The Black Lips are a self-described "flower punk" band from Atlanta, Georgia. While still teenagers, they formed in 2000 after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Reruns. Drummer Joe Bradley joined a few months later. They released their first 7" in late 2001/early 2002 on their own Die Slaughterhaus label. Just days before a tour was to begin in December 2002, Ben Eberbaugh was driving a car that was struck by a drunk driver going the wrong way on a highway.
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News
26 January 2009
Black Lips Prepare Second Album With New Tour
Atlanta flower punks Black Lips return with their second album, the mathematically-challenged `200 Million Thousand`, on Vice on March 16th, a fourteen track ride down the rock `n` roll dirt track. But, before then, they`re performing all over Europe in February giving fans a taster of what to expect.
Check them out at the following dates:
February 2009
3 - Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Holland
4 - Watt, Rotterdam, Holland
5 - 59:1, Munich, Germany
6 - Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
7 - Molotow, Hamburg, Germany
8 - Gebäude 9, Cologne, Germany
11 - Club Aeronef, Lille, France
12 - Generiq Festival at La Vapeur, Dijon, France
13 - Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
14 - Super Mon Amour Festival at Maroq, Paris, France
15 - Islington Academy, London, UK
16 - Fleece & Firkin, Bristol, UK
17 - ABC2, Glasgow, UK
18 - Institute, Manchester, UK
19 - Audio, Brighton, UK
Richard Brown (View Original Article)
25 February 2008
Something Old Something New From Black Lips
American droners Black Lips follow up 'Veni Vidi Vici' with their well-known album track 'Bad Kids' on May 12th. The single is backed with brand new track 'Leroy Faster'.
Black Lips UK Tour
1 - Cardiff The Point
2 - Swansea Club NME
3 - Dublin Crawdaddu
4 - Glasgow Barrowlands 2
6 - Sheffield The Plug
7 - Leeds Brudenell Social Club
8 - Birmingham Club NME
11 - Cambridge Junction
12 - Oxford Zodiac
13 - Bristol Thekla
14 - London 100 Club
15 - London King's College
Richard Brown (View Original Article)
14 January 2008
New Black Lips EP and Tour
Black Lips released a brand new live five-track EP today available through iTunes and will be gracing the shores of the UK in May on a two week tour. The band, led by Cole Alexander will also play the new ATP vs Pitchfork festival at Camber Sands as part of this tour.
Live EP
1. 'Bad Kids'
2. 'I Saw A Ghost (Lean)'
3. 'O Katrina'
4. 'Cold Hands'
5. 'Lock and Key'
May 2008 Tour Dates
1 - Cardiff The Point
2 - Swansea Club NME at Club Sin
3 - Dublin Crawdaddy
4 - Glasgow Barrowlands 2
6 - Sheffield The Plug
7 - Leeds The Brudenell Social Club
8 - Birmingham Club NME at The Place I Love
9 - Cambersands ATP versus Pitchfork
11 - Cambridge The Junction
12 - Oxford The Zodiac
13 - Bristol Thekla
14 - London 100 Club
15 - London 100 Club
16 - Brighton Great Escape
Richard Brown (View Original Article)
27 November 2007
Stars Line Up To Duet With Fucked Up
Canadian punks Fucked Up, one of Culturedeluxe's picks for 2007, have announced an audacious line-up of guests for the flipside of their new Christmas single 'David Christmas'.
'Stars on 45' is the imaginatively titled collaboration with LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, Black Lips' Cole Alexander, The Horrors' Faris Rotter, The Faint's Jacob Thiele, Chromeo's Dave One, Nelly Furtado (really!) and a whole host of mostly Canadian stars including cast members from 'Degrassi : The Next Generation' (but where's Joey Jeremiah I hear you cry!)
"This is not a joke and wild as this thing reads on paper, it's the real deal. People, this is our 'We are the World'...or, at least, our 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'" they say.
'David Christmas' is available as a 1000 copy limited edition 7" single only at a special Christmas gig in Toronto on December 15th that will also see the band play some tasters from next year's new LP 'The Chemistry of Common Life' along with some yuletide standards. There may be also be a visit by Santa Claus himself!
...and they say punk rock's dead?
Richard Brown (View Original Article)
Album Reviews
16 March 2009
200 Million Thousand
Ah, The Black Lips. Now here`s a band who like The Monks. It`s sluggish, lo-fi rock`n`roll that Billy Childish would love if it wasn`t druggie and American.
If their last album was a highly polished blast at something close to the mainstream then this is them going back to the swamp to find where they hid the stash. Am I throwing in too many drug references here? Well they started it. Damn it, the second song is even called `Drugs`. It`s like they gave up even pretending they cared about anything else. Good. Honesty in pop is a vastly underrated virtue. Johnny Thunders would have loved `Drugs`. The song I mean. He should do, it sounds almost exactly like something off his lost album.
Bits of the Velvets, Meat Puppets, New York Dolls, Electric Prunes, The Cramps, Bo Diddley, Back From The Grave vols 1-8 (vinyl versions only), c-60 FE cassette tapes, fire damaged sofa`s, EVERYTHING IS THROWN IN HERE. And if you like that you`re going to love this. And if you don`t love this then why the hell are you here? Stand out tracks for me are `Trapped In The Basement`, a howling noise of mood made for Halloween, and `Drop - Hold`. The latter could be sampled in it`s entirety by Wu Tang and the world would be yelling how they had finally got back on form. Let`s hope Ghostface Killah does the decent thing and freestyles over this on somebody’s mixtape.
Dean Coster (View Original Article)
Single Reviews
Most of the interest surrounding the new single from Black Lips actually concerns the special guests on the flip side as the first release from Lumina, the band that pits Cherish Kaya with Faris Badwan (nee Rotter) taking a break from indie domination with the Horrors to quench his thirst for stripped down psychedelia with an eerie cover of the Lips` very own `I`ll Be With You`. While it makes for an interesting new take, it`s also needlessly sparse, abstract and gloom-laden.
The hit side, however, finds Black Lips in amphetamine-fuelled, hard-drivin` rock `n` roll form singing `Come along and take a ride with me / I`ll make some space in my dirty back seat` over time-honoured rock riffs. It`s as fun as the hedonistic, youthful times it soundtracks and is the perfect antidote to Lumina`s sinister bedfellow.
Richard Brown (View Original Article)
18 May 2009
I’ll Be With You
Be warned, this is Black Lips in "tender ballad" mode and, for this song, they`ve managed to delve even further into the past, totally bypassing the late 60`s psychedelia that made their name for an unlikely but effective combination of Shadows guitar-work and timeless Phil Spector heartbreak. Throw in Cole Alexander`s Joey-Ramone-trapped-in-a-vice vocal shrieks and you have the perfect drive-in movie soundtrack albeit one for the horror double bill.
Richard Brown (View Original Article)
12 May 2008
Bad Kids / Leroy Faster
Fresh out of Atlanta, Georgia come the NME-approved ramshackle, rock n’ roll styling’s of Black Lips. 'Bad Kids', a two-minute slice of infectious pop with punk flavoured lyrics based on band members’ experience with juvenile detention centres. Inevitably it has more than a faint whiff of Ramones about it, but desperately deserves to be a nod-along, summer anthem. Fantastic.
It’s a shame the same can’t be said for 'Leroy Faster', the other half of this double A-side. A psychedelic meander exhumed from the Velvet Underground’s cutting room floor, its over-familiar 1960’s feel simply falls flat.
Dave Allen (View Original Article)
3 December 2007
Veni Vidi Vici
The highly-rated Black Lips finally look like they'll cross over in the UK with this shuffling, rattling, aggrandized show of cool. It sounds like it was recorded in a cave in the 1960s during some narcotics-influenced, psychedelic nightmare and will find favour with fans of shout-a-long choruses and master guitarwork alike. If that all sounds a bit too retro for you then check out the Diplo mix which loses nothing of the original but gains extra percussion and vocal loops that would make both Bobby McFerrin and that bloke from Mungo Jerry blush in adequacy.
Richard Brown (View Original Article)
