Eight Questions with… Part I

In a segment I’m calling ‘Eight Questions with…’, I’ll be asking politically involved people eight questions in a Q and A style segment. I won’t be censoring their answers at all, so for these particular posts, reader discretion is advised.

This afternoon, over email, I had the opportunity to interview Anton Newcombe, an American singer-songwriter, producer, and founder of the music group, The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Q: You’re from California originally, so I assume you still keep an eye on American politics. But as a resident of Berlin, you’re also exposed to the EU (European Union) and Angela Merkel. How do you find the two governments parallel and what are your thoughts on the geopolitics of how these two countries’ governments operate?

Anton Newcombe: Ok, first lets deal with the German government and how it was created. After WW2 the Americans with help from the English set out to build a system that combined the best of the UK and USA, in fact it was the Americans calling all the shots and I have to be honest, they treated it from the perspective like the founding fathers and improved on the American system.

In my passport it says”Let us raise a banner that wise men can improve.” Basically it doesn’t say, “Ok, we’re number one.” Fuck it. Anyway, the post war boffins did a great job, because it’s more or less a parliament type government. You have an election and if you don’t win out right, you form a coalition, and if you mess up, the other people can say we are leaving. Then it’s time to have another election, etc. (to) address that.

Now this would be a problem in America right now, because we have this insane ‘shoot yourself in the foot’ politics over every subject and in Germany people are more rational even over very unpopular topics like letting 1.5 million refugees in your country.

Now, Merkel is a very interesting person. She’s dealt with unification politics and economics…and she has to deal with Russia…and that’s one 500 pound gorilla.

She has to deal with the legacy and relations with Israel (for instance Germany designed and built 6 attack subs for Israel.) She has to deal with America, and Germany is the defacto power house engine on many levels for Europe and 500 million people…it’s a tightrope.

On the one hand we all know Germany’s past. On the other hand it takes a certain type to see clearly the geopolitics of this century.

Geopolitics – gosh, I will really have to qualify so many topics I touch on for this.

In a nut shell. Sit back, this will take some time.

There is an economic side, to what end, it’s debatable a new world system? How can every country owe money to who? There is the grand chess game? (here he’s referring to Zbigniew Brzezinski‘s 1997 novel The Grand Chessboard) Ever hear of that term? You should google it.

There is the Caspian Sea and the honey pot of oil. There is Israel and safety and the truth about the Leviathan field…that the gas goes from Egypt to Turkey. There is Russia, China, Iran, The Shia, Isma ‘ilisim… proxy wars, India and generating power from a natural gas line that never gets finished. South China sea..Brexit…

where should we start?

All of this leads to an awareness that USA politics and geo-politics are not left to the whimsy of the mob.

Q: You touched on the new world order. Do you see Germany’s place in that sort of position as a figurehead or more of a tag along party along with another superpower like the United States or Britain?

AN: Well New World Order means one thing to an Alex jones fan and another to George Bush…or maybe not but the truth is nationalism as we know it is on it’s way out from a Neo-Conservative perspective and the goal is economic unions and federalism etc.

The political landscape changed because I truly believe one of the weapons America uses quiet effectively is economic and there was a crash in 2008 at the very same time the US dollar was sinking and China, quite aggressively positioning its own currency among a basket. At that point several things happened one of them iceland… but also Western QE (Quantitive easing) i.e., printing fake money on a large scale.

The migrant issue only affects me specifically in that it became a hot button issue in Europe and the UK, now Brexit. But people are in fear and rightly so. They should fear what will happen if there are no plans to deal with the fact that a billion people’s brightest idea is to move to Switzerland. The other part, the displaced by war? That’s another subject and it’s two fold because refugees are a tool of war.

Q: You’ve always been outspoken on issues you believe in. Living in Europe since 2007, how has the political landscape changed, and how does the recent migrant situation affect your day to day life (if at all) in Germany?

AN: The world is leaning more to the right. I don’t find Hillary Clinton to be all that different than George Bush to be honest… it’s only the tone that people take, and a few small gestures that come and go. However the tolerance levels in society for many things are changing quite fast…

If you are asking about Germany or Europe, it’s polarized between people that want to be forward thinking and people that are saying hold on, letting a million people from another culture just roll on in when they are completely against our way of life is a bad idea and I fear what is happening along with terrorism.

Merkel took an interesting stand, but it sets in play an interesting thing because the borders are now not as free and we are on the edge of a real war.

