Black Lips

Formed in the Atlanta area in the late 1990s, Black Lips developed garage rock fused with punk, psychedelia and references to blues, doo-wop and country, with a deliberately rough and direct sound. The band coalesced around Cole Alexander and Jared Swilley, later joined by several musicians, and very early endured a defining episode with the death of guitarist Ben Eberbaugh in 2002, shortly before the release of the debut album Black Lips! in 2003. After We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow in 2004 and Let It Bloom in 2005, Black Lips broadened its audience with Good Bad Not Evil in 2007, then 200 Million Thousand in 2009 and Arabia Mountain in 2011, recorded with Mark Ronson. Their trajectory remains tied to the American indie rock scene, attentive to lo-fi forms, short songs and melodies distorted by raw energy. Lineup changes did not alter this course, but opened it to other textures, notably with the arrival of Zumi Rosow, Oakley Munson and Jeff Clarke. Black Lips also toured internationally and pursued parallel projects, including Almighty Defenders. The recent discography includes Underneath the Rainbow in 2014, Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art? in 2017, Sing in a World That’s Falling Apart in 2020 and Apocalypse Love in 2022.