Posts Tagged ‘brmc

22
Nov
11

The Road To Synergy: Part 2 – Radio Silence

By SlickTiger 3 Comments
Categories: Being Slick, Events, Radass Videos and Sick Tracks
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

insaneLife is fucking funny.

I’ve been thinking about my buddy, Guitar Jon who once, in a very drunken state, decided to tell everyone about ROCK AND ROLL!

We were varsity students getting fucked up in some bar or other that had a clever name and was wildly popular on Sunday nights in Jozi, but I’m pretty sure it closed down at least 3 years ago.

Guitar Jon was feeling low and disillusioned and like no one understood him (we’ve all been there), so he stood on one of the tables outside and delivered the following diatribe:

“Everybody shuddup! Shut the fuck up and LISTEN! Because I’m here to tell you, all of you, about ROCK AND ROLL! OK?! Because it’s something you FEEL! And it’s fucking ALIVE man! And it’s the best FUCKING THING that ever happened to us, to ANY of us! People forget that! But you just gotta BELIEVE! Because ROCK AND ROLL is the ONLY fucking thing that can save us! OK?! It’s… only fucking thing…”

He said. And one or two people looked at him, but mostly they just carried on drinking like nothing had happened, nothing at all.

 

 

So Guitar Jon got off the table and I think we patted him on the back and ordered him another round and that was that really.

I think in his mind things went differently – maybe people cheered him on or raised their voices in a passionate “Fuck yeah!” or two, but real life never works out that way.

I got in touch with the Synergy Live guys again yesterday and was told because ticket sales are going so well, they’re not issuing any media comps, which is why I’m climbing on the table to tell you guys:

“STOP BUYING FUCKING TICKETS OK?! YOU’RE BUYING TOO MANY TICKETS! IT’S NOT GOING TO BE THAT COOL, RATHER SAVE YOUR MONEY FOR RETIREMENT OR SOMETHING! OK?! YOU’LL NEED IT MORE WHEN YOU’RE OLD AND UGLY AND NOBODY LOVES YOU!”

But seriously guys, my big fucking plan is going nowhere.

 

 

I emailed Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s management and climbed on the table (again) to explain, in a passionate diatribe, how much I love this fucking band and what it would mean to get an interview with the guys while they’re in SA and so on and so on.

They probably printed my email out and then took it in turns to wipe their asses on it before filing it in a rather unpleasant smelling cabinet labelled “Interview Requests From Blogger Wankers” and all had a good laugh.

Or, like the crowd that witnessed Guitar Jon’s epic revelation, they probably just stared at it blankly for a few seconds and then pretended nothing had happened and quietly pushed the “delete” button.

I know it’s still early in the game and things could change, but right now the Road To Synergy isn’t really leading anywhere except to the nearest bottle of whisky and then after that, the street for some drunken swearing and public nudity.

I wish I had better news for ya folks, but that’s all she wrote.

Now if anyone needs me, I’ll be drawing an unhappy face on the head of my penis (adds a hilariously sorrowful undertone to the flashing) and listening to this track from my favourite band of all time, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, who I probably will never, ever get to see play live.

Ever Sad smile

This one’s called “Sweet Feeling”.

 

 

Don’t say it’s over so soon

We’ve tied to the day every wrong

We can wait in the shadows of mourning

But to wait just betrays what’s to come

There’s nothing, there’s no one, no cause

And still we believed in it all.

The sweet feeling’s gone

The sweet feeling’s gone…

-ST

21
Nov
11

The Road To Synergy: Part 1 – Shitting On The Dream

By SlickTiger 8 Comments
Categories: Being Slick, Events, Radass Videos and Sick Tracks
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Black-Rebel-Motorcycle-ClubSo on Friday I got all deep and philosophical on your asses and wrote about how I’ve been dicking around for too long and it’s time to step up to the plate and start slugging for the fence.

Well, I good couple of people who read the site and know me personally started asking what the hell I was on about was all about and why I was being so goddamned cryptic, so I decided I’d just spill the beans and give it to you guys straight.

My plan is to figure out a way to meet Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the guys headlining Synergy Live this year and one of my favourite bands of all time and I’m going to write one of the best goddamn features you’ve ever read in your LIFE about that experience and use that piece to start doing what I’ve always wanted to.

Write about rock n roll.

People are forever asking me what my site’s about and I’m forever answering, “I have no fucking idea. I just wake up that day and whatever comes into my head – BANG! That’s what I write about on that day.”

 

 

But for a long time I’ve been seriously considering steering this site in a musical direction so that at least I can say it’s about something.

Don’t freak out though, there will still be the random, awesome shit there always has been, I just want to have more of a focus on local and international music.

I guess it was that post “That Intangible Moment…” that I wrote awhile back that cemented the idea for me. If music means that much to me, if it’s such a powerful force in my life, then why not write more about it?

Of course, for my big plan to work I first have to get to Synergy, which is proving a little problematic.

 

 

See, I’m dirt broke at the moment. In fact, less than dirt broke. I’ve been living off my goddamned credit card the past two weeks and I’m so far in the red I’m contemplating robbing a bank just to tide me over.

Can I afford the R410 for a ticket (x2 for my photographer J-Rab) – fuck no.

So of course, being arguably one of the best bloggers in the country who has gotten free VIP tickets to U2, Rocking The Daisies and Kings Of Leon to mention a few, I contacted the event organisers to see if they could help a brother out.

Here’s how that went:

ME: Hey guys, I fucking love at least 15 of the bands playing at this year’s Synergy and am the BIGGEST Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Fan in the entire fucking world, do you have media comps available for Synergy this weekend? I’ll give you HUGE love on my site.

