Black Mountain
Ten If They're Feeling It
Published by Under The Radar
Black
Mountain
Ten If They're Feeling It
Published by Under The Radar
“You
do borrow and you do steal and have fun with it, ’cause it’s just
rock ’n’ roll,” says Black Mountain vocalist/guitarist Stephen
McBean when I ask him about The Sabbath Thing. “Rock ’n’ roll
is old now, and it’s like there’s those eras where people get it
in their heads that they’re maybe breaking new ground musically.”
If you’re searching for a Black Mountain sounds-like, you won’t
have to look far before Ozzy’s canonized quartet rears its hairy head.
McBean’s Vancouver-based five-piece digs an earthen riff as much as the
next guy, but no more than punk, art rock, krautrock or soul.
McBean: “Some people say the record jumps all over the map, but it’s
also just the result of five good friends having fun, and we all love a lot
of different kinds of music from all eras. People always talk about especially
Sabbath and the Velvets, which obviously all of us have listened to. I mean,
you can hear that it’s in there, but when I listen to The Velvet Underground
I hear lots of Motown or doo wop and stuff like that. It’s just one of
those things. It’s just a tradition.”
McBean worshipped Black Sabbath mainly when he was 16. Before and after he played
in punk bands, metal bands, punk-metal bands. Then came Jerk With a Bomb, a
slack duo-cum-“real band” that released three albums and formed
the seeds of Black Mountain, whose ranks now include Amber Webber on vocals,
Jeremy Schmidt on keyboards, Josh Wells on drums, and ex-Black Halo Matt Camarind
on bass. McBean and Wells are also in Pink Mountaintops, a sex-goofing side
project on the same label, Bloomington, Indiana’s Jagjaguwar.
Black Mountain’s self-titled debut arrived in January 2005. The buzz was
pretty insider until Coldplay declared themselves fans and offered an opening
slot on their summer tour. An odd pairing? Yes.
“It was weird,” says McBean of the Coldplay experience, “playing
in a routine where it’s the same stage every night, it’s the same
sound, because everything’s traveling. You’re always starting at
the exact same time and finishing at the exact same time, and we’re used
to shows where our songs can be anywhere from four minutes or we can stretch
them out to ten if we’re feeling it. It was a real challenge to play in
a strict structure and to get that same kind of spirit that we get.”
The structured life has its rewards. Black Mountain has seen a small spike in
sales; Rolling Stone even reviewed it (six months after release). But
although McBean respects Coldplay for making honest music, the arena thing in
general doesn’t appeal.
“Honestly it’s something we wouldn’t wanna do a lot of,”
says McBean. “We love playing clubs, we love playing warehouses or house
parties where the people are right there. I understand security reasons for
a band when they’re that big—you can’t have everyone come
backstage—but it was strange being segregated from the audience.”