BRAIN: Article

[blackblade at BHALLIGAN.COM]

The band's getting good media support for their show tomorrow night in Rochester. This article is from the local daily, though there are decent-sized blurbs in the alternative papers as well. The author's not too kind to the current BOC lineup, and there's no new info (not even a mention of Ross the Boss), but coverage is coverage. Stay tuned for a show review.

-Brian


Shucking with the Brain Surgeons

Jeff Spevak
Democrat and Chronicle

7/7/2004 -- Blue Oyster Cult was once a great band. Its 1974 magnum opus, Secret Treaties, is pure amphetamine freak occultism. And literate, as well. Patti Smith wrote some lyrics. Horror writer Stephen King and sci-fi author Michael Moorcock were early fans; King did a spoken-word intro to one song. The cyber-punk novelist John Shirley based his first novel on a Blue Oyster Cult biker rocker, "Transmaniacon MC.'
Blue Oyster Cult is still out there, if you're looking to book a band to rattle your company barbecue. "Two Oyster Cult' is how I've heard them referred to recently, just a couple of the original guys in Dockers — real magnum Opies — going through the motions. The band's been the subject of a frequently repeated Saturday Night Live skit, "Blue Oyster Cult on Behind the Music,' with Christopher Walken as a studio producer during the recording of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper,' urging on percussionist Will Ferrell. "I gotta have more cowbell, baby!'

The Brain Surgeons were playing a small club in Columbus, Ohio, a couple of years ago, when that skit appeared on the TV over the bar. "We were packing up our equipment,' recalls Albert Bouchard. "All of a sudden we heard this big "Whoo!' coming from bar, and someone says, 'Look, look, check this out!'"

If you remember that moody, psychedelic Blue Oyster Cult hit from 1976, you'll remember that there was, indeed, a cowbell in it. Bouchard, a drummer and one of the founding members of the band, put the cowbell there.

And as one who would know, Bouchard concedes that the Saturday Night Live portrayal was pretty dead-on: "The guys,' he says, "were adequately dopey.'

A rock band on life support is a terrible thing to watch. It's best to pull the plug and, in Bouchard's case, call in the Brain Surgeons, who play Saturday at the Bug Jar.

"I took some time off from Blue Oyster Cult, because I wanted to do my own thing,' the 57-year-old Bouchard says. "It didn't work out, so I said, 'Hey, I want to be back in the band.' And they said, "No. You quit, you left us in the lurch. What's gonna keep it from happening again?'

"I didn't do anything for a while. I was writing songs, but I couldn't get anything out. It was like being constipated.'

Finally, there was some movement. And the Brain Surgeons were born, in 1994. Bouchard's wife, Deborah Frost, is a guitarist and one of three lead singers. Her experience was as a punk drummer and, like a couple of the old Blue Oyster Cult guys, working in the rock-criticism arts as well.

Hmmmm 


Nah.

Anyway, the Brain Surgeons rock but are unrestrained by labels. They can space rock, they can harmonize like a barbershop quartet. And they play a few Blue Oyster Cult songs. Best of all, Bouchard has a mask depicting a Tokyo-stomping lizard if the band decides to cover BOC's 1977 hit, "Godzilla."

Blue Oyster Cult hasn't completely drifted into the '70s cutout bin. Metallica included a version of "Astronomy,' one of many BOC songs written by Bouchard, on its 1998 collection of covers, Garage, Inc. It was a nice pick-me-up for Bouchard.

"I was feeling like I was not connected to the current music scene,' he says. "I had students then who said, 'Well, I've never heard of Blue Oyster Cult. I'm into Metallica.' And the next thing you know, one of my songs is on their record.

"We had our weaknesses,' Bouchard says of BOC. "There wasn't really a strong lead singer.' Three of them shared vocals, including the band's former road manager.

Blue Oyster Cult also very nearly had a female lead singer.

"One of the guys met her at a poetry reading,' Bouchard recalls. "He said, 'Well, I've never heard her sing, but she's pretty cool.' She came over and I said, 'Wow, we gotta get this person in this band. She's awesome, with this great poetry.' The rest of the band was not as enthusiastic as I was. Certain people did not want to have a girl in the band at that time.'

Ah, the road not taken. The cowbell not rung. How would you like to have been the guy who turned down Patti Smith for a job in your rock band?

Jeff Spevak is our staff music critic. You can contact him at jspevak at DemocratandChronicle.com or (585) 258-2452.