Debut album released

The band’s debut full-length album, Black Lips! , was released on Bomp! Records in 2003. Within this tribute album commemorating Ben Eberbaugh’s life as a quality musician, they released three more songs from their set with Gagnon (2000): “Stone Cold” (with Gagnon on bass), “Can’t Get Me Down” and “Everybody Loves A Cocksucker” were already mixed and mastered by Eric. They had “Stone Cold” remastered with the channels flipped from the original two track mix as a way to avoid legal trouble. Back in 2000, Jared put himself in rehab during the studio session with Eric, so Cole asked Gagnon to play bass both in the studio and during a live show at The Earl (Atlanta, Georgia). Eric agreed so long as he didn’t have to record any more firecrackers in his studio (“Ain’t Coming Back”). Eberbaugh’s bluesy guitar style makes a large presence in their early work. After his untimely death in 2002, Ben’s role was filled by Jack Hines, a friend of the band members, and they recorded their second studio album, We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow , with him. Hines quit the band in 2004 so he could settle down with his wife. Ian St. Pé, who at the time was enrolled at the University of Memphis as a music major, got a call from the band asking if he wanted to immediately join them on tour. Pé, who spent his early twenties buying alcohol for his then-underage future bandmates, dropped out of school and accepted the band’s offer. In 2005, they released two more 7-inch vinyls through Slovenly Recordings. Eric Gagnon produced both “Stuck In My Mind” and “Does She Want” – which were tracked, mixed and mastered by Gagnon back in 2000. They slowly built a fanbase that appreciated their rough pastiche of blues, rock, doo-wop, country, and punk. They gained national attention in 2006 with features in Spin and Rolling Stone . The band got exposure in The New York Times during the 2007 South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, in which they played a dozen shows over a three-day period.