BRMC @ the Showbox MKT
March 8th, 2010
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I went down to the Showbox last Friday (3/5) with a couple friends to check out Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The San Francisco band is touring on the heels of their sixth LP, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo, which hits shelves tomorrow. The show was sold out. I’ve been a big fan of BRMC for a long time now—since their first record—and this performance did nothing to change that. I’ll admit that the band is less revelatory to me now than in my younger years but Robert Been and Peter Hayes are nothing if not excellent musicians and songwriters. Critics have long derided their lack of ingenuity—save for Howl, I suppose—but to them I scoff. Their heavy-loaded garage-gaze oscillates among the mysterious, the rebellious, the boot-stompin’, and the stirring. I get thrills watching/listening to them play their instruments every time. Not to be outdone, Been and Hayes played each non-new song with noticeable changes and embellishments that made for little rediscoveries throughout the night. The guys were willing to let the songs linger, too, busting out a few divergent guitar tangents here and there.
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One interesting aspect is the addition of new drummer Leah Shapiro (you might recall she toured with the Raveonettes in 2008 for the Lust Lust Lust album). I’d give her an ‘A’ for her skills, especially given how deep the band delved into their back catalog, but she differed from Nick Jago in content. Where Jago was more apt to take an alternate route, Shapiro seemed to keep time in a more straightforward manner. The band pumped out a cool 24 songs (by my count), leaning heavily on Tattoo and B.R.M.C. Songs from Baby 81 included “Berlin”, “Weapon of Choice” and “666 Conducer”. From Howl, “Ain’t No Easy Way”, “Sympathetic Noose” and “Shuffle Your Feet” were also played.
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I like the new record (you can stream it parts of it over at their myspace), but I don’t think it’ll end up being my favorite. That distinction belongs to Take Them On, On Your Own. “War Machine”, “Mama Taught Me Better”, “Shadow’s Keeper” and the title track are all high quality songs, though. Not to mention the 10-minute (!) opening closing track of “Half-State”. As usual, they didn’t talk to the crowd much (I don’t think Hayes said one word), except when Been asked for a request during the encore. “Ok, ‘Rifles’ it is,” he obliged.
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