The Brian Jonestown Massacre Share New Single “The Real”, Reveal New Album Details

By: Staff –

The Brian Jonestown Massacre are back with their new single “The Real”, the latest taste from their forthcoming new album, Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees, which will be released on June 24, 2022 via A Recordings.

After a string of eight long-players and one mini-album in the 2010s, frontman Anton Newcombe had been going through a period of writer’s block when one day he picked up his 12-string guitar in the studio and album opener “The Real” came out of him. Like the kraken, it was as if he’d summoned it. “All of a sudden, I just heard something,” he says. “And then it just didn’t stop. We tracked a whole song every single day for 70 days in a row.”

Four minutes into Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees, there are two lines that sum up its fearless spirit. “Fight the beast until it dies, raise your sword up to the sky!”, sings Newcombe as an explosion of fuzzy guitars, thrumming organs and rolling drums collide around him. As soon as Newcombe wrote it, he knew “The Real” had to open the new album. “That line is like fantasyland!” he laughs. “It’s the little kid in me, full on St. George shit. It’s as much a declaration of anything that I could ever muster. A lot of the album is about affirmation by just living. Existentially, this time period has felt pretty dark, so it’s about fighting the good fight. I’m singing to empower other people. First of all, I’m getting whatever I need out of it, but I can see it as something other people can identify with.”

Speaking further on “The Real,” Newcombe says, “I’m trying to give comfort and support to the listener in a very matter of fact kind of way, it’s a call to arms, the beast can be this overwhelming darkness, the dragon, dickheads telling you that you need to be trans-human, modified to be whole and survive A.I. it’s absolute madness… we are in for a tough ride, have no illusions.”

Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees Track-List

1. The Real

2. Ineffable Mindfuck

3. It’s About Being Free Really

4. What’s In A Name ?

5. Silenced

6. Before And After land

7. You Think I’m Joking?

8. #1 LUCKY KITTY

9. Wait A Minute (2:30 to be exact)

10. Don’t Let Me Get In Your Way

To help bring these new songs to life in the fullest on tour, Newcombe will be accompanied by:

Ricky Maymi (guitar)

Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar)

Ryan Carlson Van Kriedt (keyboards)

Uri Rennert (drums)

Collin Hegna (bass)

Joel Gion (tambourine)

The band will be embarking on their 38-date North American tour that will take them to Boston, Montreal, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, LA, Austin, Nashville and everywhere in between, starting at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer for the first show on March 27 and wrapping up at DC’s Black Cat on May 11.

“For me, live is where it lives or dies,” Newcombe insists. “So, for me to get the chance at my age to go off on another world tour for two years and play bigger places, grand theaters, and be at the top of my game, it’s an honor as well as a challenge. We are very excited.”

Brian Jonestown Massacre – 2022 Tour Dates

Mar 27 | Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer w/ Mercury Rev

Mar 28 | Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel w/ Mercury Rev

Mar 29 | Jersey City, NJ – White Eagle Hall w/ Mercury Rev

Mar 30 | Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live w/ Mercury Rev

Mar 31 | Providence, RI – Columbus Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 1 | Boston, MA – Roadrunner w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 2 | Montreal, QC – Le National w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 4 | Toronto, ON – Queen Elizabeth Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 5 | Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 6 | Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 7 | Cleveland, OH – Agora Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 8 | Chicago, IL – The Vic Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 9 | Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 10 | Minneapolis, MN First Avenue w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 12 | Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 13 | Salt Lake City, UT Metro Music Hall w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 15 | Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 16 | Tacoma, WA – McMenamins Elks Temple w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 17 | Seattle, WA – Showbox w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 18 | Portland, OR – Roseland Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 20 | San Francisco, CA The Fillmore w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 21 | San Francisco, CA The Fillmore w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 22 | Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 23 | San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 24 | Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory OC w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 25 | Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 27 | San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 28 | Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater Mercury Rev

Apr 29 | Dallas, TX – Granada Theater w/ Mercury Rev

Apr 30 | Houston, TX – The Heights Theater w/ Mercury Rev

May 2 | Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck

May 3 | Saint Louis, MO – Delmar Hall

May 5 | Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl

May 6 | Birmingham, AL – Saturn

May 7 | Atlanta, GA – Terminal West

May 8 | Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel

May 10 | Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle

May 11 | Washington DC – Black Cat