Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story

By: Jesse Valencia

Narrated by: Jesse Valencia

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Fifteen years after Ondi Timoner’s film Dig! shot The Brian Jonestown Massacre to international fame comes the first ever book on the controversial band and their leader, Anton Newcombe, who together have been at the forefront of the resurgence of psychedelic rock in recent decades — and become one of the most infamous and controversial bands around in the process.

Drawing on years of extensive research and personal interviews with over 125 people connected to the band — including former and current members Joel Gion, Matt Hollywood, Jeff Davies, Rick Maymi, and Frankie Emerson, as well as The Dandy Warhols, Miranda Lee Richards, Dave Deresinski, and Ondi Timoner — Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story digs a little deeper into the history of the band and the making of the film.

Written as a personal narrative that evokes the New Journalism of Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson, Keep Music Evil sets the record straight, once and for all, providing close insights into the band’s origins in early 1990s San Francisco, their record-making process, and the full, unexpurgated tale of Dig! Featuring rare, candid photographs of the band from throughout their career, this is the first comprehensive study of one of modern rock ’n’ roll’s most enduring sagas.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Jawbone Press (P)2021 Jesse Valencia

Great story. Audio mistakes not edited out — so some lines are re-read.

Great story from lots of different voices and sources. The glaring problem of it is that several audio mistakes are not edited out — so some lines are re-read.

Well researched, poorly edited

It’s clear the author put their heart and soul into this work. However they seemed to have difficulty reading their own words.
Who was in charge of editing this audio recording? Poorly executed.

Who edited the voice recording?

Great story but horrible recording. Each sentence is spliced with no space in between and makes the speed very fast and not good. Please re record. The story deserves better

Great content - poor production/performance

The book itself is solid. A detailed, at times pedantic (in a good way) and upbeat telling of the history of Anton and the band. However, the audiobook suffers greatly from poor production. The author (who reads the audiobook) should have hired a narrator and an audio editor/engineer (this is how most audiobooks are made) and if that were the case it would be much, much better - like, by orders of magnitude.

I enjoy when the author reads their own book and usually prefer it. Here, the reading is totally rushed/chopped together as another review states. There are also many cases of repeat-takes of words and phrases. He'll start a sentence and then a few words into it, start the sentence again from the top. These occurrences should have been edited-out. However, the biggest issue is really just the speed; it sounds like it's being played at 2x when it's just playing at normal speed. The sound quality isn't great either — use a better microphone, record in a better environment. These changes would make the book soar. I understand he may have a limited budget here, I get it, but there's no point in making an audiobook version if it turns out so shabby. Please, hire a narrator and a studio and have the book re-recorded, proofed and repaired. I'd probably spend another credit just to get that version, because it's a slog getting through this one due to the poor production quality. His heart is in the right place. I wish he'd just do it right, which would make for an excellent trip all around.

Pretty good read that isn't boring!

What I admire the most is that Jesse Valencia spent a decade doing his interviews and research on a band he truly appreciates. I like that he shared some of his personal memories while getting to know all the musicians who have worked with the band. It's not written by some random person who doesn't know much about music. The Brian Jonestown Massacre is one of the bands that has inspired Jesse to create his own music and art. Many people on my Facebook friends list are fans of the band. I like that some of us still keep in touch. The BJM may have had their differences, but they have brought back music that is set apart from the crap that's on the radio today. It's a nice tribute to Brian Jones, who was my favorite Stone. I am sure he would have appreciated The BJM if he were alive today.