Dig!! XX 2

Why, 20 years later, Dig! is still the ultimate music doc

As Dig! returns to cinemas, we revisit the chaos, creativity and collapse at the heart of a cult classic.

by Mark Grassick |

Great documentaries rarely happen by design. That’s certainly the case with Dig!, as perfect an ode to the last days of record label excesses as you can find. Ondi Timoner set out to film ten bands on the verge of stardom but instead accidentally stumbled on a compelling tale of two bands consumed by bitter rivalry, drug-fuelled destruction and monstrous egos.

The story became less about the road to stardom and more about the endlessly creative ways some people discover to sabotage their own chances of success. Dave Grohl called it his favourite horror film.

To anyone younger than the youngest Xennial, it may seem difficult to grasp why so much fuss is being made about a 20-year-old documentary following two bands who’ve left little lasting impact on the musical landscape.

But the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre share far more than punny 1960s counter-culture monikers. As Dig! XX hits cinemas – adding new footage and an updated epilogue to the original film – we look at everything you need to know about the bands that shaped one of the greatest music docs of all time.

Welcome to the bizarre world of the mid-00s psych rock revival.

Dig music documentary
Joel Gion and Anton Newcombe. Photograph: Dogwoof

The origin stories

Both The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre were birthed out of the LA garage rock scene in an era where every self-respecting band came with a well-worn copy of the Nuggets compilation. The Dandies were led by Courtney Taylor-Taylor, BJM by Anton Newcombe, close friends with strong personalities and some massive differences.

Taylor-Taylor is pure ego, a man who can unironically utter the words “I sneeze and hits come out”, while Newcombe is raging id with an unhealthy obsession with sitars. The documentary follows their opposing trajectories and the disintegration of their friendship.

Dig! picks up the story at a point where the bands are both on the verge of signing to major labels. The Dandy Warhols are more than ready for their moment in the limelight, already looking like movie stars and acting like they came out of the womb wearing sunglasses and a disaffected sneer.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre, on the other hand, are already imploding, their gigs devolving into brawls with each other and the audience. Newcombe approaches success like a man carefully crafting a meal that he secretly hates. It’s unsurprising that he reportedly hated the documentary and refused to take any part in Dig! XX.

Behind Newcombe is Joel Gion, BJM’s relentlessly upbeat tambourine player, a kind of Bez with impressive sideburns. It’s impossible to tell if he’s in complete denial about the catastrophic situations unfolding around him or just enjoying the chaos. He takes on an even greater role in Dig! XX, adding new narration to balance out Taylor-Taylor’s from the original film.

The essential Dandy Warhols album 

There’s one clear winner here. Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is the album that catapulted The Dandy Warhols to fame, destroying their friendship with the Brian Jonestown Massacre in the process. Unlike a lot of mid-00s indie rock, it’s aged incredibly well.

Opener ‘Godless’ wears its cinematic spaghetti western flair like Sergio Leone rocking up to the Viper Room. ‘Get Off’ stomps around like it owns the place and ‘Bohemian Like You’ is contagion in musical form. Beyond the singles, the Dandies deliver a rock solid, laser-focused album of sharpened hooks and studied cool. It’s impossible not to get swept along. 

The essential Dandy Warhols song

If you’re of a certain age, you won’t be able to hear the words “vegan food” without your brain launching into a rendition of the Dandy’s once-inescapable hit ‘Bohemian Like You’.

The song stalled outside the UK top 40 on its original release but went all the way to No.5 thanks to its inclusion in a ubiquitous Vodafone ad. It’s the perfect calling card for the band with its mock earnestness and a retro riff that revs like a souped-up hot rod.

The essential Brian Jonestown Massacre album

Where the Dandies were at their best when they were tight and focused, the Brian Jonestown Massacre specialise in the kind of hazy, undulating psych that seems to emerge from a fog of opium smoke. Their standout masterpiece, Take It From The Man!, is the epitome of this.

Tunes such as ‘Straight Up and Down’ (aka the Boardwalk Empire theme song), ‘Vacuum Boots’ and the gorgeous ‘(David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six’ make it abundantly clear why they inspired a label feeding frenzy.

Dig documentary

The essential Brian Jonestown Massacre song

Even though they never landed a massive hit on a ‘Bohemian Like You’ scale, the Brian Jonestown Massacre still have one indisputable must-hear track.

‘Anemone’, from 1996’s Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request, is 5-and-a-half perfect minutes of swaying, fuzzy brilliance that makes a star out of Joel Gion’s tambourine. Newcombe’s voice sounds like it’s going to float away at any minute.

Recommended further listening

So you dug Dig! and decided you’re quite into this garage psych revival thing? You’ve come to the right place.

Your first port of call is the album that sits right at the core of the whole movement: Nuggets. Compiled in the early 70s by Lenny Kaye (who would soon become a vital part of the Patti Smith band), Nuggets is a treasure trove drawing from the first wave of US psychedelic rock between 1965 and 1968.

Some of these bands would eventually gain recognition (particularly The Thirteenth Floor Elevators and The Electric Prunes) but most faded into obscurity.

Both The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre also drew a lot of influence from English bands. Unsurprisingly, The Rolling Stones loom large, but Courtney Taylor-Taylor has repeatedly said the The Verve’s A Storm In Heaven was a really important album in his musical development. Anyone only familiar with the hits off Urban Hymns will find it quite the eye-opening experience.

The fragile psychedelia of Jason Pierce also provided more than a little inspiration across both Spiritualized and Spacemen 3. Coincidentally, it was Pierce’s ex marrying The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft that inspired Spiritualized’s emotionally harrowing psych rock masterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space.

Listen to Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to by Pierce’s previous band Spacemen 3 and you can hear the building blocks of both The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Aside from the Dandies and BJM, two of the biggest successes to come out of the same mid-00s scene were Austin’s The Black Angels and San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Both trade heavily in the biker leathers and grease of the garage rock scene, with The Black Angels diving headfirst into pools of reverb that give their revved up sound a cinematic edge. Their respective debut albums, Passover and B.R.M.C are absolutely essential.

Dig! XX is in UK cinemas for one night only on Tuesday 25 March.

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