Black Lips

Here is my interview with Jared from the Black Lips. This interview took place at the Sala Rosa on St-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal.

CONFRONT: Hi.

JARED: Hi.

CONFRONT: Welcome to Montreal, hope you guys will have a good time.

JARED: Thanks we most likely will…if the rest of the band members get here…they had a bit of problems passing the borders but it should be ok… hopefully.

CONFRONT: I hope so.

CONFRONT: So let me start by explaining our magazine. We are an online magazine; our motto is Dare, Defy, Provoke. Dare to Listen, Defy Stereotypes and Provoke Change. Our main goal is to make sure our readers are aware that there is more than just mainstream. We want to always be a step ahead of pop culture. Thinking about that, what would be your definition of mainstream today??

JARED: Mainstream, I guess whatever is Top 40, on the billboard or on MTV.

CONFRONT: Yeah, and what for you would be the best example of mainstream?

JARED: I guess…FM Radio play, MTV, I mean whatever or whoever has the most amount of money to make it there. Or I can give you a better example, like whatever my little sister listens to…because she is in high school so…

CONFRONT: Yeah that makes a lot of sense; they are the one of the biggest music consumers.

JARED: Yeah, I remember a few years ago, I saw a White Stripes CD in her room and I was like wow… they’re huge now.

CONFRONT: Yeah, like some artists that used to be underground are now big, that would be a good example you think?

JARED: Yeah that’s pretty much it.

CONFRONT: Ok great.

CONFRONT: So the first couple of questions are CONFRONT Magazine questions… Here we go. What would be the first and the last CD you bought??

JARED: I think that The Beatles’ ‘Greatest Hits Blue Album’, like the 67 to 70, I think that’s the first thing I ever bought and then the last one…hmmm…I can’t remember, but I know I just went record shopping not long ago…I think I bought like a Chiffon single, yeah I think that was probably it…

CONFRONT: Good.

CONFRONT: Talking about first and last what would be the first and last concert you attended as a fan?

JARED: The first concert I ever saw was just a… one of my friend’s older brother had a band, they had like a front band and I remember they played an all ages show that our parents let us go to so…

CONFRONT: Oh that’s cool.

JARED: But they’re long broken up I think… I was like 13-14 at the time so. The last one I went to see, they’re actually from here… because the last time I ever got time off was at South by Southwest and there was this Canadian band was playing across the street so I went to see that, and that was the last, the last show I saw where I wasn’t playing.

CONFRONT: Ok, cool.

JARED: Because I see a million shows a year, but I’m always playing with the band so…

CONFRONT: Yeah, totally understandable.

CONFRONT: What would be one of your musical guilty pleasures? Like you’re driving in your car, there is no one else with you…what do you listen to and don’t want others to know about?

JARED: Oh I’m trying to think what the others guys hate, that I listen to. Hmmm, I think they get mad at me because I listen to like 50’s Doo Wop stuff, but I’m not to really too ashamed of that, but a lot of my friends don’t like it when I listen to it around them.

CONFRONT: So this is what you listen to for yourself…?

JARED: Yeah exactly.

CONFRONT: Ok so you guys have been around since 2000, the band has been around since 2000, how do you feel you have evolved as a musician and of course as a band? Has the sound changed, has your relationship with each other changed?

JARED: Well we’ve gotten a lot better at playing, at writing songs, we’ve also gotten a lot more organized…like I guess that the example to use is…the first time we played here in Montreal, we didn’t have any equipment, and we didn’t have work permits, we just kind of like snuck over the border, we were cutting through and we didn’t have directions, we just walked up around the city and found a place to play. So I guess we’ve gotten better at getting our stuff together and making everything work and making the music our priority.

CONFRONT: And you’ve evolved as a musician…?

JARED: I’m not that much better, but I think I’m much more experienced so this helps a lot.

CONFRONT: And you guys as a group? You feel like you’ve evolved, like you get along more?

JARED: Yeah definitely, we get along great, because we know each other much better now, I mean spending 10 months straight, 24 hours a day with them on the road so… makes it obvious you know. It’s our job you know so we have to make sure we are able to deal with each other and not get on each other’s nerves all the time, so you get to know what is ok or what not to do and so on…

CONFRONT: Nice. Can you talk to me about the live album in Tijuana…ok I’m going to try my Spanish “Los Valientes de Mundo Nuevo”.

