Tampa Calling

While the Black Lips didn’t offer specifics about what they did to offend authorities in Chennai, India, I assume the tongue-in-cheek indie rockers (who play Orpheum March 26) probably didn’t realize their normally outrageous stage show — which, in the past, has included urinating, nudity, vomiting, band members kissing, cross-dressing, fireworks, a chicken, and flaming guitars — maybe wouldn’t translate so well in certain overseas countries, namely one where public displays of affection can get you arrested.

I think, in the end, that neither side knew exactly what they were getting into. Black Lips put on a show, someone important got offended and complained to the right person, the band was accused of indecent exposure by Indian police, and the misadventures (an attempted arrest, a cross-country chase, passport-stealing mystery men, a furtive flight to Berlin) began from there.

Check out this hilarious letter from the Black Lips to their fans posted on their MySpace page and offering details about their Indian drama. My favorite line: “This was a cultural clashing shit storm.”

Dear fans,

Unfortunately, we have had to flee the country of India due to having our whole tour canceled and having to escape being held by police for indecent exposure during our most rawkus set in Chennai at the Campus Rock Idol showcase.

After the fiasco, which the kids seemed to like, the financial backers of the event were furious and threw us off the tour. 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.

When we got to the hotel our tour guide informed us that the that the Campus Rock Idols sponsors were pressing charges and that the police would make their arrest. At that point our tour driver informed us we would have to drive six hours to get to the next town and cross state lines where we would be out of the Tamil authorities’ jurisdiction, because apparently the jail in Chennai is no joke. Word on the street said that it was teeming with tuberculosis, violence and live maggots so instead of risking going there we fled the scene. The drive ended up taking 10 hours because of a horrific accident on the road. We were also informed that all of the shows on our tour had been canceled effectively fucking all funds for the trip. This was a cultural clashing shit storm.

When we got to the next hotel a mysterious man and someone who worked for our Indian booking agency tried to run off with our passports, they got to the car when we caught them. That’s when our VBS.tv documentarian Rob went postal on them. We surrounded them until they gave back our passports. After that we booked the first flight to Berlin to instead work with another Indian, King Khan, on an upcoming EP. We are flying out as soon as sunrise hits this far away land and we have to have the US embassy’s phone number on hand in case any more troubleshit starts popping at the airport or something. We would like to thank the four Hindi speaking tour guides, and Rana Ghose for helping us get through these enormous trials and tribulations, and for future reference we really enjoyed the people of India and we hope western rock bands will be able to tour there in the future.

- The Black Lips

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