BRMC's Robert Levon Been on 'Baby 81'

There's a house in Silver Lake that holds a bit of history for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

It was home to the stealth antenna used by a certain Internet radio station back in the days it was broadcasting on a pirated FM frequency. It was the trio's de facto dressing room when BRMC headlined the Sunset Junction Street Fair one block away. And it was the scene of a couple crimes -- a car theft, and a burglary that hit singer/bassist/keyboardist Robert Levon Been right where it hurt.

"The place got broken into while we were in the middle of recording; they took my camera, computer, and worst of all my backpack with my lyric books," Been says. "We were supposed to record vocals on [the song] 'American X,' and I went in to sing it empty-handed, feeling like the song was stolen right out from under us.

"So I just turned out the lights and sang a bunch of stream-of-consciousness stuff. A lot of it was awful, but a lot of it was great. It somehow became more of a poem than when I wrote it."

"American X," which clocks in at longer than 9 minutes, represents the epic sprawl on the otherwise tightly wound "Baby 81," BRMC's new album. Released May 1, the album moves the trio back toward its darker, Jesus and Mary Chain-informed roots, this time more crackling and churning than droning. Gone are the strummy meditations and folky ministrations of 2005's "Howl," a detour into Americana that won the band some critical acclaim but prompted BRMC's early fans to wonder: Whatever happened to my rock 'n' roll? 

While those fans might wish for a little less polish and little more menace, "Baby 81" still gives teeth to the notion that desperate times call for dangerous music.

In some ways, the accidental opus "American X" is symbolic of what reunited Been and singer-guitarist Peter Hayes with estranged drummer Nick Jago. "That song means a lot to me," Been says, "because it's sort of a reminder not to hold onto things."

Like grudges, for instance.

Jago had departed the band after BRMC had been dropped by Virgin, for which the trio recorded its first two albums. While "Howl" was being recorded, Jago, who had battled substance abuse problems, and the band slowly repaired their relationship. "We tried to meet a public places, so there'd be no gunplay," Been says. "We all had to take a step back from ourselves. The most important thing was ... let the other person have room to be the way they are."

Jago joined BRMC in the studio to play on the final track of "Howl," and the recording session morphed into a jam that produced two songs that would end up on the next album, "Took Out a Loan" and "666 Conducer." Says Been: "'Baby 81' began before 'Howl' was even finished, in a weird way."

The band stashed those ideas for later and set to work touring and promoting "Howl," which was its first album for RCA, even if it lacked a radio-ready single.

"'Howl' was more fearless and adventurous than anything we've ever done -- that was much more of a plunge into the unknown," Been says. "But they had to be happy when they heard [the next album] would be a rock record."

||| Black Rebel Motorcycle Club performs tonight at the Wiltern.

Other touts for tonight

English popsters Aqualung play the Henry Fonda Theatre. ... And Monsters Are Waiting and the Deadly Syndrome perform at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. ... By the way, some schedules on the web still list Scottish quartet the View as playing at the Troubadour. The View cancelled. Shane Walsh is the headliner at the West Hollywood venue.

Comments

[wayne]

I'm glad Baby 81 is closer to their JAMC roots, and i certainly like it more than Howl, but there's still too much hokey blues and corny americana lyrics for my taste.

[Cindy S]

I loved Howl because it was so different for these guys and you could tell better just how great they write their songs. I'm glad they're rocking out again and I already like most of the songs on Baby 81 that I heard on their site, but I think I'm going to like it more and more with every listen. So excited for their show tonight :)