BRMC - Oxford Zodiac Jan 2002
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Oxford Zodiac - January 2002 On Doctors and Nurses night in a small provincial nightclub then, some medicine for the soul. Something beyond the usual post-ironic student night fare. Something that makes the indie kid next to me stop sipping his pint of cheap, warm lager and think about trashing his schmindie records. Something that makes the good-time girls on the other side of me take their Bacardi Breezers to the other room. A loud blast of rocknroll from West Coast America.
I can say I was there, the first BRMC gig outside of the States. Damn, its good to see ya.
Hastily arranged to test out - in 'real' surroundings - the band's new part-time drummer Pete Salisbury, last seen with Richard Ashcroft and before that a member of the Verve, this is a bizarre non-industry affair, untainted, as is so often these days in London, with free tickets, enormous guestlists, and liggers gossiping at the bar. (Hey, I hold my hand up, I've done it alright, but only to the fuckin Bluetones or suchlike). Just a band, a room, a PA - that hardly bears up to the demands placed upon it at times - and around 80 or so people mostly here to do nothing more than get drunk on a Wednesday night. And they have no idea of knowing what's about to hit them...
Lets get the gripes out of the way first - there aren't too many so this shouldn't take long. (Look , I'm a critic, right?) At times, and particularly during the lengthy pauses between songs, it looks more like a rehearsal than a gig. And Sobbo doesn't look the part like the original Club member, Nick Jago does. But to expect him to dress up in tight leather would be ridiculous, and miss the point somewhat. He's here to help out, and help he does, helping out in the comparisons with Verve in the period they were preaching the mind-blowing 'Northern Soul' songs around venues this size. Helping out so much, in fact, that when the newly-reconvened BRMC hit their stride it's nothing short of blinding.
'Red Eyes And Tears', first up, is augmented by a frantic finale causing reminiscing of - hey, you guessed it - The Verve's 'Come On'. 'Love Burns', the single, is a beautiful primal howl. 'White Palms', with it's refrain-Jason-Pierce-must-have-forgot "Jesus when you gonna come back", coupled with that driving, pounding bassline, makes you think just how great it'd be if Spiritualized didn't have to take a choir and ten-piece band on the the road (if you call it that, Spriritaulized hardly do clubs these days), and instead concentrated on the basics again. And 'Whatever Happened To My RocknRoll' - destined to be their calling card, their anthem, their song - truly makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. It's like the first time you played - like, really loud - 'Jumpin Jack Flash' or 'Kashmir' properly, free of the shackles of your Dad's record collection, and realised just how exciting and vibrant rocknroll can be.
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BRMC - Liverpool NME Brats Jan 2002
