The BJM leader frames himself as an uncompromising artist who refuses to sell out to the record industry because his art is too pure. This is crap, as we now have footage of BJM band members saying getting signed was all he would talk about. This is confirmed when we see Newcombe start acting thirsty as hell once the Dandy Warhols make it and he tries to ride their coattails with diss tracks. We also see Newcombe bite any hand that dares to feed him down to the bone. Timoner’s additional footage adds over 40 more nails to the coffin of Newcombe’s myth of self-grandeur. It reveals him to be an even bigger a*****e than previously realized. We are treated to more heroin, more self-sabotage, and more chronic abuse of bandmates and partners.
Fans of the original cut are going to go absolutely nuts over Dig! XX, as it is now revealed what a stratospheric buffoon Newcombe always was. There is now footage of the singer spending all the money the band had to do the Viper Room showcase with on multiple unneeded sitars. When asked to apologize in a new scene, he snottily says he never is wrong so he never has to say sorry. Gion’s narration, using the same tone one hears describing teen reformatories, details how bad BJM members had it. This reduces the slapstick humor surrounding his calamity in the first version, as the new scenes show us what it was like for the victims in this band.
“…one of the greatest rock docs ever…”
Another BJM member, Matt Hollywood, points out every spiritual leader burns in hell for claiming to be god and not backing it up. The extra footage gives Anton even more rope to hang himself; as we see it was Hollywood that was responsible for getting the BJM albums Newcombe was too high to work on completed. We also get more of The Dandy Warhols, which is dandy as they are a massive positive counterbalance to the poisonous donkey show of the BJM. Their songs are catchy and mean something to people, while the BJM is just mean.
The new footage in Dig! XX also shows that Newcombe keeps leaning into more controversy instead of leading with his music. He has longed learned his music itself isn’t enough to get him attention. Several times, audience members try to bait him onstage so that he would go full Jerry Springer for them. But even that loses its luster after a while. He even attempted to get himself headlines by making rape jokes onstage about an audience member’s mother, except he just wasn’t famous enough to stir outrage.
We can clearly see that the BJM Kool-aid has no sugar, water, or glass. With the new Dig! XX, Timoner takes one of the greatest rock docs ever made and makes it even better. It is destined to play a thousand laptops in a thousand vans of bands of the future. It has many great lessons for budding musicians as to what NOT to do if you want to succeed.
Dig! XX screened at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
"…the BJM Kool-aid has no sugar, water, or glass."
