BRMC : Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Roars Back

Mar. 15 2010, Published 4:33 a.m. ET

There’s nothing quite like the return of an underdog. After a fall out with their drummer, and no record label, San Francisco fuzz masters BRMC had the odds stacked against them. But now they’re back with a new drummer and a new album, Beat The Devil’s Tattoo -- released on their own label, Abstract Dragon, through Vagrant Records.

“I try not to talk about it much because it’s a pretty wonderful thing,” BRMC guitarist-singer Peter Hayes tells RadarOnline.com about meshing with new drummer Leah Shapiro. “When we sat down and started jamming the first song came in like 10 or 15 minutes and we were all just kind of looking at it each other like what the (beep) just happened? It was pretty natural. We never expected it.”

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After splitting with longtime drummer Nick Jago, Peter and BRMC bassist-singer Robert Levon Been felt lower than ever, but picked themselves up and reached out to Leah, who they had met on the Baby 81 tour in 2007, when she was playing drums in the band Dead Combo. “I don’t even know what gender she is,” jokes Peter. “She’s nothing I’ve seen before. She’s very powerful and hypnotic and has incredible focus when she plays and it draws you in.”

The trio went to Philly to record in the same house where they recorded their third album, Howl, locking themselves up in virtual isolation for six months in winter, in order to create the best album possible with no distractions. And it certainly paid off. Beat The Devil’s Tattoo finds BRMC doing what they do best, with fuzzy guitars, bluesy rock and dark imagery, yet with all the restless energy of a debut. “I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to prove this band,” explains Peter of the new lineup, “which is almost a completely different band than we were before.”