Black Lips Recount Run-Ins With the Law: 'The Police Aren't Fans'

When the Black Lips fight the law, the law usually wins. The Atlanta group made headlines in January of last year when a feisty, obscene performance in Chennai, India turned the garage rockers into a band on the run. But those familiar with the band's reputation for rowdiness won't be surprised to learn that the India debacle wasn't their first brush with the legal system.

"We've been in much worse situations than that," Black Lips guitarist Cole Alexander tells Spinner. "The police definitely aren't fans of the band," bassist Jared Swilley chimes in.

The band makes no secret of their hard-partying, outside-the-law lifestyle, which sometimes makes it seem like they have a bull's-eye painted on their tour van.

"We got arrested in Germany for marijuana, but we didn't even have any marijuana on us," Alexander professes. "They just pulled us over and told us all to pee in a cup. We all came up positive so they threw us all in jail. We were like 'dude, we were in Amsterdam two days ago, which is part of the European Union, and it's completely legal there.' But they still locked us up."

While drugs are a common culprit for the band's legal woes, sometimes it just comes down to plain old adolescent antics. When the guys in Black Lips are looking to have a good time, they won't let little things like laws get in their way.

"I had to spend the night in jail the last time we were in London," Swilley relates. "There was this big sandbag sitting in the street and I bet I could throw it over my head. I was able to do it, but it landed on a car. Nothing happened to the car, but everywhere in London is on CCTV, so the police saw it all happen. I was just trying to impress a girl."

The stories flow like water for the band -- even when they're laying low they end up victims of circumstance. Swilley remembers a raid at a Black Lips concert in Green Bay, Wisconsin:

"Right as we were setting up, about ten cops came in and started carding everyone. They arrested the owner and they arrested anyone that was underage. Then they checked the bartender's record and he had a warrant out for him, so they arrested him, too. The show was over before we even got to play a note."

Still, the band is careful never to get arrested in the same place twice.

"We want to be able to play wherever we want, so to get banned from a city would be bad news," says Swilley. "We try never to take it past that barrier."

At least the Black Lips have their limits.