The Brag

Black Lips
Rest For The Wicked
Benjamin Cooper

Very few groups enjoy a live reputation like that of Black Lips. Then again, very few groups can vomit on each other while on stage and still cause dancing en masse. Their most recent visit for 2010’s Laneway Festival yielded a typically charged sideshow at Manning Bar, notable for both the headliner’s set and the choice of support acts. Royal Headache and Twerps, the former everyone’s favourite band and the latter Jessica Alba’s, also made an impression on bassist and vocalist Jared Swilley. “That was an intense show,” he says. “Cole [Alexander, guitar and vocals] was throwing up and we were all tired from touring. I remember watching that first band with the shirtless guy pacing – they were pretty good.”

In spite of their raucous reputation, or indeed perhaps because of it, the group’s studio releases comprise surprisingly varied and increasingly mature guitar pop tunes. 2011’s Arabia Mountain is a return to the cleaner feel of the band’s 2007 crossover LP Good Bad Not Evil, due in part to the influence of British mega-producer Mark Ronson. It was an unexpected collaboration that was undertaken with some trepidation – but not on the part of the band. “We were really excited about working with him,” Swilley says. “Everyone knows that he’s the man for it, but he was kind of freaked out about working with us… He was worried about not interfering with our sound too much. It was really important to him, from the start and all the way through the sessions, that we were all making choices together.”

Describing Ronson’s role as simply “a fifth set of ears” seems entirely appropriate given the band’s origins and continuing operation as a collaborative unit, who embrace their devotion to each other through equal parts partying and rock’n’roll. It was the first time the band had used anyone from outside the group in a producer role, and they also called on Lockett Pundt from fellow Atlantan group Deerhunter to produce two tracks, including first single ‘Go Out And Get It’. According to Swilley, Pundt’s involvement was “really great, man… We were kind of running out of time in New York, so to be able to head back home [to Atlanta] and work on a whole bunch of stuff – and particularly getting it done with so many friends… It honestly doesn’t feel as though the band has changed at all. We’ve just drafted some other awesome people.”

Black Lips’ admiration of the masters of rhythm and blues is well documented. At the aforementioned Sydney show, they returned for another encore to smash through Chuck Berry’s ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ with a fervor bordering on the maniacal. Combining their ability to conjure such visceral energy (even at the end of a show) with Ronson’s famed pedigree and nous has resulted in a record that Swilley is thrilled with, “probably for the first time of all our albums. Usually when we’ve finished recording and I get to hear a copy of the masters, I want to chop and change all this stuff around. With this one, though, I think we’ve done a really good job.”

The album, recorded in the band’s hometown of Atlanta as well as in New York, also gave Swilley the opportunity to head out from the West Coast. “I’m living in L.A. now, which is kind of a weird town. But I do like it, and you get to see a whole lot of stuff you’d never experience anywhere else.” The rest of the band are scattered around Georgia. “They’re probably doing the exact same thing as me today, which involves relaxing, hard… When we tour we do go pretty hard, so today I’m not doing a thing. Just sitting and watching bad TV.”

The upcoming tour promises to unite the Southerners in a variety of far-flung locales. “I think we’re all meeting in Thailand,” Swilley says. “At least I hope we are, because that’s where I’m going!” And he’s quick to dismiss claims that the band go on mischief-making rampages when on tour. “You just watch – we’re going to hit Bangkok airport, be perfect gentlemen, and we’ll sit up straight on the ride into town.” After Thailand the band are returning to America to play some shows in Vegas. “It’s kind of an interesting bunch of dates – we do Thailand, Vegas, Sydney. They don’t exactly follow one another, y’know? Which is not to say it won’t be really awesome…”

Whether vomiting on stage in Sydney, freaking out super-producers in the studio or behaving like gentlemen in South East Asia, Black Lips continue to surprise. And there’s a pleasingly positive consequence of the band members’ geographical diaspora. “When we do all get together, it is on. It’s cool to be touring an album I’m personally really happy with, and I can’t wait to see the guys. I think having had that extra bit of rest is important, because I know it’s summer where you are and I’d like to check out some stuff,” he says. “But this bad TV is pretty good right now…”

What: Arabia Mountain is out now
With: Circle Pit, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys
Where: The Standard
When: Sunday March 4
More: Also playing at Playground Weekender alongside Chic, UNKLE Sounds, Modeselektor (live), Roots Manuva, Neon Indian and more, from March 2-4 at Wisemans Ferry.