At some stops on its current North American tour, Black Country, New Road used ‘The Weight’ as its entrée or outro music. At the show I saw at The Warfield in San Francisco, the band entered to ‘Theme from the Last Waltz,’ a nod to being in the city of The Band’s last concert across town at The Fillmore nearly 50 years ago.
Black Country, New Road (or BC,NR) could have used ‘The Weight’ simply because it is an American rock classic of such stature that it is now a revered relic of Americana. But, I considered the familiar refrain in the song, ‘Take a load off Fanny/And you can put the load right on me.’ And, I thought about how The Band achieved its own substantial glory after starting as the backing band for Bob Dylan. Perhaps BC,NR, smart cookies all, was slyly acknowledging its new burden and its own ambitions.
Has any band ever successfully done what BC,NR is attempting to do? Days before the release of an album Ants From Up Here that stoked existing fan devotion and critical acclaim, Isaac Wood quit the band to attend to his mental health. (A brief, approving acknowledgment of this fairly recent elevation of self-care in the hierarchy of rock star attributes that has touched Forth Wanderers, feeble little horse, Let’s Eat Grandma, and Mannequin Pussy among others and is an improvement over the old school way of treating depression and anxiety et al. with drugs, alcohol and self-harm.)
The remaining members stashed the band’s catalogue, not playing it live out of respect for Wood and leaving the door open for his return. BC,NR wrote new songs which they played at Bush Hall in London documented by a 2023 live release. Then they seemingly shelved those songs too, with a couple of exceptions. The recent tour finds them playing songs almost exclusively from this year’s release, Forever Howlong, the first post-Wood studio album.
Members leave bands all the time, voluntarily or not, and are replaced. New members are plugged in. Has a band ever lost its lead vocalist/lead guitarist and distinctive voice, filled the void entirely from within, and had it work out? Genesis, maybe, with Phil Collins stepping out from behind the kit when Peter Gabriel went on to do much better things. But, Genesis wasn’t good then although it did make money. Joy Division soldiering on as New Order? I can’t help think of those as two distinct bands because of the name change, but that’s pretty close. BC,NR could aspire to worse than having a New Order analogue career. That’s about all I and some close confidants could come up with. It’s an unusual situation.
I’m not going to argue that BC,NR is better or worse now. You can find that debate on r/BlackCountryNewRoad or in TikTok comments. I do prefer this latest iteration, but I generally prefer music made by women these days. My initial thought on seeing the band live was, how were these three women not taking lead vocals before? I knew of Georgia Ellery, also of the sublime duo Jockstrap, but Tyler Hyde and May Kershaw were revelations.
I’m not adverse to the sounds of troubled baritones. Indeed, Cameron Winter’s recent solo album Heavy Metal is a knockout and elevates his band, Geese, to a close second place in the race for most interesting band in the world, a title vacant since Shitkid vanished. But all things being equal, I would prefer to hear these women sing, which they do exceptionally well. However, I take Forever Howlong solely on its own favorable terms and won’t compare and contrast. Fran Slater recently well-articulated here the thoughts of an already committed fan.
I tried to describe today’s BC,NR to someone who had not heard of them. I came up with the cool musical conservatory kids form a band to play on the after-hours fringe of a Dickens faire. This was before I knew that ‘Nancy Tries to Take the Night’ is about the goodhearted whore from Oliver Twist. But, I actually think of her as Nancy from the 1960’s musical Oliver! because BC,NR scratches a musical theater itch that afflicts me. A few of the songs are little mini-musicals, or expansive ballads if you prefer, moving linearly from one plot point to another scored with shifting tunes and arrangements. “Nancy” is like this as is ‘Two Horses’ and ‘For the Cold Country’ all beautiful, loony songs, one of each for Hyde, Ellery and Kershaw. ‘For the Cold Country’ about its lovestruck knight in an existential crisis (?) is a showstopper live, Kershaw investing everything. We would have given it a mid-show standing ovation if we all weren’t already standing. The more conventional songs like ‘Besties,’ ‘Happy Birthday’ and especially the lovely album closer ‘Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)’ are effortlessly catchy, which takes quite a bit of effort and skill to achieve.
BC,NR is organically theatrical and dramatic. It’s not an ostentatious or ironic affectation, like it is, say, in Arcade Fire. It just exists, genuine. Thus, the concert almost feels more like a recital sometimes. At one point between songs a complete hush came over the crowd of 2,000 plus. You couldn’t hear even ice cubes colliding in plastic cups. It was very noticeable and a little unnerving. People broke the spell with nervous laughter and self-conscious applause.
Best of all for an American with an affection for the island, BC,NR is quite English, lyrically and musically. Forever Howlong has beans, beets and grilled quail. It has knights flying kites. There is equine tragedy. There is Shakespeare and, of course, Dickens.
Another famous Chuck D. recently tweeted, “At this point in music I’m more moved by arrangements….” I get that with BC,NR’s music as it stutters and swirls with echoes of Mark Smeaton, Supertramp, Benjamin Britten, Village Green Preservation Society. Throw some Haircut 100 in there, why not? I envision hedgerows, stone pubs with low ceilings, stiff upper lips, dank despair, welcome sunshine filtering through the copse. Typical things, in stereo. This might be the most English band since The Kinks. Or at least Sleaford Mods. And BC,NR has captured my imagination and interest to a degree that came as a complete and thrilling surprise.
Words by Rick Larson
Picky Bastards 