Safe in Berlin, the Black Lips speak on their troubles in India

Photo credit:

Earlier today Crib Notes reported that the Black Lips had to flee India to avoid going to jail over allegations of indecent exposure on the television show, Campus Rock Idol.-

Vice magazine caught up with drummer Joe Bradley to get his account of what happened.-

What happened in Chennai? Who got “indecent”?

Well, we hadn’t had a chance to get even the slightest bit drunk the entire time we were in India, so Jared bought a bunch of whisky before the show. The venue was some weird, shitty auditorium at a college. Things were uncomfortable to begin with; no eating inside, no smoking outside or anywhere really. The show was sponsered by Nokia, Honda, and VH1 and they had these crappy production projections on advert screens on either side of the stage. The college had these wireless mics though, so Jared got jazzed up on whisky and started pumping up the crowd by cursing at them, getting them to repeat things like “When I say ‘weak-ass’, you say ‘bitch’! Weak ass?” “BITCH!” “Weak ass?” “BITCH!” The crowd was eating it up but I think we only ended up playing like, seven songs. Eventually things got really energetic and Cole mooned the crowd then proceeded to kiss Ian while Jared continued ramping up the crowd, which eventually led to him taking a running dive into the audience. Really, our tour manager was the only one freaking out. No one tried to put a stop to the show. We even told the crowd “Remember! there’s only 4 of them (security) and 150 of you.”-

Read the rest of the post on Vice.-

(Photo by Nick Gazin).