I always wondered how it is that American bands end up touring in India and how they are received – I know that the big concerts in Delhi are usually far more hard rock bands rather than anything that the kids here are listening to today. I was surprised then to watch this short documentary of the Black Lips, a very non-hard rock band, go on tour in India. You may recognize their song Bad Kids from (500) Days of Summer. (The ending of the movie is NSFW; hat tip to rockistani).
I thought the video was amusing, raw, and fun, ending on a spectacular rock star note. And for those who want to see how the movie ended and are curious about the “NSFW” rating without watching the whole thing, I’ll tell you after the jump.> Indian police have allegedly chased Black Lips from the country, bringing the band’s tour to an ignominious end.
The Atlanta, Georgia garage-rockers were in the middle of an Indian tour, playing hotspots such as Bangalore and Mumbai. Barraged with bottles in Pune, the band was a little better received in Chennai, where they were playing the Campus Rock Idol showcase at Sir Mutha Venkata Subbarao Concert Hall.
Unfortunately, this positive reception made them a little feisty. According to one blog, guitarist Cole Alexander stripped and jumped into the crowd, returning to the stage only to snog his bandmates. Such nude antics, at least in Chennai, reportedly qualify as indecent exposure – and soon the band was on the run.
“After the fiasco, which the kids seemed to like, the financial backers of the event were furious and threw us off the tour,” the band explained on their website. “They tried to get security to restrain us until the Tamil police arrived. We locked the door while they were kicking and banging on it. Meanwhile, we slipped out the other emergency exit.”[guardian]
I shouldn’t be surprised that the band had to flee the country, but at the same time, I kind of am. When I was in Delhi a few months ago, I saw a naked man walking down the middle of the street in broad daylight surrounded by his entourage of followers. All the band member did was moon the crowd and grab his crotch. I guess, indecent exposure is a relative term.
Good point!
But maybe intent was considered.
Holy nudity (as long as it’s coming from people without ovaries) is lauded in India.
“Rude” nudity is not.
A young rocker mooning a crowd would be deemed rude and indecent to by uncle/auntie standards.
A “holy man” roaming with maha-shiva-lingam in full view is alright.
Many people in India go naked (or insufficiently clothed) for reasons of sheer poverty. Others do in socially sanctioned contexts (sadhus at Kumbh Mela, for instance). In a place like India laws are not and cannot be applied without regard to social context. (That is, even assuming situations where the law is present, which is not everywhere)
what the hell was levi doing in inida
all this was just an attempt to distract people from realizing how terrible “black lips” really are
haha! Love dat hashish!
Here the Boulder pumpkin run(Colorado) was spoiled because people started to cry that it is an indecent exposure. Last time some people were booked for this and they had to register as sex offenders!
Thanks for posting the vid. I’m a Black Lips fan and heard about this fiasco on the news months ago. Nice to see it firsthand. They always put on raucous show.
I am disturbed by that clip, Akash. Something about naked people running with pumpkins on their head is just disturbing.
But sex offenders they are not.
if only the video were in black and white, then they could’ve qualified for a Polanski exception.
I have spoken to many boulderites about this. The liberal boulderites think this as their tradition & stopping it as an act of police high handedness. If this is disturbing then everything associated with nudity might also be disturbing, like the nude art, nude beaches…MF Husain ran away from India because his nude art disturbed the right wing. I do agree that there is a thin line between vulgarity & art. What may be vulgar for someone, might be an art for others.
Black Lips fan here. Their trip looked kick ass.
the haircut part was funny.