Back in the mid-nineties filmmaker Ondi Timoner was documenting the budding careers of a bunch of Los Angeles bands, hoping to be able to track at least one which would make it big. But as she did so, she heard about a band named The Brian Jonestown Massacre who were enjoying a pretty big buzz about their work, and their frontman and songwriter Anton Newcombe was being hailed as a genius for being so ahead of the curve on what people wanted to listen to. So Timoner changed her focus to them, and their growing rivalry with another band, The Dandy Warhols...
Such is the stuff of music legend, but if Dig! did not quite hit those heights, it did become essential cult viewing for everyone who had either been in a band, or was interested in the industry. Not exactly This is Spinal Tap but with real people, this became less an examination of how the business messes you up and more about how messed up musicians have trouble getting their grand schemes off the ground, Anton being that man, whereas his one-time friend and Dandy Warhols leader Courtney Taylor was far better at playing the game and reaped the rewards of that, as we see over the course of the seven years spent with both bands and their leaders' massive egos.
This was many things, one could make the case it was too many things, but at least that didn't mean it got boring as the personalities involved were too vivid for that, even if they did all come across as irredeemable hipsters to varying extents. Taylor narrated, which should give you some idea of how his career went when Anton was left appearing in various clips, often either in a state of junkie inebriation or arguing, indeed getting violent, with yet another person who failed to acknowledge the way he thought things should be done. Not that Taylor emerged from this unblemished, and some of his pronouncements came across as self-aggrandising to a dubious degree.
It's just that compared to Newcombe he appeared the very light of reason, especially when the Warhols get their big recording deal but find things tough after that, as meanwhile Anton messed up yet another opportunity brought about by the cachet he held from those who enjoyed his indie label work. The fact remained we didn't see many gigs where he did not end up in a scuffle, either with members of the band or with the audience as he tended to prefer to bicker than actually get the songs performed on that evidence. So part of this was a portrait of talent let down by the very person who held it, being too spiky for anyone to get along with and make a go of real success, as his own worst enemy.
Naturally after Dig! was released The Brian Jonestown Massacre's fame increased tenfold, but as for The Dandy Warhols they had already gained some measure of achievement, for they were especially popular in Europe: viewers there will recognise practically every tune of theirs we hear in this if that is what has brought them to the film. The fact that they attained this when their old pal Anton did not leads to him acting even more crazy, showing up at their gigs dressed bizarrely and distributing his hate record about them, or sending them shotgun shells in the post, leaving you thinking that if he had only got over his obsession he could have been far more productive, not to mention not as bitter and twisted. You'll either regard Anton as a jerk or a tragic figure, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground, and seeing as how his background was never going to create a balanced person, the latter might be more apt. Special mention, though, to the other star here: tambourine expert Joel Gion, a highly amusing chap who deserved a film all to himself.
