Almost Famous: Black Lips

Black Lips probably wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice as cultural envoys to the Middle East, but that didn’t stop the riotous Atlanta garage rockers from visiting Israel and Palestine last summer. “We played on the streets of Bethlehem in front of a mosque,” says drummer-vocalist Joe Bradley between bites of fried chicken at a grungy Atlanta lunch spot. “These 10-year-old Palestinian kids were going nuts, but their fathers rushed them away.” Cole Alexander, the impish vocalist-guitarist, nods, adding, “We enjoy going to places no other bands go.”

In fact, the Lips — who are rounded out by vocalist-bassist Jared Swilley and guitarist Ian St. Pe — have made it their calling card. Their most recent tours have touched down in Sardinia and Tijuana, the latter of which provided a venue for an anarchic, alcohol-fueled live disc released earlier this year. But it’s the shows themselves — which have included bloody brawls, intragroup make-out sessions, fireworks, vomiting, nudity and perhaps most infamously, Alexander urinating into his own mouth — that have inexorably demonstrated the band’s willingness to go places others fear to tread.

The antics began as a way of disguising their sloppy musicianship. But with their fifth album, Good Bad Not Evil, on the way and a mountain of buzz building, they’re focusing more on the music. Twangy guitars, insistent rhythms and cleaner production streamline their messy “flower punk” vision on the positively hooky “Cold Hands.” “Veni Vidi Vici” is a wry, Velvets-tinged meditation on holy war; and the greaser anthem “Bad Kids” works as a snot-nosed defense of teenage delinquency.

“We’ve always tried to bridge the gap between oldies and punk,” Alexander says. If their tidier sound is indicative of a more mature band, he isn’t apologizing. “I don’t want to alienate people because I play guitar with my dick,” Alexander says. “We got attention for it — that’s one reason we did it, but we’re trying to expand. We’re not the animals people think we are.