The Black Cat brought hordes of garage punk-loving teenagers to see the Atlanta band, Black Lips.
As their third stop on their new tour with Vivian Girls, the Black Lips are promoting their upcoming album “Arabia Mountain,” set to come out on June 7. In an interview with The Eagle, the band was still in recovery from their tour kick-off celebration that included a visit to a strip club.
“We went balls out right before the tour started,” said guitarist Cole Alexander. “We just had to usher ourselves into the tour.”
The recording of the new album stretched out over a year and included tracks produced by Mark Ronson, who has also worked with artists like Duran Duran and Amy Winehouse.
“We recorded in four locations, three of them by ourselves and one with Ronson,” said bassist Jared Swilley. “With Ronson, we really just wanted a couple more strong songs on the album. We ended up coming up with eight or nine.”
“Arabia Mountain” will be the sixth album in the Black Lips’ discography, spanning over eight years.
“When we first started, we had more of a ’50s feel but lately we have had more psychedelic influences,” guitarist Ian St. Pé said.
During the show, the more psychedelic songs featured a kaleidoscopic liquid-light show projected behind the band that was sure to expand the minds of select audience members.
Re-affirming their ’50s influence, the band chose Elvis as their dream tour-buddy.
“He is rudimentary, he is the King, he is classic,” Swilley said. Swilley himself claims to have the nickname the “White Elvis.”
The Black Lips are well known for their stage antics, from vomiting to making out, to getting kicked out of clubs and even countries.
“In India, we let the audience have some of nature’s goodness in the face, so they kicked us out,” said St. Pé. “We don’t do that stuff as much during shows. We decided to try not getting kicked out.”
While the band did succeed in their goal on Friday night, the energy of their more notorious shows was still alive and pumping. Swilley hyped the crowd from the beginning and set the trend for the numerous stage dives that occurred throughout the night, at one point even swinging over the audience using the light grid as monkey bars.
The show included tracks from their new album, as well as some old favorites including “O, Katrina” and “Bad Kids.”
Before the Black Lips, Vivian Girls played an ethereal set filled with their unique blend of hazy indie-rock that filling the room with a transcendent sexual energy.
Following the current tour, the Black Lips will have to be on their best behavior for their upcoming Middle East circuit, which will include shows in Beirut, Damascus, Lebanon, Alexandria and Istanbul.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
