Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is a rock band from San Francisco, United States. The group forms in 1998 and remains active. It centres on Robert Levon Been and Robert Turner, and its music is generally placed in alternative rock, indie rock, blues rock, garage rock, garage rock revival and gothic country.

Background and influences

The band draws on a wide range of rock influences, including The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Verve, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, T. Rex, The Velvet Underground, Love and Rockets, Daniel Ash and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Its sound develops over time from a straighter rock approach into heavier use of blues, folk and gospel elements on later recordings.

Albums and key releases

The debut album, B.R.M.C., appears in 2001, alongside the EP Screaming Gun. In 2002, the band releases the Spread Your Love EP. The second album, Take Them On, On Your Own, follows in 2003 and includes the politically critical songs “Generation” and “US Government”, which target United States foreign policy and George Bush in particular.

After conflict with Virgin Records, the band is dropped in 2004. Around the same period, Nick Jago leaves at the end of the summer tour because of internal conflict. Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been then regroup to record the third album, Howl, which adds blues, folk and gospel influences. Jago returns for part of the recording, playing on “Promise”, and the band signs a new deal with Echo in the UK and RCA in the United States in 2005. Howl receives strong critical response.

The fourth album, Baby 81, appears in 2007. That year and the next, the band also issues related releases including Howl Sessions Vol. 1, Howl Sessions Vol. 2, Napster Live Session, American X: Baby 81 Sessions and The Effects of 333.

In 2010 the band releases Beat the Devil's Tattoo. In 2013, Specter at the Feast appears as the group’s seventh album and serves as a tribute to Michael Been, Robert Levon Been’s father, who dies suddenly while touring with the band in 2010. The album includes a free download of a cover of The Call’s “Let the Day Begin”, and the associated Let the Day Begin EP also includes “Returning”. The band’s most recent album listed here is Wrong Creatures, released in 2018.

Line-up changes and touring

Nick Jago leaves and returns more than once during the band’s history. After leaving in 2004, he later comes back during the Howl period, then leaves the touring line-up again in 2008 and is replaced by Leah Shapiro, who had been touring drummer for The Raveonettes. Despite these changes, the band continues touring, and some shows on the 2013/2014 tour sell out. The group also states that it plays its own shows in Australia after the Harvest festival event is abandoned.

Recognition and use in media

Specter at the Feast receives mostly positive reviews, with commentary often noting a mellower and moodier direction. The band’s music also appears in films, television programmes and video games.