| Feb.09 Cover - The Black Lips |
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| Written by Jeff Clark | |
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Page 1 of 3  What a TripThe Black Lips Barely Hang On To Their Passports (Stop the Presses!) It was such an obvious recipe for perfect disaster, it’s impossible for me to believe that nobody in the band, let alone their record label – part of a company which has long demonstrated an understanding of how to stoke controversy for profit – assumed that trouble would surely arise during a tour of a conservative, traditional Hindu country, and that such trouble could then be easily used to generate publicity for a new album. So don’t for a second think that it’s mere coincidence that the Black Lips, whose onstage antics have too often overshadowed the band’s music, arranged a scattershot tour of India, of all places, a month prior to Vice Records’ release of their latest album, 200 Million Thousand, or that the tumult that erupted in the ensuing “cultural clashing shit storm” wasn’t at least partially expected. Four gigs into the tour, guitarist Cole Alexander reportedly stripped and leapt into the crowd during a show before making his way back onstage to play tonsil hockey with his (male) bandmates. The cops were called, security guards tried to break down a locked door to get to the band members before they made an emergency exit escape, the rest of the tour was cancelled, charges were filed, state lines were crossed, and “a mysterious man,” along with one of the Indian booking agent’s employees, tried to steal the band’s passports; after a tense confrontation, the members retrieved them. The Black Lips booked the next flight to Berlin and fled the country, as news of their latest escapades spread across the blogosphere like a California wildfire…only, like, more instantaneously. Vice, naturally, had a rep along for the ride, videotaping the entire fiasco. “For future reference,” a subsequent statement from the Lips read, “we really enjoyed the people of India and we hope western rock bands will be able to tour there in the future.” Somewhere, Malcolm McLaren is smiling. On the eve of their India trip, I sat at a table at Manuel’s Tavern with the four members of the Black Lips, and one of the first things I did was praise their appetite for adventure, not to mention self-promotion. Sure, some of their actions, such as India’s premature finale, reek of strategic publicity stunts more so than they do sheer wild abandon, but you can’t argue with the effectiveness. More than that, though, consider that this is a band, whose members’ median age is 25, that’s already traveled to over 30 countries, including destinations like Israel, Russia, Greece and, yes, India – places where most western rock ‘n’ roll bands, especially at the Lips’ level, rarely if ever set foot. They’ve brought the rock to mosques in the West Bank and olive groves in Sardinia. “We make a conscious effort to try and see the world while we can,” underscores Alexander, while drummer Joe Bradley noted about their then-imminent Indian tour, “this trip’s not about making money. It’s for the experience and adventure. You need that. Otherwise it’s boring.” “Boring” is certainly not an adjective often used to describe the Black Lips. The subject of much fascination for Pitchfork commentators and online bloggers worldwide, not to mention a significant chunk of old school music journalists, it’s sometimes hard to believe these are the same scraggly Dunwoody kids that used to wreak havoc at basement bashes, all-ages shows and house parties, what…almost a decade ago? Has it been that long? It doesn’t seem like it, and yet, some days it does, after I read the umpteenth online update about their whereabouts, coverage that I feel like I’ve been reading for years and years. That New York Times video documentary about their SXSW mini-marathon of shows a couple years’ back was pretty awesome, though, gotta admit. It’s just weird to realize how much the rest of the world goes apeshit over the Black Lips. It’s gotta be weird for the band, too. |
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