The Black Lips Interview

The Black Lips (phone) Interview

15.05.09

Louise Morris & Jared Swilley (bass & vocals)


Louise: Hey, how’s the UK tour been going? You played Brighton last night, right?

Jared: Yeah Brighton was cool it was a really good show, I like it down there.

L:So why are you missing out Newcastle??

J: Ah, well it kinda seems random how it happens, whatever works out really, we’ve played there before though.

L: Where?

J: I don’t remember! We did a tour this Feb around the UK too, Manchester and stuff, but we didn’t play Newcastle then either...Oh I remember we played in this like main square, it had a really big sculpture, kinda futuristic, it was a really good show actually. I remember it being freezing outside and there were all these girls in miniskirts- crazy!

L: Er, that’s kinda traditional up here! So, if I said English girls what three words first come to mind?

J: [immediately] Smart, funny and attractive.

L: Why thankyou..! Your live shows are quite notorious and have had you banned from some venues in Georgia, what kind of a reaction do you like to provoke from an audience and how do you do it?

J: I like to keep a good vibe, actually last night was perfect, it was really small and everyone was going crazy, jumping around, dancing, but it wasn’t violent, just happy. The best thing is to get the balance of good chaos, with no one getting punched or crying. I love it, i get to go crazy every night, it’s the best vibe! Sometimes though, at gigs there are these bouncers who abuse the gigs, you get these hooligans, we hate that, we try and make it as difficult for these guys as possible.

L: The Black Lips have attracted quite alot of controversy from the press [onstage nudity, pissing, vomiting and inter-band making out], do you feel a good band should be controversial?

J: No, i don’t think so, we don’t try to be controversial at all, we just have fun. I guess some people misunderstand us and react in the wrong way. The kids who like our music wouldn’t say we’re controversial, it’s a grown up mentality that creates that I think, I mean I’m over 18, I’m not a kid but...basically, there’s two types of people in the world, horses and unicorns. The horses are like the adults, cops and stuff, people who don’t understand and the unicorns are everyone else.

L: I’ve been to see you and Ian was playing guitar with his teeth, my friend saw you and he was using something else...So if you had to play guitar with any other body part, what would it be and what would make the best sound?

J: [laughs] Well I’ve never used anything apart from my hands. Maybe feet, like you know those people who’ve lost limbs, they’re amazing, the way they learn what to use instead. Yeah with feet- then I could play two guitars at the same time!

L: A lot of good quirky bands seem to come out of Georgia- what is it about the place that encourages this?

J: Well, it’s cheap to live there, the weather’s always nice and people have basements. It’s just a musical place, people have the space to play, like we really started out playing house parties. There’s a few houses around that are the venues for the town, it’s really cool, good fun. I grew up with music, my Dad’s a preacher and I always loved music so I was used to all this church music, gospel and stuff like that, then I got into Otis Reading who’s from round here, a lot of good music’s come from Georgia.

L: So, would you consider doing a house gig tour in the UK?

J: It really happens more in America, it’s hard in Europe lots of the kids live in apartments, but we have done a few house parties over here. We did this one in Leeds for all these under age kids who couldn’t get into the Faversham, it was great. Oh and we also did another house show...well it was more of a mansion show out in the Bass country, these kid’s parents had a huge house! We always try to slip in house parties, secret shows etc. It’s just economically hard to do a whole house gig tour over in the UK.

L: What made you decide to set up your own record label, Die Slaughterhouse Records?

J: Well, when we first left school, we got our own house and started to record some stuff but we didn’t really know any record labels or how to get records out, so we pressed them ourselves under the name Die Slaughterhouse Records, Die Slaughterhouse was what we called our house. Other of the people we lived with were in bands and so we put them out too, then went on tour and met more bands, so we started putting out records from European and even Mexican bands too- we really started the label out of necessity!

L: Can you recommend any music from Mexico?

J: Mexico has a great scene going on, lots of stuff’s happening there- I really like Los Explosivos and Slob City, Mexico City’s awesome, I wanna go there more if I can!

L: What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever read about you or the band?

J: People make stuff up all the time, the worst time, well in retrospect it’s quite funny, but it wasn’t at the time. It was in our local newspaper, Black Lips were featured in the music section and my Dad [the preacher] was featured in the religion section, and they said that during one of our shows I’d given Cole, our singer, oral sex! It was totally unture and so embarrassing as all my family and my Dad’s congregation read it...so embarrassing. But my Dad’s pretty liberal and supportive.

L: So as you’ve had experience both making records and putting them out, what do you think are the three ingredients needed to make a great record?

J: Good songs, and just being really into what you’re doing, not half-assing around, and getting on with your bandmates. I’ve seen bands that don’t really gel and it never works. We’re like a brotherhood.

L: Yeah i guess you guys have known each other for ages

J: Pretty much our whole lives

L: And if you could play a gig absolutely anywhere, where would it be?

J: We wanna play in outer space! We really admire Richard Branson, he’s trying to set up space travel and hopefully it will get cheap in the future. We’d love to be the first band to play in outer space- you know the White Stripes almost played on a Virgin airplane? It didn’t happen for some reason though.

L: What would you do about the lack of gravity?

J: Well I guess we’d strap ourselves down, but the pressure- it would be tough on the strings and drums.

L: Where do you see The Black Lips in five years?

J: Hopefully we’ll get to travel to more countries I haven’t seen, I’ll have a house by then- hopefully that will be sorted by the end of the summer and just putting out more good records!

L: And finally, everyone round here’s pretty stressed out with exams at the moment – any life lessons to give them?

J: Well, huh, that whole scene didn’t really work for me, so I’d just say drop out and do something else! But you know each to their own it depends on the person. Aside from dropping out, I guess I’d say the more you freak out the worse it will be.

L: OK, thanks for that it was great talking with you and I hope the gig goes well tonight- come to Newcastle next time!!

J: Ha, OK we’ll see, have a great evening.