Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ The Duck Room 8/21

A handful of great bands have stepped up to show the world that America has finally rediscovered its rock `n’ roll soul. The Strokes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, White Stripes and the Von Bondies are menacing proof that rock music is still as vital and important as it has ever been.

St. Louis got its first taste of this revival last Tuesday at the Duck Room in the fabulous Blueberry Hill, when San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club unleashed their fuzzed-out rock attack on the packed audience.

Before the biker gang led by Marlon Brando in The Wild One inspired a name change, BRMC was originally called The Elements. On Tuesday night, they sounded like elements of the greatest bands of the last 20 years.

While carving out their own fuzzy, effects-laden rock music, BMRC sounds like

Ride, the Stone Roses, Oasis, Death In Vegas, Primal Scream, My Bloody

Valentine, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Verve, just to name a few.

In 1999, the band recorded a 16 track demo, consisting of songs that would make up their Virgin debut, B.R.M.C.

After selling 500 copies of the demo and garnering initial airplay on the famed KCRW Los Angeles morning radio show, the band received loads of attention.

Noel Gallagher declared them the best new band of the year and the Dandy Warhols took them on tour in the fall of 2000.

Following the tour, the band entered the studio and cleaned up their demo, whittling it down to a polished 11-song debut.

At Blueberry Hill, the band played their entire album with all the amps turned up to 11. They opened with a dark, steady version of “Red Eyes and Tears,” pleasing all that love Psychocandy-era Jesus and Mary Chain.

BMRC then moved flawlessly into the sublime “White Palms,” a stunning “Love Burns” and the jangly rocker “Spread Your Love.”

A man in the front row exclaimed, “You are the best band ever!” before BMRC launched into “As Sure As the Sun.” They put their heads down and played harder.

The amount of energy in the room was exhilarating and the music got so loud you wondered if those Guinness Book records set by the Who and the Melvins were in jeopardy.

Noel Gallagher wrote a song for Definitely Maybe called “Rock and Roll Star” in 1994. It can only be described as a work of songwriting genius, with brother Liam singing, “Tonight/I’m a Rock and Roll Star.” When hearing that song, everyone feels like a rock `n’ roll star.

It had been years since we’ve had a song so thrilling and important, but the wait finally ended as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club played “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song).”

The song actually has similar structure and melody to Oasis’ “Rock and Roll

Star,” as the vocal tradeoff between Robert Turner and Peter Hayes gradually succumbs to a sea of distortion and an onslaught of drums by Nick Jago.

“Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)” is a scorching rally cry for all who love rock `n’ roll. The band answered their own question as they closed the regular set with guitars howling and guns blazing.

As BRMC sang “I fell in love with a sweet sensation/I gave my heart to a simple chord,” you realized their rock `n’ roll is firmly intact.

BMRC maintained the same level of intensity during the three-song encore, eventually ending with a 20-minute version of “Salvation.” The slow-building song gradually speeds to a frenzied pace as Hayes and Turner layer effects pedals on top of one another, to the point of absurdity.

Members of the audience were covering their ears as the band sauntered backstage leaving the most excruciating noises reverberating from the amps.

With the Radiohead-inspired tranquilizer bands thankfully fading, acts like the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are emerging as leaders of the new rock movement. Thankfully, they are guiding rock `n’ roll to a dirty, sleazy and rebellious resurgence.

And with the White Stripes playing at the Creepy Crawl next week, and the Strokes currently taking over the world, brace yourselves for a very loud and exciting year.