Interview with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC) has recently released their Howl album, whose stripped down bluesy acoustic rock has made quite a stir in musical circles.  Unlike their first two albums, BRMC used the subtler approach of this album to allow more of a focus to their musicianship and lyrical ability, which has gotten many to perk up and take notice.  Before the band swung through Boston to play a successful show at the Paradise, I had a chance for a short chat with vocalist/guitarist, Peter Hayes, to talk about the new album and BRMC’s new direction.

The first inevitable question I asked was how BRMC arrived at their new album, in comparison to the previous ones.  Hayes mentioned that the acoustic approach was “something they had been doing for awhile” and that most of their older songs, like “Love Burns” and “Shade of Blue” had all started as acoustic songs before being turned into louder rock.  However, Hayes says that some earlier songs like “Shuffle Your Feet” had a sound that “didn’t make sense plugging in[to]” the rock-inclined discs, so they saved it and others for later.  Some of these songs accumulated to make Howl.

In regards to their current tour across America, Hayes stated that the band “likes to play as loud as possible” and that the three albums blend a lot better live than one might think.  With BRMC off the American tour circuit for more than a year, Hayes is excited to be “on a bus, looking out the window,” journeying from city to city where “like minded people” can see them.  And even though they’re touting the new album on this tour, they’ve already started on a new album.  He mentioned that they will “see where the new songs will take them” and not to necessarily expect a “return to rock.” 

It will be interesting to see, after Howl’s successful turn in the press and with the fans, where exactly that fourth record will end up.

-- Evan Mauser, 10/2/05