Going Underground

As historical band rivalries go, The Dandy Warhols versus The Brian Jonestown Massacre doesn’t quite whet the appetite like The Fall versus The Cramps or Oasis versus Everybody Else. But the ego-maniacal buffoonery (“You broke my sitar, motherfucker!”) captured in Dig! – a frantic and hilarious new rock-doc from filmmaker Ondi Timoner – is so freaking rock n’roll it makes Spinal Tap look like Chris Martin‘s video diary.

“It started out as a project following ten bands on the verge of getting signed," explains Timoner, a Californian with roots in Co. Down. “But once I met The Brian Jonestown Massacre and listened to their fired-up talk of a musical revolution with The Dandy Warhols and saw their gigs erupt into punch-ups, the focus shifted completely. They were all so much larger than life – they were rock stars long before they were actually rock stars. It’s been a wild ride since 1986.”
Filmed on the tour beat (including a pit-stop in Dublin) over seven years, Dig! takes in drug-busts, brawls and seething envy as the relationship between Dandy Warhols singer Courtney Taylor and BJM mainman, Anton Newcombe unravels. Inflamed by his one-time protege’s commercial success, and what he sees as ideological betrayal, Newcombe begins composing anti-Taylor anthems and death threats. A Charles Manson fanatic whose schizophrenic father committed suicide during the making of the film, Newcombe is also shown delivering Cantona-style karate kicks at his own adoring fans.
“I never had any problems with Anton," the director assures. “He once kicked me out of his house when I confronted him about his heroin use, but he doesn’t hit women. He really only gets violent if you mess with his music, like say, hit a bum note.”
Certainly, Dig! is broadly sympathetic to Newcombe’s romantic lunacy and his fight-the-power attitude to the record industry. Besides few – including the band themselves – would dispute his characterisation of The Dandy Warhols as coffeehouse bohemians. The Dandys happily describe themselves as ‘the most well adjusted band in the world’ and point out that all of their parents are still together. Viewed from Newcombe’s perspective, while he succumbs to heroin, the middle class boys ditch junkie chic to pen corporate signature tunes. This is neatly illustrated when Timoner juxtaposes The Dandy Warhols’ $400,000 video shoot for 'Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth’ with the near simultaneous ten hour BJM gig at the Communist Party headquarters in Cleveland.
She says: “I’ve never thought that the Dandys sold out. Anton imagined they were betraying his revolution, but while Courtney always admired Anton from afar, he wanted to dominate the world by making records and touring. Anton just couldn't understand that, couldn't understand The Dandys signing to a major label.”
Newcombe is predictably less than thrilled with Dig! Having disassociated himself from the project just as Timoner began editing her 1,500 hours worth of footage (it falls to Taylor to narrate) he continues to rail against the director, The Dandy Warhols and most of the planet on his website. Newcombe has denounced the film as Dandy propaganda, maintaining that his arrest for drug possession was taken out of context. Indeed, he claims that the offending stash belonged to the director herself.
“That’s just bullshit," sighs Timoner. “You know I had a much darker cut, but test audiences couldn’t connect with Anton as a protagonist. I didn’t use footage of the worst of his heroin excesses and all three of his ex-wives say he comes off better in the movie than in real life. But he has come around. I was speaking with him just three days ago and things have really started happening for him since Dig! came out.”
In this faultlessly frenetic and humorous account of the tension between hipster art and commerce, the most fantastic irony comes at the expense of both bands. Just as Newcombe imagines he’s spearheading a musical insurrection peddling ’60s revival rock, The Dandy Warhols believe their vacuous glam-pop to be cutting edge. But maybe, just maybe, Newcombe’s own intimidating estimation of his place in the rock pantheon hasn’t been so misguided after all.
“After seeing the movie, Perry Farrell invited Anton on the Lollapolooza tour and since then he’s been on the cover of Rolling Stone,” laughs Timoner. “It’s a total fairy story. So I guess he’s forgiven me for whatever I did.”

Dig! is released July 1 and will be reviewed next issue. There's also a preview screening on June 26 in the Temple Bar Music Centre, for which hotpress.com has ten double passes to give away. To enter, click here.