CLASSIC ROCK
THE BRAIN SURGEONS
100 Club, London
Playing mostly their own material—biker friendly,
grease proof US rock’n’roll—the band rocked
the place with a style and prowess that was breathtaking. Of
these virtually unknown songs, the incandescent Dark Secrets
was particularly spellbinding, featuring blazing guitar moments
from the Bossman. But it was the climactic triplet of Öyster
Cult classics that set the seal. Cities on Flame With Rock
n’ Roll (which included a teasing snippet of Godzilla,
plus a truly astonishing Bouchard flurry), Dominance &
Submission and The Red and The Black were delivered
with a combination of gusto, verve and accuracy that sent everyone
merrily on their way, smiles set to full beam.
--Malcolm Dome
Chicago Tribune
Bouchard still lives
Ex-Blue Oyster Cult Drummer Having
Fun
The Brain Surgeons, who headline Saturday at the Heartland Cafe,
aren't nearly as well known as drummer Al Bouchard's former
band, Blue Oyster Cult. But the music is in many ways just as
adventurous.
Over a half-dozen albums, the Brain Surgeons explore everything
from punk screeds to layered acoustic folk-pop, avant-garde
percussion to heavy-metal head banging. On one recent release,
the double-CD "Piece of Work," they do justice to
everything from doo-wop to Lynyrd Skynyrd (a poignant cover
of "Simple Man").
It makes sense, because Bouchard was one of Blue Oyster Cult's
key songwriters, and great songs were what defined that band
even more so than its mirrored shades and black-magic iconography.
Tunes co-written by Bouchard have been covered by everyone from
the Minutemen ("The Red and the Black") to Metallica
("Astronomy"), and been appropriated by television
shows ("That '70s Show" used "Cities on Flame
with Rock and Roll"). The royalties have helped him maintain
his do-it-yourself operation with the Brain Surgeons; the band
runs its own label, Cellsum Records (cellsum.com), and books
its own tours.
"If we had a strong offer from a major label, we'd totally
sell out," Bouchard says with a laugh, in an interview
from the band's office on the upper West Side of Manhattan.
"But this way, having total control, we're having a lot
more fun. I'm actually losing less money doing it this way,
if you think about the time that it takes to get a major-label
project up and running. I've produced enough bands over the
years to know that a band signed to a major can work for years,
and then not even have an album come out. This way, I always
have something to build on. We are constantly writing songs,
more than we can record, and we have a group of people that
always comes to see us. It's like this little Brain Surgeons
social circle."
In contrast, the other members of Blue Oyster Cult play more
than 100 shows a year at much larger venues, even though they
have not been nearly as prolific as Bouchard in writing new
material.
In its original '70s incarnation, the Cult played as many as
300 shows a year, filling arenas around the world with a twisted
brand of heavy metal, wrapped in S&M leather and irony.
"We were originally a pretty serious psychedelic blues
band, but when we decided to go with the heavy metal thing,
it was a hoot," Bouchard says. "Black Sabbath was
our big influence, woo-hoo! We were all much more into the Ozzy
[Osbourne] side of the band, rather than the Tommy [Iommi] self-serious
side. Ozzy was the lovable drunk, a comical figure almost. We
never bought into that black magic stuff. When Columbia Records
signed us, they already had a hard rock band in Aerosmith, and
Clive Davis said the label wanted us to sound a little darker.
So we listened to Black Sabbath, had a good laugh, and said,
'We'll do this!' Some people said Blue Oyster Cult isn't real
heavy metal. No kidding! That was never the point."
Nonetheless, BOC's subversive impact on a generation of young
listeners was immense, with concepts and lyrics cooked up by
a brain trust of snide intellectuals, including producer Sandy
Perlman, rock critic Richard Meltzer, Patti Smith and the band
itself. "Mike Watt [of the Minutemen] says our music gets
more popular anytime there is a Republican in office,"
Bouchard says. "We were anti-Establishment but not political.
We had our own black humor, even though some of our fans missed
it. It was sort of scary and depressing to see that. It was
entertainment! People hear our stuff, they smile and sing along.
It was meant to make life more tolerable."
But the band burned out from its excesses and, after Bouchard's
departure in 1981, it was never quite the same. Bouchard blames
himself for the break-up.
