Comprised of members of the Black Lips and the King Khan & BBQ Show, the Almighty Defenders are a garage rock supergroup, loosely rooted in gospel. On the Black Lips' 2009 tour of India, following an incident at a particularly rowdy show in which a bandmember kissed a fellow bandmember and exposed himself on-stage, the Lips fled the country hastily while rumors of their arrests circulated. The tour was abandoned and, without a place to stay, the group members shacked up with Erick Khan (aka King Khan), who was living in Berlin at the time. Jam sessions commenced, and in the course of eight days, in a typically booze-sloppy Black Lips fashion, they laid down 11 tracks with Khan and his bandmate Mark Sultan (aka BBQ). On June 17, the full group made its live debut, performing a set in choir robes at the North by Northeast festival, and Vice Records made plans to release the Almighty Defenders' self-titled debut on September 22, 2009. ~ Jason Lymangrover