BLACK LIPS are known for their hell-raising, confrontational, punk and garage-rock, but on new album Arabia Mountain they are doing something a little different.
Galway will be able to hear what new dimensions the Atlanta band have added to their sound when they play the Róisín Dubh tomorrow at 9pm.
The Lips – Cole Alexander (guitars/vocals ), Jared Swilley (bass/vocals ), Ian St Pé (guitars/vocals ), and Joe Bradley (drums/vocals ) – had never worked with a producer before Arabia Mountain, their sixth studio album.
“We tried to keep it raw, but we also opened up to working with a producer and experimenting with new sounds,” says Alexander.
The man producing the new album was Mark Ronson, who co-produced Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black.
“When that came out, we thought, for mainstream pop, this has a cool retro sensibility that we appreciate,” Alexander says. “We’re not purists who just want to sound old, but there are certain recording techniques that were used a long time ago that sound really good, and can be used in today’s context. We felt he understood that.”
Black Lips have not turned their backs on their punk/garage-rock sound, it’s just that they have taken more time in the studio.
“We decided to spend a lot of time and actually work on this record,” says Alexander. “It ended up taking a year and a half, which is the longest we’ve ever spent. We had some good pop songs in the past, but they got buried in the swampy production. Beefing up the production made a difference. It was a little outside the box for us, and a little outside Mark’s box as well.”
The result is an album that leaps from revved-up rock to rockabilly to Rolling Stones-style country, with a touch of Bolivian and South African music along the way.
Support is from Rural Savage. Tickets are available from the Róisín Dubh and www.roisindubh.net Arabia Mountain is released on Monday June 6.
