Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
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| Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | |
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 BRMC live at Benicassim 2007.
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| Background information | |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock Garage rock revival Neo-psychedelia Hard rock Noise rock Post-punk revival Americana |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Label(s) | Virgin, Echo, RCA/BMG |
| Website | www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com |
| Members | |
| Peter Hayes Robert Levon Been Leah Shapiro |
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| Former members | |
| Nick Jago | |
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC for short) is an American alternative rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. BRMC is known for its brand of garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia, and often religiously inspired lyrics, and its influences are groups and musicians such as The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, The Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain[1]. Its name was likely gathered from the movie The Wild One.
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[edit] History
[edit] Formation and first years: 1998-2003
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club formed in 1998, taking its name from Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in the 1953 film The Wild One. The band was originally called The Elements, but after discovering that another band had the same name, it changed the name to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Their second album Take Them On, On Your Own has several songs such as "Generation" and "US Government" that are critical of the United States government.
The band's first two records were indebted to classic hard rock influenced by Led Zeppelin and also encompassed slower paced psychedelic rock, space rock and Noise Pop influences from bands such as The Verve, Loop, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and The Jesus And Mary Chain. Recently, with their fourth record Baby 81, they developed a more concrete sound and style; encompassing blues, folk, and rock, while remaining angst-ridden in theme.
The vocals are shared between Robert Levon Been (Bass) and Peter Hayes (guitar). Been and Hayes met at high school in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Lafayette and quickly formed a band, Hayes having recently left The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Looking for a drummer, they met Nick Jago, from Devon, England, who had moved to California to be with his parents after spending some time at Winchester School of Art, where he was studying fine art. Been used the pseudonym 'Robert Turner' on the first two records, in an attempt to not be linked to his famous father (Michael Been of The Call.) He later dropped this identity when promoting Howl.
[edit] Middle era: 2004-2006
In 2003, a concert in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK had to be cancelled half way through the set, after Leeds City Council officials suspected the 150 year old floor of Leeds Town Hall might collapse.[2] This led to the band sometimes being referred to as 'the band who broke the floor'.[3]
After conflict with the label, the band was dropped by Virgin Records in 2004. Nick Jago became estranged from the band in 2005, reportedly due to drug problems that became publicly apparent when he remained on stage for a full nine minutes, completely silent, while accepting a 2003 NME Award. A year later at the 2004 V Festival, Jago walked out when asked to sign an inflatable penis. Things came to a head in Scotland, when after a tense gig Jago and Hayes came to blows and before long, Jago quit[4]. As such, Jago did not take part in the Howl sessions. Instead, he went through various rehab attempts, eventually rejoining the band in time to record one track on Howl, the ballad "Promise". Some fans believe the lack of Jago's presence, and the encompassing drug problems the band had faced, lead partly to Howl's stripped-down folk style, a departure from the traditional B.R.M.C. sound.[citation needed]
In 2005 the band signed to Echo in the UK, and RCA in the U.S. Their third album Howl was released to widespread critical acclaim. Several of the songs on Howl are said to have been written long before the idea of BRMC was conceived. Jago returned after most of the album was recorded but plays on track 7, "Promise". On tour for this album the band also employed a temporary fourth member, guitarist Spike Keating, on stage during performances.
Possible influences of the band include the beat poet generation, notably of the Denver scene, and particularly in Allen Ginsberg. This is evident in the title of their third album: Howl is the name of Ginsberg's most celebrated work.
[edit] Recent years: 2007-present
The band's fourth album, Baby 81, was released on April 30, 2007 in the UK and Europe and May 1, 2007 in the U.S.. The band has posted several songs of Baby 81 album on their MySpace page.
On June 6, 2007, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club performed in a concert that was streamed live via MSN Music.
