The Almigty Defenders are a twisted-gospel/garage-punk supergroup featuring members of Black Lips, King Khan & BBQ. When I say "gospel," I mean these guys are inspired by 70s soul, 60s garage and 50s R&B, but the spiritual message is slightly warped. During their rowdy live set at Primavera Sound, they don't just encourage the crowd to "Take Jesus Christ," but to "take him by the balls...and squeeze". They had some strong words for the pope as well in this beguiling set of spirituals, and survived more than a gag (a Defender vomited onstage, which upset the security guards) to keep the party going late Saturday night at the Vice stage.
Vice released The Almighty Defenders' self-titled debut LP late last year, which is surprising turn-around considering the group had only formed in February 2009. Even more surprising is the group's origin story -- according to Wikipedia:
During the Black Lips' January 2009 tour of India, following an incident at a rowdy show during which Cole Alexander kissed fellow bandmember Ian St. Pe and exposed his private parts on-stage, the Lips fled the country while rumors of their arrests circulated the internet. The tour was canceled and the group members fled to the Berlin, Germany residence of King Khan, where Sultan so happened to be recording tracks with Khan for the King Khan and BBQ Show's upcoming "Invisible Girl". Over the course of eight days, in a typically booze-sloppy Black Lips fashion, they laid down 11 tracks with Khan and Sultan. On June 17, the full group made its live debut, performing a set in choir robes at the North by Northeast festival.
The Defenders' choir robes were in full effect at Primavera Sound, where highlights included the group's epic "The Great Defender", "The Ghost With The Most", and "Cone of Light" (full setlist after the jump). The album version of "Cone of Light" is available for download from Vice Records' FMA collection, where you can also find music from related projects Black Lips and King Khan and The Shrines and great great bands like Pierced Arrows, Growing, The Raveonettes, Acrassicauda and Lullabye Arkestra.
SETLIST:
All My Lovin
The Ghost with the Most
Jericho
Cone of Light
Jihad Blues
He Touched Me (Elvis)
I'm Comin Home (Mighty Hannibal)
She Came Before Me
The Great Defender
Bow Down and Die
Other episodes in this Primavera recap series on BoTB: Superchunk, The Slits, The Clean, Van Dyke Parks, Pavement ,Michael Rother & Friends play Neu! and Harmonia
Thanks for posting this awesome concierto!
BBQ kicks everyone's ass
T.O. ?
Posted by: Invisible Hands | July 08, 2010 at 12:09 AM