Last fall, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club returned to its native San Francisco and discarded the neo-shoegaze sound and effects pedals to make a bona fide forlorn acoustic blues record. At the time, frontman Peter Hayes says he was proud of Howl (RCA/Red Ink), its plucked strings, front-porch foot percussion and church-choir harmonies bemoaning battles and seeking hope. But he wasn't sure how fans—the ones accustomed to the band's overdriven amps and psych flourishes—would react. In the months since, Howl has been praised in the press and garnered the band its first significant share of radio play with the bottleneck slide jam "Ain't No Easy Way." Hayes took some time out before tour rehearsal last month to chat about the record, its reception and the best minds of another generation.

City Paper: Have you been surprised at the positive feedback for Howl?

Peter Hayes: Yeah, it's been a lot better than we thought. The people coming out to our shows really seem to be getting it and liking it.

CP: Talk about your decision to make an album focusing on the band's blues leanings. A lot of what's been written about it reacts in this surprised "Oh my God, BRMC did this blues record" manner, when really, that's been an ever present part of your sound.

PH: We always knew that element was there, we always felt it and some of the songs on Howl, like "Shuffle Your Feet" and "Gospel Song," were there since the first album. But they didn't make sense being played up loud, electrified. We held on to them to see if we could come up with enough to make a full album. And then [after a fallout with Virgin Records], we realized there was no label involved, nobody who would drop us. We'd already been dropped! So we decided to see what we could do and who likes it.

CP: The album title is a simple, direct nod to Allen Ginsberg. Why?

PH: It's a reference to Ginsberg, but more to all the people involved in that movement of writers and artists. They saw problems in culture and didn't want to be a part of it, did whatever they could to speak out against it. But they also lived differently, in a time where there was a lot less freedom. And today that idea of freedom is placed in a certain context, being led down a certain route. And I don't think it's a good route.

CP: How many times did the president use the word "freedom" in the State of the Union last night?

PH: [laughs] You can't manufacture freedom. You get the condensed white-bread version of it.

CP: So Howl is a reaction to that? You've called it a rally cry in the past, even though it's so quiet.

PH: I can only hope people connect with it, that it reaches anybody. For us, it became a last [pauses]. It became the album for the people that still give a shit. If it's saying something, if you care about what you're listening to, that's the rally cry in itself. And at least something is starting to happen. That gives us hope. That's what we need, what anybody needs.

BRMC will play Sun., Feb. 19, 8 p.m., $15, with Elefant and Eastern Conference Champions, The TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011, www.electricfactory.com.