In June 2008 Nick once again left B.R.M.C.'s touring line-up, being replaced by The Raveonettes' touring drummer Leah[5]. Nick stated he "took it as I am fired again and to be honest with you I respect their decision."[5]. However, Peter and Robert issued a statement reading: "Nick won't be joining us for the upcoming European tour, but it's not true that he is fired. We just feel Nick needs time to sort out exactly what he wants right now. His heart and all his energy and attention is on his own solo project and he needs to see that through."[5]
On October 27, 2008, the band announced via a Myspace bulletin that they were to release their newest album independent of any record company. The album, which would be their fifth studio record, would also be their first release through their own "Abstract Dragon" label. The album, titled, The Effects of 333 is completely instrumental and is available as a digital download only through their official music store since 3:33 am Pacific Time on November 1.
On March 3, 2009, B.R.M.C. announced that they are recording their 6th studio album, and their tentative plan is to release the album later this year with tour dates to follow. Besides, they have recently completed their first ever live DVD, with audio mixed by Peter Hayes, recorded in Glasgow, Berlin and Dublin during the Baby 81 world tour. The DVD will see a release later this spring and more information on the release will be coming soon.
[edit] Members
- Peter Hayes – vocals, guitar, Bass, Synth
- Robert Levon Been – vocals, bass, guitar, Piano
- Leah Shapiro – drums (2008-present)
[edit] Former members
- Nick Jago - drums (1998-2004, 2005-2008)
- Peter Salisbury - drums (2004) - touring
[edit] On other media
The song "Shuffle Your Feet" from Howl has been featured in commercials advertising the HBO miniseries Generation Kill as well as the trailer for the film Public Enemies.
For the 2008/9 football season, 'Spread your love', from the album B.R.M.C, is being used as the entrance music on matchdays at Manchester City's home games. It was also featured in commercials for Ketel 1 Vodka and season 3, episode 18 of Entourage, called "The Resurrection." The film A Man Apart uses "Spread Your Love" as well.
"Rifles" was featured on season 5, episode 11 of Numb3rs, called "Arrow of Time." It was also on the soundtrack of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, season 2, episode 4, called "Bully for You."
"Weapon Of Choice" was featured as part of Guitar Hero World Tour and season 5, episode 5 of One Tree Hill, called "I Forgot to Remember to Forget." "Mercy" was also on season 5, episode one of One Tree Hill, called "Four Years, Six Months, Two Days."
American X was featured on episode 85 of The Sopranos, called "The Blue Comet."
"Rise or Fall" was on the soundtrack on the season 1 finale of Entourage, called "New York."
Bones used "Fault Line" on season 2, episode 15 and "Feel It Now" on season 1, episode 12.
Southland Tales featured the song "Howl".
"Ain't No Easy Way" was on the soundtrack of the movie The Guardian and season 1, episode 15 of My Name is Earl, called "Something to Live For".
The O.C. used "Shuffle Your Feet" on episode 63, "Weight of the World" on episode 56, and "Salvation" on episode 54.
The Last Ride used the song "Six Barrel Shotgun".
"Whatever Happened to my Rock and Roll" was featured on the title sequence for the MotoGP film "FASTER", Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, Project Gotham Racing 2, and it was one of the two BRMC songs were part of the movie 9 Songs, the other being "Love Burns". Gilmore Girls also uses "Love Burns" on season 3, episode 4, called "One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes."
The film The Whole Ten Yards featured "We're All in Love".
24 featured "Suddenly" on season 3, episode 2 and "As Sure as the Sun" on season 1, episode 18.
Six Feet Under uses "Red Eyes and Tears" on the season 1 finale, called "Knock, Knock."
[edit] Discography
- B.R.M.C. (2001)
- Take Them On, On Your Own (2003)
- Howl (2005)
- Baby 81 (2007)
- The Effects of 333 (2008)
[edit] References
- ^ "Black Rebel Motorcycle Club" (HTML). Rolling Stone Artist Section. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/blackrebelmotorcycleclub. Retrieved on 2007-10-27.
- ^ http://www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/1583/
- ^ http://www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com/tourarchive/2004/02/14/?s=402
- ^ "Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Prep New LP" (HTML). http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/34646-black-rebel-motorcycle-club-prep-new-lp. Retrieved on 2007-10-27.
- ^ a b c "Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's drummer leaves band". NME.com. June 10, 2008. http://www.nme.com/news/black-rebel-motorcycle-club/37235. Retrieved on 2008-06-10.
[edit] External links
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