Black Lips

The central characters in Georgia's scuzzy, ramshackle garage rock scene, Black Lips take inspiration from a host of obscure 1960s bands, the DIY spirit of punk and the wild hell-raising of Iggy And The Stooges. Describing their sound as "Flower Punk", they quickly earned a reputation for outrageous antics and caused controversy when they became the first punk band to play in India and were chased out of the country by Tamil Police after stripping off onstage and kissing each other. Formed by Cole Alexander and Jared Swilley after they were judged a "subculture danger" and kicked out of school, the band's original guitarist Ben Ederbaugh was killed in a car accident but they carried on in his memory to record debut album Black Lips! (2003). They were signed up to Vice magazine's new label and started making waves with Good Bad Not Evil (2007) before working with super producer Mark Ronson on sixth album Arabia Mountain (2011). Boisterous, haphazard wild men steeped in rock'n'roll spirit, the band continue to party on as cult heroes of the garage rock underground.