Narrow Interview... The Black Lips

By Alec Kissoondyal

Photo credit, Dani Pujalte

The Black Lips have been around since 1999. Fast forward to 2020, and they are still going strong. I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the founding members, Jared Swilley, and we talked about everything from touring the globe to the uniquely visceral influence that southern culture has had on music.

You can catch the Black Lips at the High Dive on January 21st, where they will be performing their first show of the new year.

We've just entered 2020, and you guys started in 1999, correct?

Jared: Yeah, about then.

Congratulations on 21 years.

Jared: It's crazy to think it's been that long.

What do you think has contributed to the band's longevity?

Jared: Well, it's a fun thing to do, and it's what we love. I've had plenty of other jobs. Construction work, carpentry, landscaping, short order cook--this is the best thing. Me and Cole met when we were little kids and we got a good thing, so why not keep on with it?

When I looked you guys up, sources kept saying that you were a garage rock band or a punk band, but as I listened to more of your music, it was crazy to see how many genres you've been able to incorporate into your songs. There's even country and gospel in there. Where do you draw those inspirations from, and how do you incorporate these different genres into your music?

Jared: I'm so impressed with so many genres of music. I grew up in a full gospel church, hanging around country music. Being in the south, you have that kind of stuff, but I was also a teenager, and punk rock really resonated with me because it was raw and visceral. I like any kind of music that's wild and unhinged. It doesn't matter what genre it is. There's electronic music I like that's alternative and scary sounding. Music is how people talk to each other. I don't know, because I haven't lived anywhere else, but I think the sound in south has a special appreciation of music. The south is the only place, really in the world, where you have so many different cultures thrown together not by choice, and it really came up with cool things.

You mentioned it's kind of visceral. I feel like there's something visceral about anything that comes out of the south. A lot of southern literature is the same way, where it's almost shocking.

Jared: It's got a brutal history. I like a lot of Russian writers. They have a brutal history, and the best literature I've ever read has come out of Russia. But Russia was always all Russians, and maybe people from Middle Asia, and stuff like that. But the southern part of the United States was such a weird thing because it was all a new thing and everyone just got thrown together. Poor Scotch-Irish, tenant farmers, slaves, people from the Caribbean, French influence--it was the first time in history. I guess you could say that about Rome and the Mediterranean, but in the modern era, the south is truly unique.

Despite the southern roots and influence, as well as the punk influence, which may be thought of as quintessentially American, you've toured all over the world. I've heard you've had some crazy stories from India for example. Has any country had a unique reaction to your music that you didn't expect?

Jared: American culture is so prevalent all over the world. It's never super weird, I don't think. I mean, we've had weird shows for sure. Like, we played in Iraq and half the crowd were women in burqas, and I don't think they liked us too much, but they weren't mean. Western culture is so pervasive everywhere, and we have been most places, but everyone's seen Elvis on TV and movies and stuff.

And like you said earlier, music is almost like a way of communication.

Jared: Oh yeah. The joy in my career has been to travel all over the world. Everywhere I go, even if I don't speak the same language as the person, we still hang out and we still play music. We're buds, and we hang out at people's parent's houses. It really is the way of the world. I don't even feel like I have a nationality. When you do music, everyone's on the same page. There's no politics, no weird shit. We're just living life to have fun.