Believe it or not they are pushing Putin to the limit knowing that he will have to react or get removed from power and they believe they can win quick and he will be removed from power. At the same time the ngo’s (Non-governmental organization)  with the colour revolutions, whip up internal dissent in the countries like Russia and China in hopes that an internal change happens…but we are looking at a conflit in the South China sea and one over here on multi-fronts and one in the Persian gulf and smaller ones in Africa all at once…pushing…pushing towards a goal.

But my day to day, I am a hermit…I ride the trains…go to my studio..do my thing.

The news is like an alarm clock for me. I keep waking up in the night, I see the time, I go back to sleep because I know I have an hour, 30 minutes whatever.

Q: How have Berliners reacted to the flow of refugees, and where do you see the country’s politics/laws changing (if at all) as a result of that influx?

AN: There are right wing marches, and Gegen Nazi marches to protest them. Merkel’s party got 12 percent. The ultra right (Alternative for Germany, or AfD party for short) 14 percent in the city election so that shows you something, it’s a coalition government but thats a big change and its vocal – this is the most Liberal and progressive.

Q: During your recent tour, you were offering tickets/vinyl records to people who donated to Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders). What sort of voice/platform have social media sites like twitter and Facebook given you to inform people of causes you believe in?

AN: Nothing specifically that isn’t out there for anyone else to use, but it occurred to me that I could raffle off tickets and things by asking people to show proof of donation – it takes nothing for me to give away two tickets to a sold out show and all of our shows are sold out – I must have raised £50k ($82,428) or more and I gave people a choice. But my goal was to get other people to do it – no money touched my hands – it would take Beyoncé nothing and she would raise millions.

Museums, sports, theatre any event / people could do this and it was my idea that sadly never caught on.

Q: You recently played a string of shows in Canada (including a show I attended in Montréal this past May), after being banned for comments made on stage. How do you feel about government regulations/red tape or work permits required to perform in this country?

AN: I love the people of Canada and I have great hope as many do for the new leader and a fresh perspective in hard times. I see no reason for any government to make it hard for artists to share culture.

For someone to assume that I am a negative instead of a positive is a serious mistake. I am a very creative person and I do a lot to create and foster Canadian content internationally including Tess Parks, (a) Toronto native and an extremely talented woman.

I reacted when someone threw a glass bottle at my face and it shattered glass into my eyes and without seeing, without having any way of knowing gender affiliation I spit out a racial and a homosexual slur at once. Now, it was a set up because no cameras were allowed and that person should have been arrested for gbh (Grevious bodily harm) – furthermore I’m not ashamed that I said those words at that second because I wasn’t using them correctly or directly.

In my mind, (I) basically spit out the most offensive thing, be it conscious or unconscious as a reaction. In hindsight could I have reacted different? Yes. I could have attacked the person with a mic stand. Or said nothing, but here we are and I have that to think about it. (It) says less about me, or a word, than a person that would go to a concert with a friend to specifically wound someone for a reaction to film.

Basically mother fuck them. Judge me as you wish, I can live with it.

I’m fine with Canada. I even like Stompin’ Tom (Connors), haha.

Q: What sort of voice do ordinary citizens have compared to mainstream media, who are allegedly complicit in picking sides within this current US and other past election? And do you think sites like wikileaks have a future in providing a polarizing information for those who seek it?

AN: You have to remember that we cannot want for other people what they do not want for themselves. I honestly think that most people no longer have any need for the truth and that slumber is self preservation. It’s not like anyone has to go to any great amount of effort to hypnotize anyone because people need the rest.

Wikileaks? I have mixed feelings about. The big drop. We should talk about that.

But really, most people have a computer more powerful than these ones that put a man on the moon…in their pocket and what are they doing on it?

Nothing.

Satanic reverses…. they call it a smart phone but it’s not really being used to its full potiential – equals dumb phone.

Q: Finally, you recently released a new Brian Jonestown Massacre album called ‘Third World Pyramid.’ How would you describe this albums sound compared to previous albums? And do you have plans to tour North America (more specifically Canada) in 2017?

AN: I recorded 45 songs at once, wrote them one after another…but I knew immediately that there were at least two different things happening with me, one was that I solidified the old and the constant in me… Sun Ship is as fine of a song as I will ever write but it is in now way even the tip of who I am or what I can express in the full spectrum of awareness – the other grouping explores what I can be,what I might be, what could happen and there are some excellent things happening in this exploration – some of my best work again – so this second record coming in December is the punchline to Third World Pyramid –

I really hope I tour again. –

I love playing music. –

I could give a fuck about being a rock star.

I love creating this thing together with people – this music, these ideas.

This conversation – being real.