Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Want To Be On 'The Good Side Of Derivative'

It's weird to think of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as veterans. From the outset, they've been discussed (and debated) as representatives of some new vanguard or another. Originally thrown in with the neo-psychedelia of acts like The Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre (co-founder Peter Hayes a former member of the latter), they would later be sold as garage-rock revivalists alongside The Strokes and The Vines.

Throughout, they've consistently borne the brunt of accusations leveled at any band with a nostalgic outlook. Their authenticity has been an ongoing subject of debate. Their relative youth has seen them frequently derided as derivative. Astonishingly, they've managed to stick it out amongst it all. Formed in 1998, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's career is currently enjoying its fifteenth year. Their recent album, Specter at the Feast, is their seventh.

“There's kind of a philosophy of learning from the greats, the classics, the bands that we still think are the best bands,” co-founder, bassist and vocalist Robert Been says. “We don't totally buy into whatever the new fad or sound at the time is... We're still trying to keep our roots. Still learning from those bands who still did it the best. The best so far, anyway. We're not really convinced that the latest thing is the best thing.”

“So, in some way, we're still just trying to better from those groups - and I would hope that's the good side of 'derivative',” he counters. “Of course, then there's the bad side of derivative – but I've never thought of us as stuck in any way. This record, in particular, was really important that we knew, in ourselves and for ourselves, that we were making something of worth. That happened before we even went into the studio.”

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