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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC for short) is an American garage rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. The band comprises Peter Hayes (guitar, bass, vocals); Robert Levon Been (guitar, bass, vocals) and Nick Jago (drums/percussion). BRMC is known for its catchy brand of garage rock, blues, folk revival and often religiously inspired lyrics, and its influences are groups and musicians such as The Verve, Led Zeppelin and The Jesus and Mary Chain.[citation needed]

History

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's first two records were indebted to classic hard rock influenced by Led Zeppelin and also encompassed slower paced psychedelic rock and space rock influences from bands such as The Verve and The Jesus And Mary Chain. Recently, with their third record Howl, 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 San Francisco 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.

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. Its 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(and in particular George Bush) that were echoed by punk band Green Day the next year.

After conflict with the label, the band was dropped by Virgin Records in 2004, with Nick Jago leaving the band at the end of their summer tour of the same year due to 'internal conflict' (later revealed to be a drug addiction and drinking problem). Hayes and Been then recorded their third album.

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".

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 its third album: Howl is the name of Ginsberg's most celebrated work.

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.

Members

Line-up changes during Howl

During 2005, Nick Jago was estranged from the band, reportedly due to his drug problems that had become apparent, firstly when he accepted an NME Award in 2003 and remained on stage for a full nine minutes completely silent, and a year later at the 2004 V Festival where he notoriously walked out when asked to sign an inflatable penis. As such, Jago did not join when the band started the Howl sessions, instead, he went through various rehab attempts, eventually rejoining the band in time to record one track on Howl, a Lennonesque ballad called "Promise". It is thought that the lack of Jago's presence, and the encompassing drug problems the band had faced, were part of the reason Howl became a stripped down American folk record, and departed so much from the traditional B.R.M.C. sound.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year Title Album UK Singles
February 2001 "Red Eyes And Tears" B.R.M.C. -
March 2001 "Rifles" B.R.M.C. -
October 2001 "Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)" B.R.M.C. -
January 2002 "Love Burns" B.R.M.C. 37
May 2002 "Spread Your Love" B.R.M.C. 27
September 2002 "Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)" B.R.M.C. 46
August 2003 "Stop" Take Them On, On Your Own 19
November 2003 "We're All In Love" Take Them On, On Your Own 45
2005 "Shuffle Your Feet" Howl -
August 2005 "Ain't No Easy Way" Howl 21
October 2005 "Weight of the World" Howl -
April 2007 "Weapon of Choice" Baby 81 35
July 2007 "Berlin" Baby 81 89

EPs

  • Screaming Gun EP (October 2001)
  • Howl Sessions EP (2005)
  • Napster Live Session (2007)

Trivia

  • Professional wrestler Alex Shelley used the song "Six Barrel Shotgun" as his entrance music on the independent wrestling circuit.
  • Czech mobile phone operator Oskar used the song "Stop" for their launch campaign back in 2004. The ad was directed by David Slade.
  • The song "Red Eyes and Tears" was used during a party scene on the HBO show Six Feet Under.
  • The song "Suddenly" was featured in the third season premiere of the Fox drama 24.
  • The song "Ain't No Easy Way" was featured in an episode of the NBC comedy My Name Is Earl.
  • The song "Whatever Happened to my Rock and Roll" is heard during the first race montage (the 'teaser footage') of the MotoGP documentary Faster.
  • The song "Berlin" was featured in the episode "Malibooty" of the HBO comedy Entourage.


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