Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are one of the most lysergic bands associated with the garage-rock boom of the 2000s. After a stint with psychedelic eccentrics Brian Jonestown Massacre, guitarist Peter Hayes cofounded BRMC with bassist Robert Levon Been (son of The Call’s Michael Been) in 1998. They made an instant splash with a 2001 debut that surrounded greaser-rock snarl with Jesus and Mary Chain-inspired noise squalls and cosmic blues mantras capable of peeling the lid back on your third eye. While these elements have remained foundational for BRMC, the band have also drawn new ideas into their orbit. A prime example is the twangy, roots-rock noir that, following 2005’s transitional Howl, became a key feature of their subsequent work, including the fan favorite “Done All Wrong” from 2009’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack. But whether BRMC sound like they’re from outer space or the heartland, they remain devoted to the belief that rock is most potent when deliriously hypnotic. That faith ensures that later-career gems like 2018’s Wrong Creatures contain as much swirling allure as anything else found in their catalog.