"It's a lot like 'Spinal Tap,' involving groupies and girlfriends,
and me making a fool of myself in public," he says. "The
solution was to remove myself from the band before I destroyed
all their marriages. It was demolition derby. They made the
right choice in dumping me. But time smoothes over everything.
We laugh about it now."
Bouchard doesn't envision rejoining his old band mates full-time,
though he's working on a side project with Blue Oyster Cult
guitarist Donald Roeser. Bouchard is married to Brain Surgeons
guitarist Deborah Frost, a music critic who is his co-writer
on many songs and the mother of his 13-year-old son.
"I wouldn't want to tour that extensively," he says.
"In a couple of years, my teenage boy won't be able to
stand the sight of me. But now we hang out all the time."
Though about half the Brain Surgeons' set is composed of Bouchard's
Blue Oyster Cult material, the band's striking originals with
Frost and Bouchard sharing vocals hold up against the drummer's
formidable past.
"It would be nice to sell as many records as Blue Oyster
Cult still does," Bouchard says. "But I want to be
involved in music, and I also want to call the shots in how
my music reaches the public. This allows me to do both."
-- Greg Kot
Democrat and Chronicle
Shucking with the Brain Surgeons
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
NEW YORK PRESS
Sole Survivor
A Blue Oyster Cult vet keeps it alive
Not only is Blue Oyster Cult's Tyranny and Mutation one of the
greatest metal albums ever recorded-it might also be considered
the prototype for what, in later years, would come to be called
speed metal. That album's opener, "The Red and the Black,"
is a high-octane lightning bolt barrage of guitar and drums,
all in honor of the Canadian Mounties.
On Beach Party- what I believe to be their 6th album- the Brain
Surgeons do their own version of "The Red and the Black,"
slowing it down considerably and playing it this time on acoustic
guitar and mandolin. The idea might sound like a travesty at
first, but you figure since Albert Bouchard wrote the song,
he can play it however he damn well pleases. I happen to like
the new version a whole bunch.
Bouchard, there's little question, was pretty much single-handedly
responsible for the brilliance of those first several Blue Oyster
Cult albums. After he left the band, things took a serious,
serious slide toward the banal and the merely awful.
In the mid-90s, long after leaving BOC, Bouchard and his wife
(noted rock critic and former member of New York's Flaming Youth)
teamed up to form their own band, the Brain Surgeons. Around
the same time, they also formed their own indie label, Cellsum
records.
Since then- just the past couple of years, actually- things
have been kind of rough. Billy Hilfiger, the Brain Surgeons'
guitarist, died of a brain tumor. Their longtime friend from
the earliest BOC days (who also released albums through Cellsum),
Helen Wheels, passed away. And then just this last February,
another old BOC friend and Cellsum recording artist, David Roter,
died after complications resulting from leukemia. After all
that, it's hard to imagine them releasing an album that's as
much fun as Beach Party, but they did.
At heart, of course, it's a heavy metal album- but not metal
as it's come to be known today- it's not the speed metal that
Tyranny foreshadowed. Jesus, no. Along with the classic, old-style
metal riffs, you'll find a cappella numbers, surf guitar, funk,
blues and basic garage rock as well (though mercifully little
funk). The Surgeons are clearly having a hell of a good time
doing what they're doing.
Still essentially a trio (with David Hirshberg replacing Hilfiger),
Albert's brother- and former BOC alumnus Joe can also be heard
playing on a number of tracks. In a way (the same way their
previous albums have been), Beach Party is like an early BOC
family reunion, with the Bouchard brothers and Frost, of course,
but also with songs co-written by Helen Wheels and Richard Meltzer.
Frost sneers and growls through her tracks, her vocals resting
somewhere between Helen Wheels and Grace Slick. It's a perfect
fit for numbers like "Medusa" and "Niagara Falls."
"Krakatoa," a Joe Bouchard/Meltzer number about, well,
Krakatoa, sounds like a variation of "Godzilla" at
first, and as goofy as any song about Krakatoa would be. Then
it gets stuck in your head for a very long time. Sort of like
"Godzilla."
The Brain Surgeons remain one of the precious few examples old-time
rock and rollers who can do more than rest on their one hit,
content to play the county fair circuit. They're out there elbow
to elbow with the damn kids, playing the little clubs, writing
new songs, experimenting like crazy and having a good time.
