & Trick, the third episode from season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series)

• "Going to Hell" also appeared in Habitat's 2008 skateboard film Inhabitants.

• "Open Heart Surgery" appeared on the soundrack to the TV series Rescue Me.

• "13" appeared on the episode "The Devil's Threesome" of the TV series Californication.

• "One of the first few tracks from Bravery Repition & Noise appeared on J.J. Abram's TV show "Fringe."

• A number of Jonestown songs were used in the improvisational film by Zak Penn entitled "The Grand".

• "The Way It Was" appeared in the 08 Fallen Video "Ride The Sky", in Gilbert Crockets section.

• "Anenome" appeared in "Boss Ballin 3" in Christian Maloufs section

Newcombe's interest in cults like that of Jim Jones and Charles Manson is well known, and made quite plain by songs such as "The Ballad of Jim Jones" and "Arkansas Revisited" (a rework of Charles Manson's song "Arkansas", which appeared on the album Lie: The Love & Terror Cult). Similar interests include a fascination with the Masons.

The band's back catalog is available on Bomp!/ Tangible Records, with most recent releases on TeePee and Cargo.

• Official Website
• MySpace page
• Anton Newcombe's personal MySpace profile
• Audio Stream of BJM Live @ Dour Festival 008 on www.samurai.fm
• Interview with Anton Newcombe
• Band synopsis
• BJM Archives
• BJM Covers Project
• Interview with Anton Newcombe for Aloud.com
• Rehearsal Space: Anton Newcombe a 2008 video featurette