JARED: Yeah good…

CONFRONT: So how was it to be there, to play there, and to record it? What made you decide to record there, do you guys usually record all of your shows or what this a one time thing?

JARED: Well our record company wanted us to do a retrospective of all of our songs, because we have three other albums that have all been out, but they were very underground so, since this was our first big release, they wanted a retrospective of all the stuff we’ve done, but like doing it but a package, like with the live show, the DVD and the whole thing, we figured that it would be boring if we just did like Live in NYC, so we decided Live at Tijuana, just because we can make a whole skeptical thing about that and have a huge party…you know it’s Tijuana after all.

CONFRONT: So Tijuana was a hard core party?

JARED: Yeah like we rented out, like a social hall and we also had like an unlimited supply of alcohol and it was free to get in so and we had another huge band from Mexico playing with us so…we also had a Mariachi band play, it was just a huge blow out, it was a lot of fun. Surprisingly it went on with very little glitches. We were very afraid of bringing the equipment over, like the recording equipment, because there was like thousands of dollars worth of stuff so…

CONFRONT: Of course.

JARED: Like only some people got phones and cameras stolen but not too much and one guy got shaken down by the federales, but other than that it was ok! Everyone had a good time.

CONFRONT: Well as long as everyone had a good time that’s what counts!

JARED: Exactly.

CONFRONT: Well talking about this technically first big release for you guys, do you feel any pressure to fit in, like ‘we’re going to be releasing an album so we technically have to fit into a mold’ or is it ok for you to just have your fans behind you no matter what?

JARED: Well we’ve been very lucky, you know we would not have signed with our record company if they would not have let us all the creative control, loosing it is like loosing ourselves as artists you know so… I think we would have been able to function so… yeah of course there was a bit of pressure but I guess it’s normal to be happy about releasing an album, and the pressure was more for ourselves to be what we wanted to be all along you know. And I feel like we cannot fit into the mold because it would have killed you know…mojo!

CONFRONT: Yeah the mojo I totally understand. Ok, knowing that you guys have been banned from a couple of venues… how do you feel about that? Do you feel like ‘we’re just doing our thing’ and if they can’t accept that then…you know or?

JARED: Well what’s really funny is that every single club that’s banned us has had us back, and some of them got us back twice.

CONFRONT: Well that’s nice no…?

JARED: Yeah, I think it’s like a feel of… we’re sold out the night you get us back, so it’s like a little …in your face… we’re good and you know it type thing, so I guess we’ll continue doing our thing. And it made me very happy because we actually had a couple people from the venue apologize to us, so… it’s a very good feeling.

CONFRONT: Yeah I can imagine. You guys have played like all around, do you feel there is a different vibe in the fans or is it always pretty much the same?

JARED: Well yeah other then like the language barrier, I haven’t seen any difference, it’s all the same. I mean as far as the West goes, I mean we have only played in Europe, Canada and the States so… I can’t really notice the difference, but maybe like small towns are calmer and like New York would be more wild, but essentially it’s all the same.

CONFRONT: As long as the fans are there right?

JARED: Right!

CONFRONT: I was wondering you guys have a MySpace page. Obviously more and more bands have this now…how do you feel about this whole phenomenon? Do you feel it’s too much, with all the comments and messages and friend requests or do you feel it’s a very good way to communicate with your fans?

JARED: I mean it’s there… so you can’t really do anything about it so we just have to accept it, but I think it has positive and negative aspects to it you know. Of course it’s annoying like we get a millions messages and you can’t answer them all, but I try my best to do so as much as possible. It’s a good thing. Like I wish we had that when we started, like I can’t even imagine how bands did before the e-mail even…like having to call, send out press packs and stuff like, yeah I think it’s good especially for smaller bands, people can hear your music.

CONFRONT: Great. Ok last but not least… What would you want your legacy to be? What would you want Black Lips to be…?

JARED: I think what I like the best is when kids that are younger than me or the same age when I started in Black Lips, tell us that they started bands because of us and look up to us, because I did that to other bands before too so… I feel it’s kind of cool just to be in that cycle. It’s fun to be able to get people into cool music that would not have if it wasn’t for us type thing.

CONFRONT: Like being an influence to them.

JARED: Yeah exactly.

CONFRONT: Well, thanks a lot for this interview.

JARED: No thank you!

CONFRONT: Have a good show tonight.

JARED: Thanks we will.