My Coachella: The Black Lips
The Black Lips faced some heavy competition for attention on Coachella‘s opening night, with Jack Johnson on the Main Stage and Fatboy Slim in a nearby dance tent, but the garage band wasn’t worried. “You either want to dance, you want to chill, or you want to rock,” says guitarist Cole Alexander, whose band is known for wild eruptions of noise, nudity and the sharing of fluids. “I think people are going to want to rock.” Guitarist Ian Saint Pe adds: “If you want to see someone make love to their guitar like Jack Johnson, or if you want to see someone beat the shit out of their guitars like us, you have your choice. We’re in America. It’s a free country.” Rock Daily sought more answers.
Coolest thing about your own set:
Alexander: “We have fun. I don’t know that weâ’re the best musicians, but it will be the most entertaining.”
Saint Pe: “We’ll actually luck out because [fans] will be all be drunk and tired, so it will sound good no matter what.”
Best part of playing in a desert tent:
Alexander: It’s kind of like a rodeo or a tee-pee.
Best Coachella drug (or cocktail):
Alexander: “I like Robitussin.”
Drummer Joe Bradley: “I’ll have a scotch and soda, the old man drink. It’s a good one.”
Saint Pe: “Vicodin and beer.”
Singer-bassist Jared Swilley: “I like Moroccan hash, but it’s hard to get in the states.”
Best backstage perk:
Bradley: “We’re going to be networking — a.k.a. meeting girls.” Saint Pe: “We just saw Steven Tyler. He walked right by our trailer.”
Bradley: “He was eating somethin’ and it sounded like someone was clappin from his lips.”
Saint Pe: “You just look around and tell me there’s no God. We have to find a new dream now, because we’re living ours. All we ever wanted was to travel and play music and make a living at it. Life’s feeling alright. The next step is finding a new dream.
Best Prince stories:
Alexander: “There is a movie Purple Rain that my mom took me to when I was just a baby. And she breast-fed me during that movie. People got really mad at her. I guess it was appropriate. It’s kind of a sexual movie.”
Saint Pe:”If there’s a bubble that has the bad motherfuckers in it, it’s really small and Prince is definitely in there. That’s one bad dude.”
Bradley: “I heard he flew in on a helicopter for his sound-check last night and then flew out.”
Alexander:”That’s fucking awesome!”
Bradley: “We had to take Greyhound out here.”