Black Rebel Motorcycle Club makes triumphant return to U.S.

ROSS RAIHALA, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, March 29, 2002

In the year since the release of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's debut album, the Los Angeles-based trio looks like it has lived up to the hype.

A major-label bidding war to sign BRMC erupted in 2000. Before the group had even recorded its first album, it could claim high-profile fans in the likes of former Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr and Oasis leader Noel Gallagher.

Now BRMC returns to Seattle as the opening act for Spiritualized on Tuesday. It marks the first shows on this soil since the band's massively successful European tour that culminated in a sold-out gig at the London Astoria in front of 2,200 rabid fans.

MTV2's copious play of BRMC's "Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)" video helped introduce the band to the masses, and the follow-up video, "Love Burns," premiered earlier this week.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's dark, brooding music has earned plenty of comparisons to British acts such as the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Verve, but fans have come to appreciate the band's fierce live shows that have more in common with the current crop of Detroit acts, including Kill Rock Stars' own Slumber Party.

"We put everything into this band and everything into this record," bass player Robert Turner said in an interview with The Olympian a year ago.

"You hope it makes a mark and you hope it gets recognized. If nothing else, it feels like this record is not going to get tossed in the back of some record store bin and evaporate."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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