(Credit: Daniel Arnold)
There’s little danger of being bored at a show with this Atlanta foursome, who routinely raise eyebrows and shot glasses with their riotous live sets. They can be raucous on disc, as well; their 2007 effort "Good Bad Not Evil" is a time-traveling trip into the dustbin of history, where surf and garage pop from underrated pioneers like the Trashmen and the Fugs lie in wait to be rediscovered by a new generation of kids. The more things change, the more they stay the same—except for the mouth urination, which the Lips have thankfully put behind them. Joe Bradley explains.
I’ve heard your live shows can get crazy, especially for the 2007 live album you recorded in Tijuana, "Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo."
That whole thing was ridiculous, because Vice [Records, the band’s label] bought a crazy amount of Tecate and tequila, which was offered free at the show. Plus, it was free to get into the show, so any derelict could easily walk in. I remember there was a crazy bum selling really crappy cocaine. From what I hear, that is. There was a shady cop hanging out in the bathroom. It was really strange. We were placed in the middle of the room, with the crowd all around us. People were getting buck wild.
That seems to be the dominant theme. Do you guys go in with a plan to create mayhem?
Well, we try to put out as much energy as we possibly can, and hopefully that will transfer over into the audience. You know, when people come see a show, they want to be entertained.
So how did you guys cut your teeth live?
We used to be really bad at playing our instruments. It works on a gradient: if the music isn't sounding great, then the show had better be really entertaining. It used to be a lot crazier than it is nowadays; it's been toned down, considering what used to be happen years ago. There isn't any more peeing in mouths, or puking, or any of that stuff anymore. We're musicians as well as performers, but we're musicians first.
Peeing in mouths?
Yeah, that happened a couple of times, about two or three years ago. But things have really settled down. Actually, it wasn't the best idea to do the Tijuana show right then, because that was sort of at the end of our debauchery. There's still a little bit of it going on, but for the most part we try to put on a good show and get the people moving.
So is the mouth-peeing the most debauched thing you guys have ever done?
Yeah, I mean…I didn't pee in my own mouth; that was [vocalist/guitarist] Cole Alexander. You know, he's gotta do what he's gotta do. As long as he doesn't get the pee on me, it's all good.
OK, to the flip side of this equation: what's the most normal thing you guys have ever done?
We tried to pay our taxes last year, but we couldn't figure it out. Death and taxes, the only things you can't escape. And even when you die, they tax your shit.
So how do you feel about the new album?
Well, I don't feel that it's necessarily our best work. It's unique in itself, like all of our albums. If you put all of them back-to-back, they all sound different from each other. They all have different structures, styles and ideas. But I think our best work is yet to come.
Your sound is kind of a throwback, especially to the ragged garage and surf rock from back in the day. Where did you guys come into contact with that?
Well, we all grew up listening to the oldies stations, things like that. And we went from there. We got into Van Morrison's Them, John Lee Hooker, Link Wray and others. And then we started meeting the people who put out those records at Crypt, Bomp! and the rest, and just got deeper and deeper into the more obscure stuff.
Do fans of your music do the same thing, go out and dig up records from the Godz and others?
Totally. I like the Godz a lot. They're weird. And the Fugs, who are really strange too. They're one of the first bands to use cuss words in their recordings, probably around the same time as [the] MC5. Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters.
Kick out the taxes?
Yeah, make sure to write down that if anyone is interested in helping Black Lips do their taxes, they are more than welcome.
