Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

The Elements. It’s not much of a name. Fortunately, group members concurred, changing their moniker to the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, which they lifted from the ’50s Marlon Brando movie, The Wild One.

B.R.M.C. formed in ’98 with high school pals, Peter Hayes (guitar/vocals) and Robert Turner (bass/keyboards/vocals). They, in turn, recruited Englishman Nick Jago (drums). The group built a solid San Francisco base before extending their reach to the L.A. club circuit.

In ’01, they released their self-titled debut, which won high praise from fellow musicians (including Noel Gallagher – Oasis and Johnny Marr-The Smiths). The set included “Whatever Happened To My Rock ‘n’ Roll (Punk Song)” and “Spread Your Love.”

B.R.M.C. were now opening for the Dandy Warhols. ’03 saw the release of “Take Them On, On Your Own” featuring the title track. They were on a roll.

Another album and successful tour and who knows? But it was not to be.

Seemed Jago had a tendency to miss shows forcing Hayes and Turner to do acoustic sets. And since B.R.M.C. had long talked about doing a Folk album, here was the opportunity.

They stripped their neo-Punk sound to acoustic guitar, bass and harmonica on several tracks for ‘05 release “Howl.” Amid this change Turner dropped his stage name returning to his real one, Robert Levon Been. Also, Jago only managed to contribute his talents to one song, “Promise,” out of 13 on the album.

The band’s fourth album, “Baby 81,” had its U.S. release in May, ’07. The set opened with “Took Out A Loan.”

The Ravonettes touring drummer Leah Shaprio took over. Later in ’08, BRMC issued their instrumental album “The Effects Of 333.”

The following year saw the release of a live DVD, appropriately titled “Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Live.” The set was recorded during the “Baby 81” tour. Also, the song “Done All Wrong” was heard on the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack.

Next up was the group’s sixth studio effort, ‘10’s “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo,” which was the group’s first studio album with Shapiro.

Less than half a year after the release of “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo,” Been’s father, Michael, passed away while on tour with the band. The elder Been had been the frontman for The Call, but more recently, he’d served as B.R.M.C.’s sound man. In addition, he had long been a mentor to the group.

“I don’t think any of us actually thought ‘Let The Day Begin’ would be the one, though,” said Been. “It wasn’t until one day Leah just started storming away on a new drumbeat. We all jumped in on bass and guitar, and literally ten minutes later the song done.”

”The band used “Specter At The Feast” as a way to overcome Michael’s passing. “No one really wanted to find those words or dig in deep,” said Been. “You have to go back again and dig a bit deeper, and it was excruciating.” However, ‘Specter At The Feast’ (with “Let The Day Begin”) was more than a tribute album.

“We wanted to attempt to take people on a ride and have songs crossfade and reach over and different tricks we’d always wanted to do, it was kind of fun to get to play around with that,” added Been.

 

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