Around this same time when Cardamone and Devore were working on various musical projects at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, Aaron North sent an email to The Icarus Line's management notifying that he would be leaving the group.

At the time it wasn't a shock considering the amount of drugs everyone was on and the fact that there had been talk of moving Don Devore into the guitar position in favor of exploring new territory stylistically.

After five months of staying in hotels and motel in their hometown of Los Angeles they two finally secured a real place to live with help from friends Ronda Doyle and Alexis Haritakis.

The Kingswell house, as it came to be known, evolved in into a refuge for an eclectic cast of like-minded individuals including members of The Mars Volta, Need New Body, The Warlocks, G. Love, Maroon 5, Ariel Pink, Beachwood Sparks, Earl Greyhound and others.

Recording for Black Lives began with producer Michael Musmanno at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles and ended in various studios in New York City.

Black Lives was mixed by Dave McNair at Avatar in New York City, the same studio where David Bowie had recorded Let's Dance and favorite spot of Bob Clearmountain.

Black Lives is characterized by dark, disjointed themes similar in spirit to "There's a Riot Goin' on" by Sly Stone and "Flowers of Romance" by PiL.