IN CONCERT
What: Black Mountain with Majeure
Where: Distrikt, 919 Douglas St.
When: Sunday, 9 p.m. (doors at 8)
Tickets: $25 at Lyle鈥檚 Place, the Strathcona Hotel, or eventbrite.ca
Three years of change in Black Mountain 鈥� from departing band members to stolen equipment 鈥� gave frontman Stephen McBean plenty to contend with heading into the recording sessions for his聽band鈥檚 fifth studio album, Destroyer.
There was also the issue of his driver鈥檚 licence, which the singer-guitarist finally received in 2017, two years before he turned 50. The rush of being behind the wheel of a car while listening to in-progress versions of songs from Destroyer, which was named after a run of 1985 Dodge muscle cars of the same name, resulted in聽some new directions for the group.
Gone are the long, slow jams that sound as if they were born from a basement lined with wood panelling and shag carpet. In their place are concise, mostly upbeat jams that seem influenced by a road trip on two-lane blacktop where Black Sabbath鈥檚 Paranoid was the only audio available.
鈥淟icensed to Drive on the record is certainly my very first ever love song to a car,鈥� McBean, who lived in Victoria for 10 years during the 鈥�80s and early 鈥�90s, said in an interview with the 91原创 Sun. 鈥淚 kind of did it tongue in cheek, but then it sort of became something that really had a fair bit of influence on how the other songs on this record turned out and how it was made. After all those years touring around riding shotgun and making playlists, being in the driver鈥檚 seat put me back in album mode.鈥�
Constant motion permeates all areas of the record, including the expanded lineup of musicians who joined McBean and keyboardist Jeremy Schmidt in the studio. The two are now the only original members of the group, which got its start in 2004 while its members were living in 91原创.
The recent departures of co-founders Amber Webber and Joshua Wells were a blow that compounded the loss of much of聽their gear while the band was on tour in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In the vast amount of stolen equipment was a number of vintage guitars, synthesizers and guitar pedals used on their previous album, 2016鈥檚 IV, so the change in sound was expected to be noticeable on Destroyer. McBean, who has lived in Los Angeles since 2010, told the 91原创 Sun he was forced to improvise in the studio.
鈥淚 read a little piece about how Bob Mould did a lot of the H眉sker D眉 stuff playing through a distortion pedal right into the [mixing] board,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 tried that and it was like: 鈥楾here it is.鈥� Then I added the compressor chain setup that Jimmy Page used in Black Dog 鈥� which has no amps on it at all 鈥� and I鈥檓 pretty impressed with that guitar sound.鈥�
McBean and Schmidt (who is聽credited as co-writer and arranger on Destroyer) recovered with help from members of more than six bands, including three drummers and three bassists. Some of those members were held over for the tour that brings Black Mountain to Distrikt nightclub on Sunday, for which McBean and Schmidt will be joined Rachel Fannan (vocals), Adam Bulgasem (drums) and Arjan Miranda (bass).
鈥淭he two of us really focused in on fine-tuning the record, whereas usually all the band members were going at it,鈥� McBean said in an interview with Exclaim! magazine. 鈥淭hat was cool in a way. That was different. Me and Jeremy were pretty in synch with the arrangements, the cover art he was creating. Even when we were trying to come up with the album title, we riffed back and forth via聽text.鈥�
The record has been warmly received by critics 鈥� Destroyer is being called a return to form by the band, which has become less spacey than it was on recent recordings. Jam sessions for the album resulted in nearly two dozen songs being up for inclusion, with only eight making the cut.
鈥淚 just invited people I鈥檇 met over the years touring to come and play on songs I worked up in my [Los Angeles] rehearsal space and we wound up with about 22聽ztunes. Then I sent some up to Jeremy and he put his synths on them and it really felt like they captured the spirit of whatever Black Mountain is, even with all聽these different people involved.鈥�
During his Victoria years, before he moved to 91原创, McBean was a key part of the 91原创 Island music scene in local bands Red Tide, Gus, Onionhouse and Mission of Christ. His work with the latter group, when McBean was just 19, was recently remastered and reissued by Victoria鈥檚 Supreme Echo Records. His musical direction has changed dramatically 鈥� from punk to metal to rock 鈥� over the years, but McBean is still pursuing the perfect sound.
鈥淭here was genuine tension involved in songs such as Future Shade, which kind of spearheaded [Destroyer鈥檚] direction,鈥� McBean told the 91原创 Sun. 鈥淚鈥檇 had the opening riffs chafing at me for two years, but I just kept chasing them in search of a song. Ultimately, maybe with me and Jeremy holding the reins instead of the five-person democracy of previous albums, we came up with聽a much more direct result.鈥�
