BLACK LIPS: SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY |

MOMENTS BEFORE THEIR SOLD OUT SHOW AT LE NATIONAL LAST FRIDAY, WE MANAGED TO CATCH UP WITH JARED AND IAN OF THE BLACK LIPS…

NOMAG: First off, are there any questions you are sick of being asked?

Jared Swilley: Yeah there’s a few, I’m tired of people asking us about getting naked on stage, just seems likes they took 5 minutes to go on our Wikipedia page.

Ian Saint Pé Brown : “What’s the wildest show you’ve ever done?”, we’ve done so many honestly I can’t tell you which one was the wildest. That and questions about getting naked and pissing.

N: So you’ve brought Mark Ronson along to produce the new album. How did that come about and what do you think he brought to the record ?

JS : Well that was set up by Vice, they new him and wanted to get him on the album. The main thing he brought was a fresh ear, we’ve been recording together for 11 years and it was nice to have an outside influence. He really knows his stuff : he’s good with tone, tape, guitar, arranging…

ISPB : Especially arranging and tone, he really spent time on the drums and the guitar. I think this is the first Black Lips record where if you play it in a club or bar it will actually sound good you know ?

N: So are you looking forward to reaching out to a new audience with this record?

ISPB : It’d be pretty rad, I mean we want to get as many people as possible to listen to the album, that’s the goal right? I mean we gotta keep doing this for a living.

N : Speaking of doing it for a living, you’ve toned down the “crazy” on stage. Do you see yourselves performing live for the rest of your lives?

JS : I still see Mick Jagger going pretty nuts on stage….

ISPB : And besides people say we never do anything wild on stage anymore, but we’re not puppets, especially now that we’re playing a lot of shows, we can’t do it every night.

JS : I can see myself in my 50’s going country western.

N : So no plans on dying young? Or pulling a GG-Allin and going completely insane?

JS : (laughing) No, that’s not in the cards.

ISPB : I’ve said this before, but musicians are the one’s who sell guitar strings and gear, we’re entertainers. I know I’ll be doing this for a long time, I mean Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry, those guys are still playing.

JS : Chuck Berry, he collapsed on stage the other day.

N : But Chuck Berry, he’s been playing state fairs recently. You guys see yourselves in your 50’s playing in and around small towns ?

JS : Well things have been going really well for us lately, and as long as things keep going better there’s no reason to stop. Everything’s worked out in my life so far, and the progression’s been pretty linear, but you never know what you’ll be doing tomorrow. If I was to do something else, I guess I’d go back to school, work for the U.N., I’ve always been interested in geo-politics.

ISPB : As long as people keep wanting to hear our records, hell yeah! Ever since middle school and junior high, I’ve wanted to travel the world, and it’s happening (smiling) so I guess we can do whatever we put our minds too.

N: So what made it happen for you? What do you think set you guys apart from the thousands of others who wanted to be where you are and didn’t make it?

ISPB : Well you know how everyone is giving it 110%? We bumped it up to 120.

JS : I also think people identify with the message, the attitude, not caring about what other people think.

ISPB : And it comes down to entertainment, anyone can learn to play an instrument, but you have to be an entertainer.

N : So is that what’s most important ? Who did you look up to? People like Jerry Lee Lewis or Elvis? Musicians who were conscious entertainers while on stage ? And did you identify more with the music or the stage persona?

JS : That’s hard to say, when I was 13 I thought Sid Vicious was awesome, his attitude, the fact that he’d cut himself, the fact that he was so bad, but now I wouldn’t look up to him at all.

N: Speaking of Sid Vicious, he was Rock n’ Roll incarnate, there was a real sense of danger to him, do you see that as missing in today’s music?

JS : That’s a really tough question…. Some still do, I mean, take that band “Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All” for example; they bring an element of danger and surprise and you don’t know what’s going to happen, but for the most part, things are much too safe.

N : So we’ve lost something?

JS : Kids are so into safety now, I remember growing up and it was cool to smoke cigarettes, ditch school, wear dirty clothes. I think Pitchfork made things a lot safer; it’s music your parents could listen to. Hip-hop has that advantage over rock n roll, because there are more exciting things happening.

N: But you’re right it’s not nearly like it used to be…

JS : I mean you wouldn’t get in trouble for having an LCD Soundsystem record. I’m not dissing them, I have no idea what they sound like, it’s just an example, they seem like a really safe band.

N: I agree, they’re great, but they are very safe…

JS : Your parents wouldn’t burn those records, or your local church wouldn’t ban those records.

ISPB : I think back in the day you really had to get out and do something. Now you can be a shy little kid in your bedroom making these tapes, passing them around, giving them to pitchfork, and all of a sudden your popular. I mean I’m not saying that’s bad…

JS : I should say for the record that I love a lot of wimpy safe music….

ISPB : (laughing) Yeah I’m not trying to be mister tough guy…

N : I understand, I’m just trying to figure out what changed in the music, since you guys have the reputation of being one of the last few “crazy” bands out there. I mean, you brought up Little Richard earlier (off the record), to me he’s the most dangerous rock n roller ever. Acting like a flamboyant homosexual and playing “the devil’s music” in the segregated south. He was, in a small way, putting his life on the line…

JS : Yeah! He was right in their fucking faces, especially in places like Georgia too….

ISPB : Jerry Lewis knocking over bar stools… Chuck Berry taking white girls over state lines…

JS : And getting arrested for it.

N : So, maybe what I’m asking is, do you think there are places in the world where rock n’ roll can still be rebellious? You guys have a reputation for playing where no one else would go. When you tour places like Palestine or South Africa, do you get a sense that music can still be rebellious?

JS : Definitely, I mean we’re about to go on a tour of the middle-east and a lot of the stuff we do is not cool there.

ISPB : I’m not planning on going to jail there!

N : So what type of response do you guys get when you play shows in the middle east?

ISPB : Honestly, I don’t think a lot of the people there even know us, but they seem to like it.

JS : In India for example, no one really knew us, but they went crazy at the show, because it’s not really music they’ve been exposed to. I mean they know Green Day, and U2, and top forty, but it was really cool. Honestly for this tour I have no idea what to expect, I mean we’re doing Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt.

ISPB : We played Istanbul, a while back. That’s a really progressive city and they loved us, but this time we are really getting in there.

N : What makes you want to play these places?

JS : I want to see the world. For me this is the best way to do it. Trip’s paid for, we get to hang out with people in our own demographic, meet their families, have the best food, see the best places. I think it’s cool to bridge the gap a little bit. We met a bunch of muslim punk bands in Boston and they want to bring us over to Pakistan. They usually never get bands to go over there, because they’re too scared for various reasons.

ISPB : But hey, we want to live a little.

JS : Plus we want to show another side of America, I mean our country is over there dropping bombs and sending in CIA hit squads . We want to show ‘em a better side of America.

N : Why do you think that so few bands want to go to these dangerous places?

JS : I don’t know… I mean Memphis is dangerous, New Orleans is dangerous; there are a lot of dangerous places in the US, but you take your precautions, you wear your seat-belt…

ISPB : But you really just have to live life…

JS : And we can say we were the first to do it. First American punk band to tour the middle east.

ISPB : I know other bands like the Chili Peppers have done some weird shows, but I think we’re the first to do it completely DIY.

N : Are you really the first ones?

ISPB : (laughing) I have no idea, but it sounds good…