May 27, 2013
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (aka BRMC) is en route to play the Observatory on June 2, after more than a month on the road. They’ve been playing their darker, psychedelic rock and roll in a lot of places they haven’t toured for awhile. In fact, people have been coming out of the woodwork, showing their friendly faces.
“We’re playing a pretty decent amount of the new record. Usually we don’t play as much off of the new one as we have been,” Robert Been said. “We’re coming to the realization that we can’t play as much off every record because we have too many albums now. Which is a good problem to have but a problem none the less.”
What’s new and different about the live show? “We have an incredibly blinding light show. People tend to leave half blind afterwards,” Been joked. “Enjoy that. The deaf part is expected, but the blind part is a whole new thing,”
The title of the band’s recently released sixth studio album, “Specter At The Feast”, was inspired by a chapter in ‘Macbeth’, among other things. “The word ‘specter’ was always intriguing to me, an apparition, a spirit of another place. I always liked the word,” Been explained.
“I went to see this play called ‘Sleep No More’ in New York which was really inspiring. It was a take on ‘Macbeth’, a different way of telling the story. ‘Sleep No More’ was a chapter from ‘Macbeth’ and then I found ‘Specter At The Feast’ was a chapter as well,” Been continued.
“Then I was listening to Joy Division’s, ‘Shadowplay’, and I found out ‘Shadowplay’ was a chapter in ‘Macbeth’, too. All roads kept leading back there. It felt right.”
BRMC produce all their own records, “But we’ve had the good fortune of working with very talented engineers and mixers that have been very influential to our process,” Been said. “Michael Patterson helped us engineer and mix our first album and then we worked with him again on this one.”
“Hopefully you find people to work with that you don’t need to talk to that much. It’s kind of the key because as a musician it’s not your strong point – talking. So finding people that can kind of relate to the music in their own way, a respectful way, that’s the trick to it all. And Michael’s great at knowing where we want to go before we have a chance to mess up saying it.”
Been (vocals, bass, guitar, piano) and Peter Hayes (vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer) have known each other for quite a long time having started BRMC in 1998. “When we first started playing it was lofty dreams of trying to become something, hopefully. We had a long way to go and we just took it easy writing and developing songs. Which is most of it.”
Been elaborates, “People that work on developing their attitude, or their outfit, or their philosophy kind of waste a lot of good time when you could be working on the songs. It’s the music that really points the way. We just wrote songs forever. We didn’t want to put out something we weren’t completely confident in. It took us a while. We weren’t sure what it was going to become. We’re still not sure what it’s going to become. We’re still working, still writing, making sense of it all.”
“It’s different having two writers, two lead singers. If you can pull it off it’s the greatest thing in the world. A lot of my songs get cut off the album and a lot of his get cut off the album. You only have room for your best six songs versus if one of us were making the whole record we’d have to put in the other six songs that were a little halfway there. It’s a good thing to collaborate with people. It’s a healthy insanity.”
Leah Shapiro (drums) used to play in a band called “Dead Combo” that toured with BRMC during the “Baby 81” album. “She was drumming with this other band and we had them open up for us on a tour. So we got to watch her play every night before we went on,” Been recalls. “There’s a power that hits you right from the first second she started playing. We kept in touch and she was really the only person we thought could ever maybe fill the shoes of our old drummer. When that day came she was the only person we called to take over.”
In this digital age, it seems like a good time to be playing music. However, Been cautions, “You got to do it because you have no other choice. It can’t be something that’s just a fun thing to hit on girls with and say you’re in a band. Or, to hang out with cool kids because of drugs or something. It’s got to be from the heart and not money because there’s really no money in it. Unless you’re a boy band or something!”
“There’s a band that toured with us just now called “Bass Drum of Death” and I really fell in love with their music,” Been said. “Just ‘throw and go’ rock and roll, the way it should be done. No bullshit. Maybe one of the best bands around.”
BRMC are headed back over to Europe to do a bunch of summer festivals then possibly Japan, Australia, and South America.
“A lot of people have been asking where we’ve been so we’re going to try and answer them the best way we know how. Kind of connecting with people through music. There’s not a better way to relate to people that I’ve found, yet.”
“It’s been crazy going around seeing fans that we’ve known for over 10 years that are still showing up and following us around to different gigs. Some people are at five or ten shows in a row! It’s great. We have this little travelling family out here. We never thought we’d be one of those bands. It’s a good thing.”
When all of the current touring is said and done, sleep will be the first thing on the agenda. But not for long. “We usually take a couple of road trips ironically. It’s good to slow down the momentum. It’s like bodies in motion stay in motion so you try to get out of town because it’s a little too intense to be still and at home the second you get off the caravan,” Been said.
They like to “go out to the desert, kind of clear the mind, tamper with some psychedelic drugs to try to remember who you think you are. Then ease back in to home and family. Catch up on some movies, old books, pretty simple. Then go back to playing music again.”
“It’s the best,” Been confirmed.
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