Anton Alfred Newcombe (born August 29, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of the music group The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Newcombe was the subject of the 2004 documentary film '' Dig!'', along with

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alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band The Dandy Warhols.

Music

Newcombe started in the 1980s recording with a band called Homeland. Besides his own group, Newcombe has worked with a number of bands, most notably The Dandy Warhols,

The High Dials The High Dials are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band started out playing a brand of pop music strongly influenced by 1960s British mod styles, but their sound has broadened to incorporate power pop, psychedeli ...

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Innaway Innaway was an American psychedelic rock band from Southern California formed in 2001. In 2002, their demo was pressed in limited quantities by German label Audiolith Records but there wasn't a US release until 2005 when Some Records released a ...

, and

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. He recorded and produced

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's album '' Got Live if You Want It'', and recorded a cover of

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's song "

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" with

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on her 2008 album ''Four Cold Angels''.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Newcombe founded the musical group The Brian Jonestown Massacre in

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in 1990. Core members in the early years included

Matt Hollywood Matt Hollywood (born June 11, 1973) is an American indie rock guitarist and singer. He was a founding member and leader of the Portland-based indie rock band The Out Crowd, as well as a founding member of the psychedelic rock band The Brian Jones ...

, Jeffrey Davies, Joel Gion, Travis Threlkel, Peter Hayes, Patrick Straczek, Ricky Maymi, Brian Glaze, Elise Dye and Dean Taylor, although the line up was subject to frequent changes. Newcombe wrote most of the group's songs, with Hollywood collaborating or contributing others on occasion. Following Hollywood's departure from the group in 1998, Newcombe's name became almost synonymous with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Newcombe was also heavily involved in the post-production of his albums, often engineering and mixing them on his own. A prolific artist, he authored over 150 songs in a 15-year period. In 2016, he composed the soundtrack for British indie film ''Moon Dogs'', directed by

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Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe

Newcombe recorded two albums with Toronto singer-songwriter Tess Parks: ''I Declare Nothing'' in 2015, and the eponymous ''Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe'' in 2018.

L’Épée

In 2019, Newcombe founded the musical group L’Épée along with French film star Emmanuelle Seigner and The Limiñanas.

A Recordings Ltd

Newcombe founded the record label A Recordings Ltd., where he releases records for The Brian Jonestown Massacre and other artists including

and the Vacant Lots.

Personal life

Part of Newcombe's life is featured prominently in the documentary film '' Dig!'' which focuses on the tense relationship between The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols as both bands struggle for success. Newcombe has battled drug addiction, alcoholism and depression. He lives in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

with his wife, Katy, and their son, Wolfgang.

References

External links

Official Band Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newcombe, Anton 1967 births Living people American expatriates in Germany Singer-songwriters from California People from Greater Los Angeles American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock singers American rock songwriters The Brian Jonestown Massacre members Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century multi-instrumentalists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers