![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/black_rebel_motorcycle_club.jpg\")
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club<\/a>\u00a0have\u00a0told\u00a0NME\u00a0<\/i>they received a \u201creally weird message\u201d from US Homeland Security after their direct complaint.<\/p>\n In July,\u00a0the band issued a cease-and-desist letter to the federal department<\/a>\u00a0after a social media recruitment video was posted\u00a0that included a clip of the band\u2019s\u00a0version of the traditional folk song \u2018God\u2019s\u00a0Gonna\u00a0Cut You Down\u2019.<\/p>\n At the time, they reacted angrily to the use of the song, writing:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0obvious that you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights, not to mention the separation of Church and State per the US Constitution.\u00a0For the record, we hereby order\u00a0@dhsgov\u00a0to cease and desist the use of our recording and demand that you\u00a0immediately\u00a0pull down your\u00a0video.\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cOh, and go f\u2026 yourselves,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n In a new interview with\u00a0NME<\/i><\/a>, they expanded on the incident, explaining that they felt they needed to speak out \u201cbecause you\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0let [the government] constantly get away with whatever the fuck they want\u201d.<\/p>\n\n Singer and guitarist Robert Levon Been added: \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0illegal. They are breaking the law constantly and using a lot of different artists\u2019 property that\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0be exploited. We were just acknowledging that it was crossing the line and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u00a0actually wanted\u00a0to have a follow-up post about what they wrote to us from their supposed-legal side, because the administration sent this reply that sounded like an ex-girlfriend,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0sound like\u00a0a legal\u00a0[reply] or anything official. It was this\u00a0really weird\u00a0message like, \u2018Don\u2019t\u00a0bother us with your complaints. You got attention and media from just being associated with us, and so you should be grateful.\u2019 And this is from the homeland legal department!<\/p>\n \u201cThe next response\u00a0would\u2019ve\u00a0been to say, \u2018We\u2019ll\u00a0see you in court then\u2019,\u00a0but platforms like Instagram and Facebook\u00a0actually removed\u00a0[the post\u00a0containing\u00a0the\u00a0unauthorised\u00a0song] promptly and acted more professionally than the actual government itself, which is bizarre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Expanding on the strange experience, Levon Been added: \u201cWhat I wanted was for more bands and organisations to know that like if you actually get through to the final boss stage, it\u2019s just a complete joke. It\u2019s just all smoke and mirrors. I knew that in theory, but actually seeing it from the horse\u2019s mouth, it was bonkers. It brings it down to size. It\u2019s not as intimidating as what they want you to believe. That\u2019s all I would like people to know. If bands get fucked with or anything that like this happens to and they feel too scared to say anything, you shouldn\u2019t. Take them, take them to the mat all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere, BRMC\u2019s reissue of 2005 album \u2018Howl\u2019 arrives on January 20 via PIAS and you can pre-order\/pre-save it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n It will be made up of a 3LP white vinyl set, including session tracks, previously unheard demos and alternate mixes. There will also be a photobook of over 100 previously unseen photos from the \u2018Howl\u2019 era and original handwritten lyrics, as well as a poster featuring photos from the period. There is also a 2LP set on black vinyl and a CD version.<\/p>\n In the original review of the record<\/a>,\u00a0NME\u00a0<\/i>noted: \u201cBack to basics is obviously an ongoing theme; if The White Stripes\u2019 \u2018Elephant\u2019 seemed minimal for not employing a single piece of equipment invented after the \u201960s, then BRMC have gone one further, rarely here using an idea thought up after 1959. Steeped in country, folk and gospel, \u2018Howl\u2019 is a primitive cry from the heart of a distant Americana. Where once The Jesus\u00a0And\u00a0Mary Chain\u2019s surf-noise and early \u201990s art-wave made up BRMC\u2019s signature sound, it\u2019s Johnny Cash and early Bob Dylan that now reign supreme.\u201d<\/p>\n The band\u00a0have\u00a0not released an album since 2018\u2019s \u2018Wrong Creatures\u2019, their eighth studio record in total.\u00a0NME<\/i>\u2019s three-star review said<\/a>: \u201cIt needs a little more \u2018bite\u2019, a few more musical highs and some lyrical depth to feel essential, but BRMC still\u00a0have\u00a0the songs to pull off a record that matters.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0still doing\u00a0it, and\u00a0doing it well \u2013\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0your rock\u2019n\u2019roll.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Black Rebel Motorcycle Club got \u201creally weird message\u201d from US Homeland Security after complaint<\/a> appeared first on NME<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Black Rebel Motorcycle Club\u00a0have\u00a0told\u00a0NME\u00a0they received a \u201creally weird message\u201d from US Homeland Security after their direct complaint. READ MORE:\u00a0Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on 20 years of \u2018Howl\u2019: \u201cWhen someone tries to put us in a box, we try to sabotage our careers by doing the opposite\u201d In July,\u00a0the band issued a cease-and-desist letter to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 20:46:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n