Rig Tour: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

The instrument-swapping BRMC pair take us through the secrets behind their magical sonic alchemy...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have long defied convention. They blur the lines between indie garage and stoner fuzz, swap sides/rigs mid-set, plug hollow bodies into bass amps and use live loops. It could all go horribly wrong. And yet it never does and the San Franciscan trio stockpile an orchestral wash of riffs drenched in wetness, split through a variety of amps.

Welcoming TG on stage at Brixton Academy are founders Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been, the mad scientists behind their whirlpool of noise.

Peter Hayes

Gibson ES -335

1

“This guitar is the most personal one to us, it’s a 60s Gibson in cherry red that we started off writing all our songs on. It was Rob’s dad’s guitar and it’s got a really nice neck. I’m not sure how long he had it, but it was used in his band, The Call. It’s in C tuning for Redeyesandtears, Six Barrelshotgun, Americanx and a few others. I would say it’s a scary guitar to be taking out because if something happens to it… I have the original pickups at home, something went out so they’re in a box waiting to get repaired. Right now it has the same Rio Grande pickups that are fitted in all my guitars.”

Gibson J-45 Acoustic

2

“This is a 1945 reissue, which they made two versions of so I called up Gibson when they came out – one was more affordable with a thinner neck and body and the other was more of a baseball bat neck. The guys said they’d get one over to me and I was like, ‘Really?!’ because I wasn’t talking about the cheaper one. Months went by and I didn’t want to bug them, I just figured it was going to happen. And sure as shit, they surprised the fuck out of me and came up with one to keep! I used it in regular tuning for Faultline, Some Kindaghost, Ain’tnoeasy and Devil’swaitin’.”

V16 Delta King

3

“This was made by a friend of ours in Denver, who runs a company called V16. It’s a tanky guitar and weighs a lot. He made us a baritone guitar as well. This one’s actually a bit of a floater – at the moment I’m using it for Awake, in a C open tuning. But a lot of the time it’s in regular tuning in case any of the others go down.”

Gibson SG

“I stole this from Gibson! I think they know I took it and I probably owe them for that. I like the sound of this. I’ll use it for Teenagedisease, Little Thinggonewild, Stealaride. I dig the sound of SGS, they’ve got a tough feel to them that’s different to other guitars. And it’s a very direct sound compared to the semi-hollow ones. I like guitars that aren’t necessarily friendly to play. I’m not really into having the action real low or any of that – when guitars get too smooth and easy, they almost sound a bit weird.”

Fender Bandm asters

4

“There’s nothing classy about how I use my amps but I really don’t know how people can get everything they need from just one. I like the mixture of cabinets with open-back combos with hollowbody guitars. The signal is split into three and comes out of four amps. The Bandmasters are amp one and two, working as left and right.