bad bains
Story:
Steve Martin
Photos:
Kristin Callahan
H.R. and I sit alone in the
cramped dressing room of a Bay
Shore, Long Island club called Sun-
dance. It is a scene out of a cheesy teen
comedy. H.R., spiritual frontpiece for the
Bad Brains, is deeply involved in rolling at
pre-interview spliff of ridiculous proportions.
Mantras tumble from his tongue, punctuated
by shouts of "Jah!" "Selaaasssie I," and "Yes!
Raastafari!" I sit, pretending to scrutinize walls I've
seen countless times before.
.un-
Moments later, H.R. has deemed the backstage
room too noisy, the band's tour bus "too cold
healthy" and opted instead for a clump of bushes behind.
the club as the setting for our exchange. We begin by ad-
dressing the instabilities that have plagued the Bad Brains
line-up. To date, H.R. and his brother, drummer Earl, have split
from guitarist Dr. Know and bassist Darryl Jenifer twice. The first
rift had seemed a permanent, logical conclusion to half a decade
of inciting a generation more restless than the punks of the late seven-
80
Left: An astral vision of HR on
the mike. Below: HR gets in
touch with the crowd.
ties. During those five years they produced a single, two Eps and
their immortal ROIR cassette, topping it all off with the Ric Ocasek-
produced Rock For Light Lp, a swansong for the post-1983
underground to groove on. Despite major label suitors knocking on
their door, the Bad Brains went their separate ways.
Hardly a year passed, however, before the band was playing out
once more in its original form, working on material for their land-
mark Lp, / Against I, released in 1986. The tour that followed would
be their most successful. Footage from a Providence, Rhode Island,
show yielded a video (solid MTV rotation), press coverage exploded,
and industry giants snapped at the Bad Brains' heels. In the sum-
mer of 1987 they played their second farewell performance. An at-
tempted "rebirth" with two new members survived onstage, but didn't
pan out in the studio. Now, nearly three years since the release of
I Against I, the original Bad Brains are playing live shows to support
the release of their second reunion Lp, Quickness.
"Yeah, man, to make a long story short, we didn't ever want to
split up," H.R. clarifies. "But we did want to make a break. We were
hoping to work together again, but we were following the vibes, mak-
ing sure everything was positive between us. We had to create a
vibe from one day to the next day-always fresh, in our own hearts,
out of the love we had for each other-in order to play the music.
Music is related to God, so God is a big part in the music. God brings
us together, God causes us to be apart, scatters us, for whatever
reasons, then he reunites us."
H.R. stands firm on this philosophy, denying the suggestion that
outside factors and industry pressures ever influenced the inner work-
ings of Bad Brains. "No, it doesn't put a strain on the band. The
industry has a lot of information for artists. Artists need to learn the
industry and to know the different aspects of presenting their music
to the public and also to their family or even to themselves. Once
one has that specialized knowledge at hand and has learned from
experience or from school or whatever, then you're able to proceed
properly in whatever music you're trying to make. That's not the only
way to do it, but it really does help. So we disciplined ourselves always
to make sure we didn't take life and music, our music, and the rewards
and lessons, too lightly. Although we were offered many things, in
the long run we knew that it would be much more beneficial for us
to take it one step at a time and get our thing together."
Despite his cool, jazzy demeanor, H.R. did foster certain misgiv-
ings upon hearing of his ex-bandmates' decision to carry on with
a new line-up in 1988. "At first I felt that it would be a little difficult
for the authenticity of the organization to prosper. I felt there would
be a jeopardizing of one's own intentions. As time went on, I began
to grow and mature within my own perspectives on my own respon-
sibilities and the rights of others to decide their own destinies and
to be able to live the lives they choose to live. With that blessing
I was able to acknowledge the works going on still. When there's
work to be done and someone doesn't want to do the work, there
will always be someone else who will want to do it. As Jah lets you
know, the works are going to get accomplished. They're going to
go on no matter who wants to do them...or who doesn't want to
do them."
Presently, Bad Brains are, as ever before, poised at the brink of
a large scale breakthrough. Their erratic history has cost them at
least two major deals, while relative newcomers who cite the band
as in influence have gone on to sales figures in the millions. "Natural-
ly, we all have to survive. We all have to make ends meet. Artists
share each others' techniques. They share each others' riffs, lines,
keys, melodies, counter melodies. Sometimes it's given in good faith,
sometimes it's stolen. It all meshes out in the end. The balance is
still there. Everyone gets paid according to their works. I give thanks
still for the new music, because through these new musicians we
get a chance to hear and check into what's coming up...we're
always learning. God blesses us all with the ability to want and thirst
and hunger for truth and knowledge.
"In the twelve years I've worked with music," H.R. continues, adop-
ting a more reflective tone, "Bad Brains, Human Rights, Zion Train,
Ras Michael...I find the movement of music expanding and our
consciousness expanding. I see our works growing, and I see the
scene growing. I see it changing. There are new bands now that
weren't around a few years ago and there are a few bands that
were. At times it's unpredictable. You can't know who'll be around
to do what a few days from now. It's important not to get con-
fused or wrapped up in the fads, gangs, social uprisings, ex-
tensions. they don't hold firm in the order of life that God
has willed us to live. We find our release through music,
and it's a blessing to be able to do that in these times.
I thank Selassi I for that. I thank the youths for sup-
porting the music. I thank the leaders who believe
in the music, who also see the signs and can see.
the growth."
Quickness, Bad Brains' third full-length studio
effort (fourth if you count the ROIR cassette)
and first for Caroline Records, is a
testimony to the band's perseverance. Despite all the internal snags
they've weathered, the band has managed to turn out yet another
Lp bursting with intensity diversity and drive. "Soul Craft," "With
The Quickness" and "Voyage To Infinity" (which fleshes out / Against
I's "Intro" into a full composition) prove the band as adept as ever
at meshing fluid lyrical spirituality with rock hard backbone and
screaming guitar. Reggae and funk pop up at intervals ("The
Prophet's Eye," "Youth Juice"), as well as hardcore infrastructures
laced with 360-degree tempo and mood changes ("The
Messengers," "Sheba").
Although a good portion of the lyrics are indecipherable at first
(thanks to H.R's inimitable syllable twisting style). "Don't Blow Bub-
bles" seems to confirm accusations of the Brains' (or at least H.R.'s)
anti-gay stance. "They accuse us, but we're not wrong." H.R. replies.
"Truth is an offense but not a sin. Protection is important because
if we protect our youths, they grow up healthy. We don't want to have
AIDS and we don't want no VD and none of that schism. Jah fireburn
on that, Selassie I say lick out all diseases, so we have to live clean.
Scene? We have to do the right thing, know what I mean?
"We're I-tinually growing...and growing and growing and grow-
ing. God gives man so many liberties. A lot of the time man
takes it upon himself to experiment with these liberties
to an extreme and that's unhealthy. This thing has to
be on a level vibe. It is common sense, but unfortun-
ately not everyone is blessed to have common
sense. We all yearn for different things at
different times in our lives. When you're
a youth, a lot of times you don't
even understand why you
yearn for it; you just know
it's something that you
want. Later on you
On the rise again, Bad Brains
(L to R): Earl, Dr. Know, Darrell and HR