San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club broke through at the start of this century/millennium with “Whatever Happened To My Rock ‘n’ Roll (Punk Song)”, as part of the impressive ‘revival of rock’ that abandoned the post-grunge and hip-hop of the late nineties for straight-up indie-rock, and while they’ve never gotten as big as some of their contemporaries like The White Stripes & The Strokes, BRMC have kept on rolling on that blacktop, even if never deviating too far from their garage-road sound.
And why should they, when they keep delivering solid records & strong live shows, like Friday night at Brooklyn’s Warsaw on October 9th?
Located in Greenpoint, north of the regular hipster Williamsburg haunts, Warsaw (QRO venue review) is an old Polish social club (replete with its own homemade pierogis, and Zywiec beer on tap) that occasionally holds shows. This does not lend to a great sound system, and the security was heavy inside, slow-moving outside (even one guard out there, manning the line, complained about how long it was taking for fans to get inside), and while this might have proved detrimental for the latest chillwave overnight blog hit, this is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Their sound is so loud that it shook the whole place, and at just a three-piece, they naturally lend themselves more to power than intricacies. And, while the crowd ranged wide in age and even gender (one would have thought BRMC would get mostly older males, but there were many young ladies rocking at the all-ages space, including at least one lesbian teen couple), a few of the greying/balding guys had had a few too many Zywiecs before the show even started, so security keeping an eye on them was welcome (and, to be fair, the drunk guys were largely too immobile, rather than mobile – a pain if you’re trying to get through the crowd to get your own Zywiec, but certainly better than too rowdy).
Ever since drummer Leah Shapiro joined in 2008, and even before, BRMC has been focused on the alternating twin-barrel attack of Peter Hayes & Robert Levon Been, who share not just vocal duties but also bass vs. guitar (with the guitar usually with the singer). This has continued as they’ve toured this year’s Specter At the Feast (QRO review), which naturally dominated the set list, but at seven full-lengths, the new record couldn’t overwhelm. The beginning of the night was Specter-heavy in “Hate the Taste”, “Let the Day Begin” (a cover of The Call, the band fronted by Been’s late father & BRMC’s producer Michael Been, in whose honor the Feast was written), and killer single “Rival”, but even there, “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo” from the preceding album of the same name (QRO review) made its way in. Longtime BRMC fans might have wanted more older material, but also killing it that night as “Ain’t No Easy Way” from 2005’s Howl & “Berlin” from 2007’s Baby 81 (QRO review), back-to-back after “Rival”, and later “Six Barrel Shotgun” from 2003’s Take Them On, On Your Own and “Spread Your Love” from B.R.M.C. to go into the encore break. That did create a bit of a lull in the middle, but left an opening for Hayes to go solo on Howl’s “Complicated Situation” (and one time Been & Hayes even swamped places on the stage).
The lion’s share of singing/guitar duties in BRMC is still done by Hayes, but that leaves Been to be the one to interact with the crowd. While there wasn’t a ton of banter beyond thanking the crowd for coming out “On a really hot October day … staying with us tonight, making it even hotter & sweatier,” Been was especially active in the encore, during the one song that you knew they were going to play, “Whatever Happened To My Rock ‘n’ Roll”, miming prayers to the rock gods that had seemingly once abandoned this world. Though still their biggest, most-identifiable song, BRMC had one more in their holster, with Specter’s “Sell It” to end the night.
If rock ever left in the late nineties (perhaps MTV just stopped listening then – as opposed to now, when it doesn’t listen to music at all…), bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club certainly brought it back – and kept it back. BRMC may never change radically, may never be a tastemaker favorite again, but here’s to riding that road forever.
