Atlanta’s one and only garage renegades, Black Lips, are back to unleash their new studio album, ‘Season of the Peach,’ on September 19th via Fire Records.

I bet you wonder how they sound? Well, it’s a defiant return to their grimy raucous roots, and possibly drunk. The band recorded ‘Season of the Peach’ at drummer Oakley’s new Sound At Manor studio in the Catskills, deliberately digging into analog tape and disconnecting from city life, as seen on our headline photo. Oakley, ever the philosopher of the fringe, notes, “The real outliers don’t say that they’re outliers. My favourite outliers in music are those people who are trying to be normal.” Jared echoes this, adding, “I always had an affinity for people who were naive in thinking they could crack into the mainstream, but weren’t aware of how off-kilter they were.” True to form, the Lips have always been outsiders, and their music remains as unpretentious and pure fun as when they first started.

We’re counting down the days until they hit the road again. They’ll tour extensively in September across the UK and Europe, including two new London dates at the 100 Club on September 22nd and 23rd. US fans can catch them at Levitation in Austin, TX, on October 31st, sharing the stage with Viagra Boys.

Their message remains clear and uncomplicated: “We are just trying to rock and have a good time.” In a world as “messed up as it is,” diving headfirst into a Black Lips record might just be the most sensible escape. It’s truly a heartwarming thought that this kind of spirit still exist in this fucked up world.

“I would say that this record would be more in line with earlier stuff of ours.”

Hey guys, your new album ‘Season Of The Peach’ is this wild mash up of garage, new wave, disgruntled country and western vibes. If this record were an old time saloon, which one of you would be the grizzled outlaw of “disgruntled country,” and who’s up in the balcony conducting that heroic western soundtrack? And come on… what’s your secret handshake look like?

Black Lips: That would be Oakley. Oakley is a wild, untamed beast. Born in a brothel, raised by wolves, lost his eye playing blackjack some years back. His hobbies include, roping tornados, barebacking rabid dogs, and running red lights. Oakley is a real bad boy.

The handshake wouldn’t be so much of a secret if I described it here.

<a href="https://blacklips.bandcamp.com/album/season-of-the-peach">Season of the Peach by Black Lips</a>

The ‘Tippy Tongue’ video unfolds like a hallucinatory dream. Listening to it with its 60s girl group soul sweetly snarled by Jayne or Wayne County punk and its wink to Buddha Records, then shifting into ‘Kassandra,’ where that Sunday polished guitar suddenly explodes into psych spirals worthy of The Chocolate Watchband with Zappa on lead, before stomping into the rollicking honky tonk swagger of ‘Zulu Saints,’ how did you yourself navigate and capture each of those contrasting energies in the studio? From the genesis of the Buddha inspired girl group homage, through the intentional scrubbing of your guitar tone into those ever spiralling salvos, to the live wire bravado of your country stomp, what through line — whether lyrical, sonic or instinctive — did you lean on to bind these wildly divergent styles into a single cohesive Black Lips thing?

I think it’s easier now to navigate between all these styles, at this point I’ve listened to about a million or more records. Everyone is writing, we’ve all been doing it for a very long time now, so there’s all this added wisdom and experience, plus we are recording at Oakley’s studio, far from a city, so we can take all the time we want.

‘Season of the Peach’ is said to capture your early energy, but with a twist of fresh songwriting tricks. What’s the wackiest new approach you snuck into these tracks? And was there one little peach pit of an idea you nearly tossed aside, only to have it sprout into something unexpected?

I would say that this record would be more in line with earlier stuff of ours. We recorded it much like the early records, by ourselves and on analog tape. I think the new approach was using the old approach. Back to basics.

“We used to have a human skull that we used as an echo chamber.”

You have a really extensive discography. If you could send a single Black Lips song, not necessarily one from ‘Season of the Peach,’ into a time capsule to represent the band 100 years from now, which track would it be and why? And what one non musical item would you include to give future generations a true sense of the Black Lips’ spirit?

I guess for this one I would choose ‘Bad Kids.’ It’s a popular song, and it’s also autobiographical, so that would be the most appropriate one for future people to hear. Non musical item? We used to have a human skull that we used as an echo chamber. It’s name was Jeremiah Krinklefingers. I believe it was lost some years ago, but if it was found, then that’s what I would want shot out into outer space.

Saw you in Ljubljana a couple years back and been hoping you’d come through again sometime. If you ended up in my little town, I’d meet you with cold beer and Dead Moon on the stereo, then what? How does the night end? What records spin when it’s late and weird and nobody’s ready to sleep yet?

Oh yeah, I remember that show well! Cold beer and Dead Moon sounds like a perfect party. After that we’d have a spliff and dance to Dion and the Belmonts all night.

Klemen Breznikar

Headline photo: Cate Groubert

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