S & D: Bad Brains/HR (w/corrolary question)

GOD OF LOVE was suitably GODawful with precious little to defend it.

Bad Brains without HR and Earl, though, are meaningless.

HR, still crazy after all these years:

Recently we were going to Rome and we were about four and a half hours into the flight. We had already been served our meal.

The pilot comes on and says, “We’re going to have to turn around because our navigation system isn’t working and we can’t cross the Atlantic without it so we are going to go back to Boston.”

And immediately I’m thinking, “Oh shit.”

HR is on the plane with a towel on his head and like two or three coats on and all sorts of other shit, blankets, towels, whatever, wrapped on him, and it’s the middle of summer. But he’s just sitting there, he’s not bothering anybody. Allegedly he had a BlackBerry or some shit and he was playing with it during the flight.

So I’m worried because before we even took off, the pilot and three attendants came back and talked to HR but it seemed OK. They were just checking on him, making sure he was cool, and it all seemed fine. Then we turn around over Newfoundland and I’m thinking something must be up.

We land back in Boston. I look out the window and I see a cop car waiting for us on the runway. The plane doors open up and two cops come in and go right to his seat and take him off the plane. Our manager jumps up chasing after them, trying to tell them we are on the way to Italy to play some shows, we’re a band, and so on.

I’m sitting there thinking about how I’m going to get from Boston back to Woodstock, New York, because we’re not going to Italy today. Then about two hours later they finally return and put him back on the plane. All these other passengers are complaining about the wait and about HR being back on the plane and all these Italians are looking around and they’re all really nervous. Then as we finally get ready to take off again the pilot gets on the intercom: “We’re going to take off and get back on our route. I hope everyone will have a nice flight. And flying with us today we have members of the Bad Brains—so enjoy their company.”

Then we finally land in Rome and all of our gear, pedals, guitars, and clothes, everyone’s things, had been taken off the plane and searched and they hadn’t put any of it back on the plane. So we had to do the whole tour with borrowed equipment and the same clothes for the whole time.

And HR never learns. We get on the flight home and he immediately stands up with a towel on his head and starts counting people on the plane and blessing people like he’s the pope.

So I can’t fly with that dude anymore.

Darryl Jenifer, bassist

awesome find there

Wow. Sad.

has Darryl written a book or anything because I would read the hell out of that book. Those last two grafs are so great.

Wow. Sad.

but nb HR has always been like this - this isn't news, it's just an instance. from their earliest tours he was a scene-maker.

he's gotten significantly weirder over the years. i think he's still living in a warehouse in west baltimore

hahaha thats awesome, especially the sign off

yeah i'd kinda be disappointed if he didn't act like that on a flight.

So I can’t fly with that dude anymore.

Darryl Jenifer, bassist

^^i get the feeling there is so much history packed into this sentence.

the stories and sightings i've heard about always mention the multiple layers of clothes haha

I used to work with a lot of schizophrenics who'd just keep layering on the clothes no matter what the weather was like

in the documentary American Hardcore, there's this live clip of Bad Brains....they are doing the beginning of "The Big Takeover"...just that dun dun dun dun dun dun doomy drum beat with guitar squiggles....it keeps pounding and pounding and the crowd is getting crazy...

HR is moving around, doing all his weird movements...then the song kicks in with the little intro riff "DUN-da-da-DUN DUN" --- in the brief pause before the verse starts HR does a back flip, somehow lands it perfectly and then grabs the mic PRECISELY at the exact moment the verse kicks in and starts singing.

goddamn man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK2ENmy2_sQ

His medical condition has gotten worse over the years. As a DC area resident, I first saw Bad Brains back in '79.

Re history-- the Damned were wowed by the Bad Brains when the Brains opened for them in DC (in 78 through 81. Not sure of year). They supposedly told the Bad Brains, you should come to England. The Bad Brains then attemped to do so, but without proper paperwork and gigs booked. I think they made it to Heathrow Airport and then got sent back.

Darryl Jennifer's stories from Ego Trip's Big Book of Racism are awesome. Guy really should write a book.

"Does rock plus reggae equal ska?"

"Yes, it does have the tendency to sound Scottish"

lol

"What artists, when you were young, getting into reggae, really drove you to that music?"

"Herbie Hancock... Perry Como... Arthur Prysock..."

that interview is brutal.
"a musical marriage of two genres i don't ever want to see get a divorce"

anyone wanna weigh in on build a nation? or rise or god of love?
i have they first one and quickness i recently rediscovered and am loving these days . . .

what's build a nation like?

I saw them last year in July, and HR was indeed be-trench-coated and swaddled (he took most of it off when they started playing). He was also wandering around outside the venue in Shepherds Bush handing out slices of bread to people.

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUucrF8DMtw&feature=share

HR was at the 43rd annual Legalize Pot Smoke-in in Washington DC yesterday. I saw an ad for it

that's a bit like having Anders Breivik turn up to your NRA rally

Is HR playing guitar a recent development? I always thought he was just a vocalist.

Bad Brains: RFI/D

"playing guitar"

Is HR holding a guitar a recent development? I always thought he was just a vocalist who didn't hold a guitar.

http://www2.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=16871

2008 article with photos

he is playing it in that clip, he's using the 1/2 japanese technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wwD0JaSzfQ&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH6pqn8mYZw

in the documentary American Hardcore, there's this live clip of Bad Brains....they are doing the beginning of "The Big Takeover"...just that dun dun dun dun dun dun doomy drum beat with guitar squiggles....it keeps pounding and pounding and the crowd is getting crazy...

HR is moving around, doing all his weird movements...then the song kicks in with the little intro riff "DUN-da-da-DUN DUN" --- in the brief pause before the verse starts HR does a back flip, somehow lands it perfectly and then grabs the mic PRECISELY at the exact moment the verse kicks in and starts singing.

goddamn man.

― da poupier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, October 13, 2010 12:06 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I scanned through the whole documentary and couldn't find this :(