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Artwork Incuded

Black Lips is a "flower-punk" band from Atlanta, Georgia.

While still teenagers, the band formed in 2000 in Dunwoody, Georgia after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Reruns. Alexander and Swilley were known for their crude antics both during shows and at school. Alexander remembers that he and Swilley used to mess "with classmate Ryan Seacrest in the halls" when they were freshmen and he was a senior. They were kicked out of school during their senior year after the Columbine Massacre in 1999 because they were regarded as a "subculture danger." Drummer Joe Bradley joined a few months later. They released their first 7-inch in 2002 on their own record label, Die Slaughterhaus.

Just days before a tour was to begin in December 2002, guitarist Ben Eberbaugh was driving a car that was struck by a drunk driver going the wrong way while he was parked at a toll booth. He was killed but the band carried on, believing that Eberbaugh would want them to continue.

The band's debut full length album, Black Lips!, was released on Bomp! Records in 2003. Eberbaugh was replaced by Jack Hines, a friend of the band members, and they recorded their second studio album, We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow, with him. Hines quit the band in 2004 so he could settle down with his wife. St. Pé, who at the time was enrolled at the University of Memphis as a music major, got a call from the band asking if he wanted to immediately join them on tour. Pé, who spent his early twenties buying alcohol for his future underage band-mates, dropped out of school and accepted the band's offer.

They have slowly built a fanbase that appreciates their style that is a rough mishmash of blues, rock, doo-wop, country, and punk. One of their biggest influence is the 60's Peruvian garage band Los Saicos. They gained national attention in 2006 with features in Spin and Rolling Stone magazines. The band got exposure in the New York Times during the 2007 South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, in which they played a dozen shows over a three-day period.

Their debut for Vice Records, Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo, was released in February 2007. It is supposed to have been recorded at a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, but fans, musicians, and journalists have expressed doubts about that claim and speculated that some or most of it was recorded in a studio with John Reis. Responding to such allegations, Swilley has stated that Reis recorded the show live with a soundboard, microphones, and a computer placed strategically near the stage.

In September 2007 their second studio album for Vice entitled Good Bad Not Evil was released. The Black Lips made their American national television debut in October 2007 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and played "O Katrina". In May 2008 Black Lips made their UK TV debut performing 'Bad Kids' on BBC3's The Wall.

The Black Lips were going to star in a film entitled Let It Be, in which they portrayed musicians in a fictitious 1980s era DIY band called The Renegades. A trailer for the movie can be viewed at the official website for the film. The movie was set for production in the summer of 2008; however, in a September 2008 interview, the band admitted they became disenchanted with the project after viewing the trailer and seeing the way they felt they were going to be portrayed in the movie.

In October 2008 a portion of the band's song "Veni Vidi Vici" was played during the season premiere episode of the television show Dirty Sexy Money, shown on the American network ABC. The same song was going to be used in a commercial by British supermaket chain Tesco, but, according to the band, the company decided not to go through with the deal because of concerns with the lyrical content of the song.

The group toured India in January 2009. Following some antics at their show in Chennai, the band became worried about being arrested and imprisoned for "homosexual acts" so they fled the city and eventually the country. The band summed up what happened in an interview at the Pitchfork Media musical festival: "they [Ian and Cole] kissed, some weiners got pulled out..." Vice Records documented the trip.

After the band left India, they traveled to Berlin, Germany and recorded a 12-song LP of gospel-influenced songs with King Khan & BBQ. The album was released on September 22, 2009, under the name The Almighty Defenders.

The Black Lips released their fifth studio album, 200 Million Thousand, on February 24, 2009 on Vice Records. The songs were recorded at New Street Studio, a former art gallery in Decatur GA, near Atlanta.

The band have a featured role in the documentary We Fun: Atlanta, GA Inside Out. The title was coined by Jared Swilley on the band's blog. The film made its debut at the Atlanta Film Festival in April 2009.

A song called "Arboles De La Barrancha" was performed by Black Lips for the film Rudo y Cursi.

Listen to the first couple of cuts from the Black Lips' self-titled debut album and it sounds like you've uncovered yet another nuevo-garage rock band with an extra shot of punk rock attitude. All well and good, but let the album sink in and you realize these kids have a bit more up their sleeves — the tres-wasted psychedelia of "Freakout," the creepy blues crawl of "Stone Cold" and "Down and Out," and the free-form dementia of "You're Dumb" prove these guys have been absorbing their influences from any number of less than wholesome sources.

A bit like the Dwarves pre-Blood Guts & Pussy, the Black Lips are looking for something dirty, dangerous, and just plain unhealthy beneath the energetic veneer of garage punk, and on this album they don't have much trouble finding it. While the performances are often ragged to the point of near collapse, that seems to be the point much of the time, and the addled wail of singer Cole Alexander is a fine mouthpiece for this journey through the gutters of your mind. Savage and not for the squeamish, but cool stuff for folks who like their rhythm hooch in a dirty glass.

01."Throw It Away"
02."Freak Out"
03."Ain't No Deal"
04."Stone Cold"
05."I've Got A Knife"
06."Down And Out"
07."Steps"
08."Fad"
09."Sweet Kin"
10."Crazy Girl"
11."Everybody Loves A Cocksucker"
12."Can't Let Me Down"
13."You're Dumb"
14."Untitled"