The Black Lips
The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
September 25th, 2006
By Christopher Duda
(SugarBuzz Toronto)
Photos By Christopher Duda
Taking a cheap dollar store transistor radio manufactured in 1972 and filling it full of mushroom heads and filtering Nuggets style psych and garage so that the Vu Meter is at maximum output. As the Black Lips become hydrated they will plant their dying lips around your neck and suck the life force from within your arteries.
Remember the Ramones stated “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement”? Now the answer is clear. The Black Lips dwell in the dirty musty pit and they sure as hell are not going to let you out. Beer sprayed out an orifice of metal to which artillery of hops was catapulted in returned volley fashion. Tsunami sized waves of barley and hops.
The Black Lips live under a rather large mushroom to which periodically they nibble on and create sounds and thoughts put to music. Black Lips have the street cred and releases on Bomp! and In the Red Records. That alone should give you and indication of their appeal.
Black Lips might borrow from the past but they twist it with forward appeal that they militate change in the tired but well loved genre.
Go see them live and come bearing gifts of substance (abuse).
P.S- What the hell is wrong with the Canadian border? Terrorists seem to be able to waltz back and forth over the border but get some guy with some drunk and disorderly charge or something similar and they are denied entry into the country.
Now, I have no idea why the bassist from the Black Lips didn’t make it over the border but it seems to be a very common theme. The Detroit Cobras at one point vowed that they would not come back to Canada and when I wrote The Stitches and asked them if they would like to come to Toronto to play they wrote back and stated “once your country gets their heads out of their assess about border crossings”.
So, in true garage punk rock spirit did the Black Lips pull out of the show? Hell no. The rest of the band showed up and they grabbed a bassist and filled him in on the songs during sound check.
http://www.myspace.com/theblacklips