Clash has been talking at length with Jared Swilley, guitarist and vocalist with Atlanta punks Black Lips.
During our chinwag, we touched upon topics including the vulnerability of being on stage at the band’s raucous shows; their relationship with label Vice and their labels of old, who they can still release material through; and how the four don’t go totally insane from being on the road what seems like all of the time.
We also talked about the idea of ‘selling out’ – how a band from a punk background can remain relevant in the eyes and ears of those who hold DIY ethics above the need to provide for oneself and one’s loved ones.
“In America, the notion of that is much worse, especially amongst younger people. Even older people, actually. It’s kinda perpetuated by Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll, which is the most bullshit piece of fuck garbage poor excuse for a magazine ever. They’re like: ‘Oh, we want to keep everything ‘authentic’…’ And I’m like, fuck them! Don’t use a computer, don’t use a car, don’t drink Coca-Cola. Move to a field, grow your own food… fuck that and fuck them!
“Like, maybe if I got Coca-Cola tattooed on my forehead then maybe I could genuinely say I’ve ‘sold out’. And you know what, I would. If they said they’d give me a million dollars to sing, I fucking would. If Jack White can do it… And I respect him for that. He worked his way up from the bottom too – we used to tour on the same circuit as him, and I don’t think he’s a sell-out at all; he’s just doing what he loves for a living.”
Our full chat with Jared will run on ClashMusic.com (with an edit running in the next issue of Clash magazine) soon. The band’s fifth album ‘200 Thousand Million’ is released via Vice later this month and is reviewed HERE.