THEM: No. All gone.

ME: Ok, um, well do your sponsors maybe have any tickets available?

THEM: That’s our sponsors prerogative.

ME: Huh. Well can you please send through some contact details so I can get in touch with them and see if they can help a brother out?

THEM: (verbatim) “Why would we share our sponsor details with you and why would they issue you with tickets? If you are such a big fan why don’t you just go and buy a ticket from webtickets or outlets?”

That made me feel like a gigantic asshole. So I wrote back and said the following:

ME: (also verbatim) “It’s quite simple, you would share your sponsor’s contact details with me and they would (hopefully) issue me with tickets because I’d do a great write up of the event, hopefully get an opportunity to interview some of the bands and generally give your event some positive exposure on my site and through Twitter.

But judging from your tone in that last email, I can see I’m wasting my time. You think I’m just another snot-nosed blogger angling for free shit.

There’s a little thing called reciprocity, which is a principle I live by and one that can be loosely described as helping people in the good faith that one day they will return the favour. 

You should try it sometime.
-ST

Not long after sending that, the guy I was communicating with (Person A) called to give me a piece of his mind over the phone, but to his credit ended the conversation saying I should call Person B and ask if they had any tickets available.

I called and was told the guy who handles the media comps is Person A and that as far as Person B knew there weren’t media comps left, but she’d chat with Person A and get back to me.

And so here I am. Less than 5 days before everything kicks off and I got zip.

Anyone out there know anyone who knows anyone who can hook me up with media comps for Synergy?

In the meantime, here’s one of my favourite BRMC songs, fittingly entitled “Ain’t No Easy Way” (people are naked in it, so if you’re watching it at work, maybe check over your shoulder first…)

 

 

Imagine them rocking out with that shit live! That song is going to MELT FACES on Saturday.

Hopefully I’ll be there to rock out with you guys, once I’ve finished wiping all the shit off my dream…

Stay tuned folks. The Tiger’s hitting up Synergy one way or another and when he gets there, he’s meeting Pete and the guys from BRMC and getting the best fucking interview out of them anyone has ever gotten, EVER.

Amen.

-ST

21
Apr
10

Album Review: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo

By SlickTiger Leave a Comment
Categories: Album Reviews
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You know it’s time to get a new drummer when the one you’re using goes onstage to accept an award and is so wasted that instead of making an acceptance speech, he just stares silently at the audience for a full nine minutes.

Not that I’m judging, fuck, I think it’s brilliant! Even though it happened way back at the 2003 NME Awards, when the infamous Black Rebel Motorcycle Club drummer Nick Jago went onstage to accept the Best Video award, the story refuses to die. It was a perfect ‘fuck you’ moment in rock and roll history and one that perfectly defines this band.

 

 

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have been around a good ten years, during which time they’ve recorded six studio albums, all of which, in my humble opinion, have been surprisingly excellent.

There’s just something about this band’s garage rock meets blues meets psychedelic 70s rock meets folk revival that really speaks to me and always has.

Put it this way, if you’re looking for music to drink whisky to while you drown the memories of the last beautiful and bad-hearted woman who crossed your path, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is the band for you.

Needless to say, I have every album they ever recorded (except the instrumental one, The Effects of 333, I don’t do instrumental albums, they creep me out) including one of my favourite albums of all time, the masterpiece that was 2005’s Howl. It’s loaded with more references to the Devil than a Quaker sermon, but hot damn! You know you’re onto something good when the first line sung is “Time won’t save our souls…”

 

 

The new album, in a lot of ways is more of the same. They had to cut Jago loose a second time and they replaced him with a girl (Leah Shapiro, formerly of The Ravonettes) but she sure as hell doesn’t play like a girl.

What you’ll find on this album is the same mixture of hedonistic, booze and drug fuelled old school rock that this band has made a name for themselves playing. There are no major curveballs on this album, there are no ‘what the fuck was that?’ moments and I’m totally fine with that because there’s enough depth and song writing skill in BRMC to keep things interesting without having to reinvent the wheel.

 

 

Let’s be honest for a moment here, how could you not love a song like “Conscience Killer” (track 2) which drives like a Royal Enfield and has the lines “I’m a fine line teaser / Never been nothing but a cheater / I’m a son of the night / Give me a little room and I’ll spit in your eye.”

“River Styx”, with it’s snaking bassline is also instantly likeable. It oozes evil as it slinks through the shadows of Hayes’ droning vocals and the sick, grinding tones of his squealing guitar riffs. It’s a masterpiece of sleaze.

But you’ll find quieter moments on this album as well, reminiscent of Howl. Tracks like the gospel / revival folk ballads “Sweet Feeling” and “The Toll” prove that there’s a lot more to this band than a bunch of songs it’s fun to get roaring drunk to.

Singer and frontman Peter Hayes’ voice has changed a lot over the years and you can hear it on a track like “Sweet Feeling” where his voice effortlessly hits five or six notes, clear as a bell in one sustained legato.

 

 

Of course there are a couple of duds which mar this otherwise great album – “War Machine” and “Half-State” for example, both of which insomniacs the world over should be grateful for – but it is very seldom that an album is without duds.

My rule of thumb is this – if an album has four killer tracks on it or more, you’ve got your money’s worth which is exactly what you’ll get with Beat The Devil’s Tattoo. It isn’t going to win any major awards, it isn’t going to make a huge or lasting impression in most people’s lives, BUT it is going to make a great companion the next time a girl fucks you up and like a good friend, it will tell you what a bitch she was and party with you till you’re good and drunk.

Final verdict: 8/10