Monday, July 27, 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009

Caught on Camera: The Black Lips


Black Lips Interview in Eugene

Here is an interview from the Black Lips back in May. They were a great group.

Black Lips Interview-WOW Hall Eugene, OR

Joe (Drums), Ian (Guitar), Cole (Guitar), Jared (Bass Guitar),

GN: First off, how is the tour going?

BL: Mr. Geoff, it’s going pretty good, a long continuation of tours since January. This particular leg has been very good, we went to some different cities like Boise, Colorado Springs. We’ve been to most playable cities in the Western World, but the result has not been that good.

GN: How come?

BL: People didn’t come out, it was sad. We had a big talk about it afterwards.

GN: Any good stories from the tour so far?

BL: Seattle and Portland are always great stops. Some dogs died in Phoenix, with Flowers Forever. They stayed at their merch girl’s dad’s house and two pitbulls just went at it and killed each other. These kids were trying to beat one down and it took off, running down the streets wild.

We’ve been on tour a real long time, the nights blur into the days and the days blur into the nights. Every night is fun. Even with the small crowds there is something to gain from it.

GN: Concerning the whole India incident, when did you guys realize that you had to get out of the country?

BL: It was when they said “You all have to get the fuck out of the country!” The promoter said it was time to leave. The promoter took our passports, the sponsors pulled out all of the money.

Cole dropped his pants, Jared was a wild man, Joe did his thing, and Cole and I kissed, and we found out in India, that’s three months in jail so we had to flee the country. So, seven hours turned into ten hours, we went to Bangalore, Dubai, then we went to Frankfurt, then Berlin, and started a new band called the Almighty Defenders with King Khan and BBQ.

GN: That was a perfect segway into the next topic. Was the King Khan collaboration planned, or did it just kind of happen?

BL: We went to Germany because we needed somewhere to go so our buddy hooked us up. We had to go somewhere and we couldn’t go back to the States because it was too far and we had a tour of Europe coming up, and the Khan family is kind of like, we’re part of their family. And we love working with them. It just kind of happened out of nowhere. We tried to make the best out of a bad situation. Everything happens for a reason, but it all worked out.

GN: Were you happy with how the LP turned out?

BL: Yeah.

GN: Black Lips has a reputation for throwing some pretty crazy live shows. Was that the goal when the band started?

BL: It just kind of happened. We just rolled with it. We weren’t good at playing, we were drunk, so it came out of that. We’re older now, so we aren’t doing some of the stuff we used to; we’re toning it down.

GN: What were the goals that you were trying to achieve with the new record?

BL: We wanted to record ourselves on our own for the first time. Taking control of our own destiny was a wonderful experience.

GN: So you’re happy with the new album?

BL: Yeah, but this album is a little bit less accessible and commercial. It was somewhat intentional and it is a little darker. We aren’t trying to make everyday people cream their pants.

It’s like having six kids, we have six kids now, you can’t love one more than the other. This is the one that burns his G.I. Joe’s now. He’s our fucked up little child.

Good Bad Not Evil is the one that went to college. This is the one that got a little weird, flirted with the other team a little bit, but we still love him.