LIVE
REVIEW
Water Rats Theatre
Thu 7th Feb
2002
Text by Sarah Thirtle
Gig photos by Marcus O'Higgins
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Water Rats Theatre is fast becoming the secret gig capital of London. On Thursday 7th Feb Black Rebel Motorcycle Club graced our small and perfectly formed stage with their perfectly formed band. This was their first show in London, and despite some rather unscrupulous tactics by other venues to secure the show, the band's personal choice was the one that got the gig.
During soundcheck I sidled myself up to singer/guitarist Peter for a quick chat. I asked him what the Los Angeles scene they sprung from was like, as all we seem to hear about are East coast upstarts like the Strokes. "There's three or four good venues", Peter answered in a shy soft voice, "The San Francisco and LA bands sort of swap between venues in the two cities". He even offered a tip for another band to watch out for, The Warlocks.
B.R.M.C. recently took part in the NME shows around the country. "We joined that tour late," explained Peter, "it was good, you know, but there was a certain kind of crowd." He seemed a little reticent about the whole thing. That may be because the BRMC just care about Rock 'n' Roll, about music and playing the songs loud. The whole industry hype thing means nothing to them, which made the Water Rats gig a bit of a paradox. On the one hand they got to play an intimate, charged up gig in front of their fans (Peter had earlier explained that the grass roots feel was the main reason for choosing the venue) - but at the same time they had to tolerate the hype that came with XFM plugging the gig everyday, on each show, for a week. The gig was also filmed for the XFM website, and recorded for later broadcast.
Whether they like it or not, B.R.M.C. are the ubiquitous band of the moment, plastered on the covers and websites of the music press. Appearing on the NME tour, and supporting Oasis notwithstanding, the hype about the band is certainly on the ascendance. But its clear that is not what this band is about. Their mission, if they would deign to have one, is to Rock and indeed Roll; to grab a guitar and bang out a deliciously glammed out corker of a riff. This is all gloriously summed up in just one song, 'Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n 'Roll [Punk Song]', played tonight as the last song in a furious set.
The invite only crowd were subdued for the first few songs. At times it felt like the band and the music were fighting each other for supremacy, writhing about the stage in frustration. The relief came as the opening chords of 'Love Burns', the B.R.M.C. current release, came charging through the room. From there on in it was heads down, let's ROCK. With a mix of Ride-esque Brit melancholy, the shimmery, throb of a T-Rex bass line, and of course the black t-shirts made so sexy by Peter (guitar, voice) and Robert (bass, voice), B.R.M.C. certainly have the credentials to live up to the hype. But as I stressed earlier, fuck the hype and listen to the music. Like the black clad rock 'n' rollers that influence them, from Johnny Cash to The Clash, BRMC are rebels, not in the fact that they do anything widely different and controversial - they don't. Its because they care not for celebrity, or broadcasts or webcams. They just care about the moment, the sound, the Rock and the Roll, and thats what the crowd tuned into. In Pop Idol times like these, that's about as rebellious as you can get.