It could even be argued, I guess, that the Brain Surgeons represent
what might've become of Blue Oyster Cult had Bouchard stayed
aboard- and if they'd adopted a female vocalist. A little older,
a little wiser, a little slower, sure, but the songwriting is
still there, and its heart is no less wicked. Lord knows, it's
a damn sight more interesting than that last Blue Oyster Cult
album. --Jim Knipfel
The Village VOICE
HARVESTER OF HANDS
I once saw an episode of The Outer Limits called "The Borderland,"
about this mad scientist who was opening a doorway to an alternate
dimension through the clever use of electricity and oblique
equations called "Hausdorf's Theorems. One experiment,
naturally, went bad. When the mad scientist stuck his left hand
through his electronic gateway into the alternate dimension,
it came back as a second right hand!
The Brain Surgeons must have liked this episode too, because
the cover of their Piece of Work two-CD set has a painting of
someone with a second right hand! And you can't tell if the
BS guy is laughing or screaming, which is pretty much how the
Outer Limits scientist felt, because having a second right hand
was scary but also quite handy, uh, handy-- whenever he needed
funding for more experiments, all he needed to so was whip it
out for the potential benefactor, removing all doubt that he
was a bona fide mad scientist.
This is also pretty much the case with Piece of Work. Its idiosyncrasies
leave no doubt the Brain Surgeons are bona fide mad scientists
of hard rock. The first disc, Piece, holds most of the heavy
stuff, with (rock critic) Deb Frost's and (ex-Blue Öyster
Cult drummer) Al Bouchard's vocals whispering between cracks
in guitar noise. Infrequently, a neo-BÖC riff crawls out
of the fog and tugs menacingly at your trousers before slinking
away. One number is an ode to a hot dog man, and if I were the
hot dog man being summoned, judging by the Surgeons' sinister
tone, I'd go home and hide under the bed until the coast was
clear. The second disc, Work, has a version of Skynyrd's "Simple
Man" that veers into the Oort cloud (that's om outer space),
a drum solo, and tunes that would make good soundtrack choices
for Kiss Me Deadly. The entire set is framed by the genuinely
purty a cappella "Biloxi," apparently written by an
old draft dodger. There's also a soul-horn revue number in there
somewhere.
Piece of Work contains an attractive photo album, showing the
Brain Surgeons to be normal-looking, happy people who enjoy
participating in "live music parties" and fly fishing.
This is to reassure the listener that the flipped-out sounding
stuff inside is not an indication that they really are mad scientists
with two right hands.--George Smith
BILLBOARD
Declarations of Independents
fLAG WAVING: If, like Declarations of Independents, your hunger
for vintage Blue Öyster Cult hasn't been satiated by Columbia/Legacy's
reissues of the New York band's first four albums or Rhino Handmade's
release of its early recordings (as the Stalk-Forrest Group),
you may want to check out Cellsum Records' just-released To
Helen With Love!
The album is a tribute to Helen Wheels, BÖC's longtime
costume designer and frequent lyricist, who died at 50 Jan.
17 following complications from back surgery. Helmed by the
Brain Surgeons, ex-BÖC drummer Albert Bouchard and his
wife, Deborah Frost, who run Cellsum, the collection features
appearances by Scott Kempner, Andy Shernoff, Ross "the
Boss" Funicello, Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators
(who backed Wheels as a solo artist), singers Tish & Snooky,
and other friends of the late artist.
The set is highlighted by three tracks in which Bouchard and
his brother, ex-BÖC bassist Joe, back BÖC guitarist
Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser. It's the first time the
three have recorded together since 1981.
Wheels (born Helen Robbins) first met Al Bouchard as a teenage
college student at a Ravi Shankar concert in Long Island, N.Y.,
in the late '60s. "A week later, we were playing a dance
at one of the dorms, and she was there," Bouchard recalls.
"She said she played and she wrote poetry."
Soon, she was making clothing for the band, then known as Soft
White Underbelly. "We didn't have that leather look, we
were a hippie band," Bouchard recalls. "We were like
the East Coast Grateful Dead. She made stuff out of satin and
velvet."
He adds, "She was writing stuff all the way back in the
beginning of the Underbelly days." As neighbors in New
York, they would collaborate on several tunes for BÖC;
the group would record such numbers as "Sinful Love"
and "Tattoo Vampire."
After Wheels' sudden death, Bouchard and Roeser met. Bouchard
had already decided to cut a tribute album, and Roeser agreed
to contribute. Though the Bouchards left BÖC on less-than-outstanding
terms, their reunion with their great guitarist on the tracks
"Hero," "Goodbye Joe," and "Elle Sol"
was inspiring.
