The band who broke the floor

BEATS: CALIFORNIAN rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club bring their unique brand of blues garage folk to Manchester Academy on Sunday.

The band, which formed in 1998, takes its name from Marlon Brando’s motorcycle gang in 1953 film “The Wild One”.

Bassist Robert Levon Been and guitarist Peter Hayes met at school and set about forming a group. Looking for a drummer they met Nick Jago, originally from Devon, who had moved to California to be with his parents. Their first two albums encompassed a hard rock style teamed with lyrics that criticised the US government.

In 2003, a concert in Leeds had to be cancelled half way through the set after council officials suspected the 150-year-old floor of Leeds Town Hall might collapse leading to BRMC being brilliantly referred to as “the band who broke the floor”.