Of course we all knew this was coming. The Black Lips’ recent escapades in India (bottles thrown, governments angered, etc.) were all caught on tape by Vice cameras. And VBS is producing a Web series documenting the debauchery. Here’s the NSFW trailer. Looks like Cole tried to play guitar with his penis.
Band members Cole Alexander and Joe Bradley give their take and hear the new song “Short Fuse” after the jump.
After the fiasco, which the kids seemed to like, the financial backers of the event were furious and threw us off the tour. They tried to get security to restrain us until the Tamil police arrived. We locked the door while they were kicking and banging on it. Meanwhile, we slipped out the other emergency exit.
When we got to the hotel our tour guide informed us that the that the Campus Rock Idols sponsors were pressing charges and that the police would make their arrest. At that point our tour driver informed us we would have to drive six hours to get to the next town and cross state lines where we would be out of the Tamil authorities jurisdiction, because apparently the jail in Chennai is no joke. Word on the street said that it was teeming with tuberculosis, violence and live maggots so instead of risking going there we fled the scene. The drive ended up taking 10 hours because of a horrific accident on the road. We were also informed that all of the shows on our tour had been canceled effectively fucking all funds for the trip. This was a cultural clashing shit storm.
Vice: So you guys made it out all right? When we got your last letter it seemed like you were one cop away from getting thrown in the black hole of Calcutta.
Joe Bradley (drums, van): They’re all black holes over there. They weren’t ready for us, or maybe just not the people who set up the tour.
Where are you guys holed up right now?
We’re at King Khan’s house in Berlin. We caught the next flight outta there as soon as the shit hit the fan. Like, we literally left Chennai at 2:30 in the morning and drove 10 hours to Bangalore.
What happened in Chennai?
Well, we hadn’t had a chance to get even the slightest bit drunk the entire time we were in India, so Jared bought a bunch of whisky before the show. The venue was some weird, shitty auditorium at a college. Things were uncomfortable to begin with; no eating inside, no smoking outside or anywhere really. The show was sponsered by Nokia, Honda, and VH1 and they had these crappy production projections on advert screens on either side of the stage. The college had these wireless mics though, so Jared got jazzed up on whisky and started pumping up the crowd by cursing at them, getting them to repeat things like “When I say ‘weak-ass’, you say ‘bitch’! Weak ass?” “BITCH!” “Weak ass?” “BITCH!” The crowd was eating it up but I think we only ended up playing like, seven songs. Eventually things got really energetic and Cole mooned the crowd then proceeded to kiss Ian while Jared continued ramping up the crowd, which eventually led to him taking a running dive into the audience. Really, our tour manager was the only one freaking out. No one tried to put a stop to the show. We even told the crowd “Remember! there’s only four of them (security) and 150 of you.”
Nice.
We tried to get everyone on stage too, but they weren’t too happy about that either. In any case, everyone was into it except our manager and his production company Only Much Louder–which I will go on record suggesting that no band go through for a tour. I haven’t been on such a disorganized and disfunctional tour in a long time, though in their defense, they are one of the first independent, non-Bollywood promoters in India. But they’ve got a lot to learn about the biz, like getting contracts from your sponsors and such.
[audio:http://www.vicerecords.com/download/black_lips-short_fuse.mp3]