King Louie's
new full band, 10-4 Back Door, debuted Sept. 26 at EJ's.
This unit of three lead guitars features two former members
of the Silver Kings. In Louie's own words: country pickin'
electrified.
It is rumored
that legendary backwoods one-man band Hasil Adkins would
drive 200 miles to a gig on the promise of $20 and a steak
dinner.
Other one-man
bands included in the documentary I'm My Own Man
are Hasil Adkins, Mr. Quintron, Bob Log III, Lightning Beat
Man and Eric Royer.
I first saw King Louie's One-Man Band about a month ago,
at a free punk show at the Jolly Inn. His Highness sat on
the corner stage, pinched eyes, blunt haircut, strapped
into some kind of ramshackle body armor of beat-up instruments.
Guitar. Bass drum. Harmonica. Maracas. Coffee can. Cowbell.
He then proceeded to work this daunting assemblage over
with all the grace of an unmedicated spastic, howling, blowing,
kicking, strumming--at the same time. In key. Out of key.
On and off the beat. He was a lone man locked in a desperate
battle to keep the song alive, a gladiator in his music,
and it wasn't pretty. It was brilliant.
Then over at the bar I caught some asshole's snide remark:
"How do you like the hillbilly?" Hillbilly? This was King
Louie here, the guy who spent nine years with New Orleans
R&B greats The Royal Pendletons, not to mention time
marked in a number of actually good punk bands like the
Persuaders and the Klikums. Hillbilly?
Then Louie paused for breath and began the introduction
to his next song. "Me and my old lady have got this pig
and we like to feed it 'poke'! This next song is called
'Doin' the Pork Chop'!"
OK. Maybe Asshole had something there.
Two months ago, King Louie left his hometown of New Orleans
looking for a break. The Birthplace of Jazz and Blues is
an incredible place, but the town can take its toll. Louie
describes the city as having a debilitating "suction." He
has since made his new home out here in St. Johns ("The
people on the sidewalk are all zombies, dude!"). As admittedly
comfortable as he is with the "hillbilly" tag, I asked Louie
in a recent phone conversation if he thinks he's the next
Hasil Adkins, the West Virginia loon whose solo ravings
have shaken many a tar-paper shack.
"I don't think so," says Louie. "The gospel stuff's there
and Hasil does that and I like the way he does the stuff.
At the same time, I grew up on Black Flag and the Circle
Jerks, so there's that level of chaos. At some points my
songs just start going ballistic, and then they go back
into an R&B or country riff."
Born and raised in Louisiana and of direct Cajun descent,
Louie claims the inspiration for building a one-man band
lies in his fascination with small towns, fried food and
rooster fights. He started right off with bass drum and
guitar. He doesn't want to come off like "some hippie with
an acoustic guitar."
He's played in full bands for well over a decade; now freedom
seems to be his ultimate motivator. "I want to be able to
just jump in my car and do it when I want," he says. "Go
to some small town where there is only one street and a
stoplight and just sit on the corner and play until the
police come and tell me to go beat it." Given the hoarse
fury of much of his material, his removal as a disturbance
of the peace probably wouldn't take long.
Not that Louie needs to get arrested to earn attention.
He's just submitted a videotape of himself for an independent
film documenting one-man bands around the world. This very
week he leaves on a European tour, where he is scheduled
to play 28 dates in 30 days. And sometime next month his
first full-length is set to be released.
Recorded totally live with one kazoo overdub, Jesus
Loves My One Man Band is a tumbling mix of ringing guitar,
punk holler and clattering cowbell. Just like live, there
is never an attempt to present a perfect performance. In
this raw collection of rough-country soul, songs are played;
they don't have to be correct. On the minimal R&B title
track, Louie hits a spiritual high in recounting a meeting
with the King of Kings: "He's got the cowbell rolling along/
Puts the words in my song/ Leather sandals on his feet/
Kickin' on the bass drum, he's got the beat."
If King Louie does know a higher calling, one suspects
it is his one-man band, a fevered dream that has slowly
grown as he's figured out ways to tack on additional instruments
to the bass drum and guitar. And construction is far from
over. There's the promise of suspenders and a snare drum.
Eventually he wants to figure out away to get his bass drum
onto his back. This would lead to the creation of a brand
new band, the One-Man Marching Band.
"I'm just gonna read the paper, and if there's a parade
for something I'm just gonna show up and start walking with
the people," he says.
Let it be said that the Lunatic King has always been a
figure of most powerful vision.
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