Black Rebel Motorcycle Club |
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Wed. October 15.2003 4:16 PM EDT |
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: They Ride the LineBrooding band of rockers dodge Britney, dis CNN, and get sanctioned by Hell's Angels. by C. Bottomley |
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Publicity) |
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With some bands, you can guess how the music will sound by looking at their promo pics. Check out the three young men of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. They’re glum, dressed in black, and look like they enjoyed their last big meal when Seinfeld
Sometimes images can speak louder than music. The feedback-fuelled gloom of their 2001 debut B.M.R.C. had many dismissing them as mere lovechildren to skuzzy ancestors like the Jesus & Mary Chain. Storming live performances convinced lots of people otherwise, but the San Francisco band was only truly appreciated across the Atlantic. B.M.R.C. sold over 300,000 copies in the UK and made the band household names. From the first stampeding notes on the new Take Them On, On Your Own, it’s evident that Robert Turner, Nick Jago and Peter Hayes have emerged from their forebears’ shadows while remaining dark as ever. The title sentiments and an ungrammatical command to “kill the U.S. government” might suggest political commitment, but really, BMRC just wanna rock you senseless. Guitars chime, purr and roar. Drums pound, and a distorted bass makes off with the melody on howling freak-outs like “Heart + Soul.” Turn it up and stand back. It's this kind of uncompromising rock that gets them across America in the frantic “Stop” video. The clip ends with these taciturn icons of cool meeting another: cult actor Harry Dean Stanton. Mop-topped bassist Robert Turner told VH1 about playing hide and seek with Harry, dealing with real biker gangs, and ignoring everyone from Britney to the Darkness. VH1: Was Harry Dean Stanton the only man for the job in the “Stop” video? Robert Turner: It was the first role that we ever needed filled in a video. Charles Mehling, the director, threw out a bunch of crazy ideas, like, “Let’s see if we can get Brando!” It all seemed a bit too out there. Harry’s a good friend of the family. We gave him a call. It was kinda awkward on my part, but he was totally into it. There was no bullsh*t. VH1: Must be weird when Harry Dean Stanton comes over for dinner. RT: [laughs] I used to play hide and go seek with him. I think he let me find him every once in a while, but that’s what you tell yourself when you’re little. VH1: What it’s like backstage at a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show? RT: At a New York show, it’s rather f*cking much. We have a lot of friends here and we have a lot of business sh*t that goes on. I just got in the Brit Runners Motorcycle Club, who have the same initials as us. There are 10 of them swimming around [backstage], and it’s all good. It’s like when all your strange friends meet up and they’re all together in one room but they don’t quite know each other. It’s where the business meets the friends and the motorcycle gangs meet the lawyers. [Laughs.] VH1: When you took your name, did real biker gangs start asking, “Who do you think you are?” RT: Taking the name brought up a lot that we didn’t expect. When we first started touring, we had to explain ourselves. We had no idea that you had to be sanctioned by Hell’s Angels. We had to tell all the guys we’re not trying to be a motorcycle club in an official way. Now, it’s a bit easier. It’s a good conversation starter, even if the conversation starts with a bat over your head. VH1: You’re huge in Britain but a cult act in your homeland. Was there something to prove going into album No. 2? RT: Before we ever put out a record in England, we toured our asses off in America, and got a group of fans that are still here for us. That’s all you ever think about having to earn. The only thing that makes you question it is when success comes without any blood, sweat or tears. It played with our heads a bit when we first came over to England. It’s a great thing to be welcomed in a place you’ve never been like that, but it’s strange. VH1: How did you keep that acclaim from getting to you? RT: You try to prove yourself in different ways. We toured our asses off. We got involved with every possible side of the band so it comes from us, [so] it doesn’t feel like we’re just trying to make money off of people. That’s the way we deal with any doubt that we haven’t earned what’s been given. I don’t know how other bands deal with it – some just crack up and freak out. VH1: You once said “Our music means more to people than it even means to us.” Have you seen that kind of devotion in action? RT: Yeah. It’s a bit scary, but you try to keep it all in perspective. There’s all that sh*t when someone tells you that your music helped them in some profound way, like getting through a hard time or whatever. It’s hard to carry that weight. It’s also hard when someone hates your f*cking guts and wants to destroy you. You try to keep all that sh*t at arm’s length. It’s too much – do it for the reasons you’re doing it. VH1: Who hates your guts? RT: [laughs] I don’t know what it is, but every band’s got a couple little vampires that try to suck the life out of it, and to suck any good out of it. That just comes with it. VH1: Is there a band where you’ve cared about their music more than they might have cared themselves? RT: I get it when I talk to some people. I’ve been lucky to meet bands that I’ve really liked. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like they care, y’know? But there’s no reason to pass judgment on it. There’s some people that have kind of lost the plot a little bit, where it’s just like, “Oh, I hate doing it.” They’re jaded. It’s like it all got too dark for him. It all got too f*cking much. VH1: What’s the last band whose music meant something to you? RT: Oh, f*ck. [Long pause.] The Verve, before they broke up the first time. When they lost Nick McCabe, the band became something different than it was. Primal Scream are still one of the best bands in the world. They’re still going and still loving it. They don’t have to be long gone or forgotten to still matter. VH1: When you see a band like The Darkness, do you cringe? RT: I don’t think about those bands as, like, real. I don’t get upset at ‘N Sync or Britney Spears or anything like that. [Laughs.] That’s not what we’re doing. We don’t even pass each other in the night. It’s not rock ‘n’ roll – it never was, it never will be. So why even pay any mind to it? I mean, blech … it’s frustrating that anyone would confuse the two. But you’ve got to let those people be. VH1: What brought on a song like “US Government”? Do you watch CNN and compute what’s going on? RT: I don’t think anyone “computes” CNN. It’s all buzz-f*cking-words and topics. You never really get a full story out of that. It was us speaking about what we felt and where we were at and people we knew [that] were kind of sick and tired of it and didn’t want to take it anymore. That’s all it’s about. But I don’t think we’re going to run out and write a bunch of political songs after this. |
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