Stoner-metal legend Brant Bjork calls Blue Oyster Cult "flawless"

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      When stoner-metal legend Brant Bjork called me last week in advance of the Vista Chino show at the Commodore next Monday I asked him about the Stoner Rock Playlist he'd recently put together for metalsucks.net.

      I totally understood why Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" was on there, but was a little surprised that Blue Oyster Cult's "Dominance and Submission" had made the cut.

      I never thought of that track from the 1974 Secret Treaties album as "stoner" material. But then again, maybe I wasn't stoned enough.

      Anyway, the inclusion of the B.O.C. tune had me wondering whether Bjork had been a big fan of that most underrated of U.S. hard-rock acts, considering the 40-year-old rocker was only one when Secret Treaties came out.

      Boy, had he ever.

      "Absolutely!" he replied. "Blue Oyster Cult was a band that I was turned on to through older friends, and I really liked their vibe and their sense of humour. To me Blue Oyster Cult is one of the great American rock bands. I think they're flawless, and I like all their stuff."

      Bjork agrees with the general understanding among Cult freaks like me that the band--which lost founding member Allen Lanier last month--never really got the credit it deserved for creating so much incredible music.

      "Yeah, you know, it's strange. They're one of those bands that didn't translate outside of the U.S. I know they were pretty big here in the States, and outside of the States they were appreciated, but not on the same level. I don't know what it is, but I think their records are fantastic, man."

      For more from Bjork--including his thoughts on pot and the current state of stoner-rock--see the story in this Wednesday's issue of the Georgia Straight. Read it on paper for that old-school Blue Oyster Cult vibe.

       

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