Bad Brains

I have been listening to the new Bad Brains album a bit lately. I so far don’t seem to be loving it as much as their early albums, but maybe that will change after repeated listenings. So far Dave says too much reggae. I can say with confidence it's at the very least very, very good. And no matter what, they still kick the crap out of 99.99% of all bands that have ever existed as far as I’m concerned. I remember the first time I heard them over twenty years ago they actually kind of scared me with their awesomeness. I was afraid to be left alone in a room with their music playing because I thought it might just leap out of the speakers and make a fist puppet out of me or something. Led Zeppelin is the only other band that’s made me feel that way. I remember hearing Led Zeppelin on my dad’s stereo when I was six or seven years old and knowing right away that they were total badasses above and beyond any other band I had ever heard before. I felt the same way the first time I heard the Bad Brains.

I saw Bad Brains live for the first time in 1988 at the Phantasy Theater in Lakewood, Ohio. They scared me then too, in a really good way. And since there were other people around, I wasn’t as concerned about that whole fist puppet thing. I’ve seen them a handful of other times since then and- even though lead singer H.R. seems to get nuttier and nuttier each time (the last time I saw them was at St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit maybe five years ago and he sat in a chair holding a birdcage and a bag of garbage for the entire show, which was actually pretty genius the more I think about it)- they still rock balls. I unfortunately missed all their recent New York shows, but here are a few snippets from their recent Rocks Off concert cruise show plus an interview with the band by my friend Sara Schaefer. I hope you enjoy it so much.

Dave Hill