Wild and crazy lips

The Black Lips aren’t known for their subtlety.

What the Atlanta garage rock band is known for is nudity, bodily fluids, kissing and an assortment of other riot-inducing antics that have become a staple of the Black Lips’ live show.

But singer and guitarist Cole Alexander hopes to change this perception of the band or at least turn more fans on to their records. Washington residents will be able to find out if the group has turned a new leaf when the band plays the Black Cat on March 19.

“Our live show is pretty well-known but we’re trying to get our records to be as recognized as the live band,” Alexander said. “We’re trying to improve the studio sound. Not necessarily more polished but kind of mid-fi. We’re just gonna keep working on [our new album] until it’s really awesome.”

Alexander hopes to put out the new record late this year. And while the band tries to expand its reputation beyond its crazy concerts, those experiences will always lay the foundation for the rowdy outfit’s public image.

“Not every show [is wild],” Alexander said. “Some shows are just normal shows. A couple shows have kind of gotten out of control and that has kind of gotten played out by people.

I’d say our live show is pretty good. It’s one thing that most bands don’t have. I’m not cocky. I just think we have better live shows.

“It’s just, like, we move onstage, some bands aren’t moving. We study a lot of great stage performance like James Brown or Jimi Hendrix.”

Alexander said the characteristically stoic Washington scene has been very interactive with the Black Lips at their last several shows in town.

“I love D.C.,” Alexander said. “It’s funny, we used to play there for awhile and nothing was really going for us there and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, people started coming to our shows and there’s a lot of young kids getting all [crazy]. [Washington is] up there with some of the best performances with us in terms of crowd participation.”

The Black Lips have been riling up crowds for years. The band started while the members were still in high school and managed to stay together once they left school.

The band’s often lo-fi recordings and melodic rock has been described as flower punk. Alexander said there was no real mission to try and achieve a particular band sound.

“It just kind of came naturally,” Alexander said of the band’s signature style. “One of the things we do a lot of are gang vocals, where we all sing together. And that kind of works for the hooks, for a chorus where we’ll all sing.

“I always like when there’s multiple singers. I always liked The Beatles and everything, the Rolling Stones. They always have multiple things going on as far as singers. It kind of keeps it refreshing because sometimes one guy’s voice will sound cool over a couple songs, but after five or six it kind of wears on you. It keeps things fresh.”

In addition to its sound and live show antics, the band has often been recognized for the large amount of work it does, whether that be in the recording studio or on the concert stage.

The New York Times called the Black Lips the “hardest working band at SXSW” in 2007 when the band played five shows in one day while at the annual music conference in Austin.

“I guess we just don’t have anything else to do,” Alexander said. “We were working day jobs for awhile but we started doing [the band] so much we weren’t able to hold our jobs.

Then the only way to sustain ourselves was to go at it all of the time, kind of make enough of a living to go at it. Then it just kind of snowballed, then we got more success, got more obligations, people wanted us to play more shows, play more regions. We’re trying to play all the continents we can.”

Black Lips will play at the Black Cat on March 19. Doors are 9:00 p.m. Tickets cost $13 in advance and $15 day of show.

rhiggins@umdbk.com