B.R.M.C. mines a rich new sound

When a band shifts in direction, as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club did with its move from fuzzy drone-rock to a more rustic-roots sound on its recent third album, “Howl,” it can be hard to tell whether it’s a statement or merely a side trip.

Whatever this is, the San Francisco-originated group made some clear statements from the moment Peter Hayes stepped on stage Monday in the band’s first of two nights at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

Rather than take up his guitar, Hayes sat at a piano for a solo song -- and not even a familiar one, but the B-side “Feel It Now.”

Hayes then switched to guitar, but remained alone for two more songs, mining an acoustic blues-folk vein quite effectively before being joined by co-founding singer-bassist Robert Levon Been and drummer Nick Jago, plus auxiliary member Michael “Spike” Keating. And later, Hayes returned to the solo, blues-oriented format to start the encores.

In between, B.R.M.C. did showcase its old approach. But by bracketing it thusly, it tipped the scales of its references from ‘80s English goth-rock to vintage Southern Gothic.

Certainly anyone coming to hear the old sound could not have been disappointed -- and not just because the opening acts, Morning After Girls and Elefant, provided enticing takes on fuzzy garage and ‘80s Anglo-influenced rock, respectively.

The headliner’s generous set evoked plenty of Jesus and Mary Chain and Love and Rockets, as well as turns toward Iggy Pop (“Six Barrel Shotgun”) and on “Red Eyes and Tears” a combination of glam giant T. Rex and gothfathers Bauhaus.

But the new context brought out new depths.

Expanding the range with blues and gospel and, on the song “Promise,” approaching the broken-lonesome sound of the Band (with Been on piano and Hayes on trombone) made the real statement: This is a band intent on fulfilling the great promise it showed when it first emerged in 2000.