"It was just amazing," Bouchard says. "It really
was fun. The night before the session, I couldn't sleep…
When we started playing, the feeling was so terrific. It was
like we never stopped playing together."
To Helen With Love! is being distributed by the Orchard and
is also available through the label's Web site, cellsum.com.--Chris
Morris
PLAYBOY
" Pounding riffs, delicate acoustic interludes and a bent
satiric approach in the lyrics make Trepanation (Cellsum) by
the Brain Surgeons a great listen. Rock critic Deborah Frost
is convincing as a metallic diva. Cool covers (Ramblin' Rose)
and a cool co-writer (Richard Meltzer) add up to a cool album."
--Charles M. Young
The Boston Phoenix
The Brain Surgeons
Malpractise
(Cellsum)
A critic-turned-chanteuse in the lofty tradition of former Blue
Öyster Cult sideperson Patti Smith, whose vocal range hers
eerily resembles, Deborah Frost and her BÖC-alumnus-drummer
spouse Al Bouchard find eccentric humor, slimy grooves, and
Reaper-unfearing melodiousness in jaded old BÖC and Hawkwind
and Minutemen obscurities about New Year's Eve and syringes
and petrodollars and the difficulty of writing songs on the
road. Kinda reminds me of the time Metal Mike Saunders of the
Angry Samoans called me right after seeing Val Kilmer in Oliver
Stone's Doors movie: "I always knew those were great songs;
they just needed somebody better than Jim Morrison to sing them!"
--CHUCK EDDY
The Washington Post
BRAIN SURGEONS
"Piece of Work"
Cellsum
No one will ever accuse the Brain Surgeons of doling out sedatives.
On their latest album, a double CD set, the band creates stimulating
sounds even when the tempo is languid and guitars and drums
are silenced in favor of a hip, a cappella arrangement of Jesse
Winchester's "Biloxi."
Winchester's classic ballad opens the album, and while the vocal
slant is hardly typical of the Surgeons' specialty, its surprising,
doo-wop-ish flavor does suggest there's more interesting things
to come. Then again, the band's unusual lineup almost guarantees
that, what with drummer and Blue Oyster Cult found Al Bouchard
anchoring the rhythm section, rock critic Deborah Frost handling
many of the lead vocals and Billy Hilfiger (yes, Tommy's brother)
cranking out some of the impressive lead guitar work.
Far from coming off as a novelty act, though, the Surgeons play
(and mix) hard rock, southern soul and tuneful pop with plenty
of assurance and affection. Bouchard and Frost, who are married,
are responsible for most of the songwriting, contributing tracks
as diverse as the horn-powered Memphis soul tune "Rain,
Rain," the gritty metal anthem "Practice Makes Perfect,"
and the strutting funk instrumental "Prince Albert,"
and the shimmering acoustic ballad "Billy's Song."
The 22 tracks here could be pared down to a dozen and a half
without losing anything significant. Few albums this long hold
up so well-- this one does thanks primarily to the songwriting
and the persuasive vocals."
---Mike Joyce
Rolling Stone
EPONYMOUS
The Brain Surgeons
As the Brain Surgeons, ex-BÖC drummer Albert Bouchard and
his wife, noted rock scribe Deborah Frost embrace digital recording,
using a DAT machine to assemble their DIY debut Eponymous in
their living room. While some of the album's songs were written
with former BÖC collaborators Patti Smith and Richard Meltzer,
Bouchard and Frost stake out their own musical turf, moving
convincingly from the New Wave jangle of "Language of Love"
to balls-out rockers like "Time Will Take Care of You."
The Surgeons demonstrate their idiosyncrasy on odd cover choices.
The weirdo surfabilly of the Del Lords' "I Play the Drums"
showcases Bouchard's gruff rasp, and Frost pleasantly toys with
sexual ambiguity when she sings, "I told her that I was
a flop with chicks" on an appealing a cappella rendition
of the Clovers' "Love Potion No.9." Eponymous' revelation
turns out to be Frost's voice, a technically proficient yet
passionately raw instrument. Moving from virtuoso Robert Plant
shrieks to breathy Patti Smith-style confessionals, Frost refutes
the old adage that disgruntled musicians hurl at rock critics:
"Those who can't do, write." --Matt
Diehl
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