Beating On Raw Meat: An Interview with The Black Lips' Cole Alexander
Thursday, April 28
Emos (603 Red River St)
Door: $17, Advance: $15 / Doors at 9p
[info] | [tickets]
Atlanta’s Black Lips don't hold back on stage. You might’ve heard how, back in 2009, the band had to cancel the rest of their tour of India after a show in Chennai that got a little too out-of-hand. Afraid of being arrested for lewdness, the quartet ended up fleeing the country. The performance itself wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for the band, who seem to have an anything-goes policy when they’re playing - everything from undressing to urinating has been known to happen during their sets.
But don’t for a second think their stage antics overshadow their music. Listing psych rock greats like Los Saicos and The 13th Floor Elevators among their major influences, the Black Lips’ sound is steeped in plenty of classic styles; they aren’t afraid to let their love of old-school country and doo-wop shine through on tracks like “How Do You Tell a Child That Someone Has Died?” Their lyrics bounce between everything from spring break hijinks to race relations, tying things together with an overarching love of mythology and mind-altering substances. Their 2005 album Let It Bloom was a college radio staple, and 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil cemented their spot as leaders of the mid-00’s garage rock revival. Their latest, Arabia Mountain, will be released this June on Vice Records.
As if that weren’t productive enough, the Black Lips also get involved in plenty of side projects, with band members working double duty in groups like Ghetto Cross and The Gaye Blades. After India, the band collaborated with King Khan & BBQ on a gospel album, working under the pseudonym The Almighty Defenders. Sometimes they play and record as The Spooks, whose avant-garde performances tend to include bodily fulids and Klan-reminiscent costumes. The band plays a big role in Georgia’s music scene, producing and recording with area groups like Deerhunter (whose guitarist, Lockett Pundt - aka Lotus Plaza - produced two tracks on Arabia Mountain), as well as running their own label, Die Slautherhaus. Black Lips will be at Emo’s this Thursday, April 28, with Vivian Girls and John Wesley Coleman. We spoke with Black Lips guitar player Cole Alexander about human skulls, fan tattoos and album title inspiration.
Your albums aren’t usually named after songs on them - how did you come up with Arabia Mountain?
It’s a place in Georgia, outside Atlanta. It’s this big granite rock, and we don’t know why it’s called that but we feel like there’s some significance to this place. We know that Pet Sematery 2 was shot there. We’re not sure if any Civil War battles were fought there, or if there’s an Indian burial ground, but it’s very likely.
I read that you brought a human skull into the studio while you were recording this album? Did that happen?
Yeah, it happened, and it was really awesome. We were using it kind of how 13th Floor Elevators used the jug, for reverberation.
What are some other things you’ve recorded with?
We’ve brought weird stuff into the studio, like raw meat, a bunch of ribs. And we’d just beat on all of it, the meat, for percussion on this song called “Raw Meat.” Mark Ronson brought in a saw player.
What was it like working with Mark Ronson?
It was just awesome. Way awesome.
What are you guys listening to on this tour?
We’re listening to Bobby Fuller Four demos, and our friend made us a compilation called “Country Plus Spectacular,” it’s up on WFBU, we listen to that. It’s all these country songs with great guitar, and a lot of them are the first songs ever to use distortion.
Do you have any sides projects that you are working on right now or that you are going to work home when you get back from tour?
Not really. Jared’s recording Gaye Blades, they’re working on a record, and Ian produced a band called Turf War.
Will you be shooting more videos for this album?
We’ve done three already. The third one isn’t out yet, it’s for a song called “New Direction,” and we just completed “Modern Art.” We filmed that in New Orleans.
You guys were in Austin for SXSW a few years ago and played a crazy amount of shows over a few days - was that kind of pace fun for you guys, or totally exhausting?
It was totally exhausting, it wasn’t really fun. But we had to show bands how it was done, what to do if you want to get out there.
The band does have a reputation for being wild on tour - do people expect you to be scandalous?
We’re not puppets so, we just do what we feel like. And if that means just stand there and noodle on a guitar, we’ll do it, we’ll do whatever we want. We don’t care about expectations, but people are usually happy when they leave the show.
Has a fan ever done something weird at a show?
Yeah, we had one fan who came onstage and lit his pubic hair on fire. We’ve gotten tons of fan tattoos. People usually get “Panama City Beach 3003.” I’d say there’s like, at least fifteen “Panama City Beach 3003” tattoos that I’ve seen on tour.
Any dolphins on belly buttons (like in the song “Dirty Hands”)?
I’ve only seen one of those.
