Artist Profile

Black Lips

Label: Vice
Agent: Rebecca Prochnik

“The Black Lips have to be my favourite boy band of all time” - Karen O

Coming proudly from Atlanta Georgia, the Black Lips – guitarist Cole Alexander, Jared Swilley on bass, Ian Saint Pe on guitar, drummer Joe Bradley – have built a solid reputation for their live shows. There has known to be vomiting, fighting, urinating, general body exposure and live worms at the shows amongst other things, but beyond their raw that punk energy fans have learned to expect a wholesome dose of southern-tinged punkabilly that will have them doo-wopping across the slimy pit amidst the spray of flying beer. Over the years the frequency of the group's outrageous stage antics has declined, as they have “matured a little” and by their own admittance, learned to play their instruments. Touring relentlessly across America and Europe they have steadily built a die-hard fanbase and a legendary underground status for their blend of southern charm and raw punk vitality.

While still teenagers, they formed in 2000 after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Reruns. Drummer Joe Bradley joined a few months later. They released their first 7-inch in 2002 on their own Die Slaughterhaus label.

Just days before a tour was to begin in December 2002, Ben Eberbaugh was driving a car that was struck by a drunk driver going the wrong way on a highway. He was tragically 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 too was eventually replaced by current guitarist, and former Renegades member, Ian Saint PÈ, in 2004.

They gained national attention in 2006 with features in Spin and Rolling Stone magazines. The band got exposure in the New York Times for being the hardest working band during the 2007 South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, where they played a dozen shows over a three-day period. This new exposure only reflected what their core fans knew already about them. Whilst there is an undeniable retro edge to their music, it is their DIY sensibilities and punk spirits, their ceaseless touring and their revelsome shows that grant their place in the pantheon of America’s Indie underground.

Their debut for Vice Records, was the raucous live “Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo,” was released in February 2007 followed by the full album “Good Bad Not Evil”. The Black Lips made their American national television debut in October 2007 on “Late Night with Conan O'Brien”.

Continuing their independent tradition, the band are recording and self-producing their forthcoming studio album in their hometown Atlanta, due for release in spring 2009.