Brant Bjork Is Rocking Again

06/10/08 5:00pm

by Keith Carman (CHARTattack)

Brant Bjork hates to be pigeonholed. After gaining notoriety as the drummer for such stoner rock luminaries as Kyuss, Fu Manchu and Queens Of The Stone Age, the genre icon has spent the past decade establishing himself as more than just a fuzzed-out boogie-rock groove dude. He's released almost a dozen diverse albums under various monikers and has an overt disdain for being typecast.

"When I decided to go solo, I inherited so much freedom after being in a couple of serious rock bands over the years and contributing to their trips," he says. "When I got my own thing going, I wanted to run wild, not present myself as a concept or a specific artist doing a specific thing. I like a lot of different types of music, and I like to let my intuition run wild."

It's strange, then, that despite striving for musical autonomy, Bjork's recently released Punk Rock Guilt features some serious rock along the lines of his past bands. With "Dr. Special," "Shocked By The Static" and "Born To Rock," Punk Rock Guilt is a straight-up rock album that fits perfectly between Fu Manchu's King Of The Road and the Queens' pre-stardom, self-titled 1998 debut.

"Having exercised that right, I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a rock artist," Bjork explains. "I can definitely make rock music... it's my roots.

"Other music is more challenging for me and, for better or worse, I want to challenge myself and my audience. This is one of those records where we didn't do that. We called it a no-brainer, going back and making the rock record we know we can make at any time. I didn't want to make a series of those, but it was fun to get it out. That's a big reason I just sat on it, too."

Punk Rock Guilt, which was originally recorded in 2005, is the result of Bjork's desire to backtrack into secure territory. Immersed in everything but rock, the drawling Californian felt the necessity to rip out something a touch more simple and natural. After getting it out of his system, Bjork sat on the album for some three years while dealing with previous commitments and interests. Sensing a need for fans to hear some of his quintessential desert rock, he finally felt the time was right for Punk Rock Guilt. But that time will most likely be short-lived.

"I had other things going and I wasn't in any rush to release it," says Bjork. "I had another record on the go.

"I was touring and a lot was going on in my personal life, so I put it on the shelf. I've been taking my audience on a trip for years now, but I definitely wanted to drop a bomb like this one because it's different than what I've been putting out, but comforting at the same time. It's something they can sink their teeth into, but they're always guessing because they don't know what they're gonna get next. I'll probably yank the rug out from under them again soon."

Here are Brant Bjork And The Bros' Canadian dates:

June 11 London, ON @ Call The Office
June 12 Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah
June 13 Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo (NXNE)
June 17 Sudbury, ON @ Townehouse Tavern
June 20 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
June 21 Ottawa, ON @ Dominion Tavern