Thursday, January 21, 2010

short history...



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.


History:

Formation and early 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.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. The band was originally called
The Elements, but after discovering that another band had the same name, they changed the
name to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The vocals are shared between bassist Robert Levon
Been and guitarist Peter Hayes.

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.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.
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.

In 2003, a concert in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England 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.This led to the band sometimes being referred to as 'the band
who broke the floor'.Problems with drummer Nick Jago began surfacing publicly at the 2003
NME Awards, when Jago remained on stage for nine minutes, completely silent, while
accepting an award.


Howl era: 2004–2006


Leeds Town Hall, the venue where Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 'broke the floor'
At the 2004 V Festival, Jago walked out when asked to sign an inflatable penis. After
conflict with their record label, the band was dropped by Virgin Records in 2004. Jago's
conflicts came to a head in Scotland, when Jago and Hayes came to blows after a tense
gig. Before long, Jago quit. As such, Jago did not take part in the sessions for the
band's third album, Howl.Instead, he went through various rehab attempts, eventually
rejoining the band in time to record one track, the ballad "Promise".

In 2005 the band signed to Echo in the UK, and RCA in the U.S. Howl was released to
mostly favorable reviews. Howl had a stripped-down folk style, a departure from the
earlier B.R.M.C. sound. Several of the songs on Howl are said to have been written long
before the idea of B.R.M.C. was conceived.On tour for this album the band also employed a
temporary fourth member, guitarist Spike Keating.


Baby 81 and The Effects of 333: 2007–present


By 2007, Nick Jago had rejoined B.R.M.C. 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 from Baby 81 on their MySpace page. With Baby 81, they developed a more
concrete sound and style: encompassing blues, folk, and rock, while remaining angst-
ridden in theme.

On June 6, 2007, BRMC performed in a concert that was streamed live on the internet via
MSN Music.

In June 2008, Jago once again left BRMC's touring line-up, being replaced by The
Raveonettes' touring drummer Leah Shapiro.Jago stated he "took it as I am fired again
and to be honest with you I respect their decision".However, Hayes and Been 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.

On October 27, 2008, the band announced via a MySpace bulletin that they would release
their newest album independently. The album would be their first release through their
own "Abstract Dragon" label. The album, titled, The Effects of 333 is completely
instrumental and was made available as a digital download through their official music
store on 3:33 A.M Pacific Time on November 1, 2008.

On November 10, 2009 BRMC released a live DVD through Vagrant Records. It was recorded in
Glasgow, Berlin, and Dublin during the Baby 81 world tour.

A song by B.R.M.C., "Done All Wrong", appeared on the soundtrack to the 2009 film "New
Moon".

BRMC's sixth studio album is planned to be released on March 8, 2010.
It is tentatively titled Beat The Devil's Tattoo.


Members

    * Peter Hayes – vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer (1998–present)
    * Robert Levon Been – vocals, bass, guitar, piano (1998–present)
    * Leah Shapiro – drums, percussion (2008–present)

Former members

    * Nick Jago - drums, percussion (1998–2004, 2005–2008)
    * Peter Salisbury - drums, percussion (2004)
    * Michael "Spike" Keating - live assistance during Howl tour, bass, guitar, (2005-2008)

Discography

    * B.R.M.C. (2001)
    * Take Them On, On Your Own (2003)
    * Howl (2005)
    * Baby 81 (2007)
    * The Effects of 333 (2008)
    * LIVE (2009)
    * Beat The Devil's Tattoo (2010)
    * Specter At The Feast (2013)



Labels   
Abstract Dragon, Vagrant, Co-Op, RCA/BMG, Island, Echo, Virgin


0 comments: