King Louie and his Loose Diamonds released a cd earlier this year that's an instant classic, at least in my house. The dude's got more aliases than I have teeth (and no, I'm not from Maine), and is seemingly always on the move, doing something, going somewhere, which makes me wonder if the FBI might be looking for him. Some kind of "marrying your underage cousin and taking her across state lines while eating greasy barbecue ribs in the back seat of your '72 Cadillac and listening to Ike and Tina Turner cassettes" scenario. I've read the word "irrepressible" before, in reference to various people I've never met; I think this is the first time I've ever been tempted to actually use it. If you're not familiar with his resume, King Louie's been in the Persuaders, The Royal Pendletons, Kajun SS, The Clickems, The Exploding Hearts, The Loose Diamonds and now The Black Rose Band, not to mention his time as a one man band, and probably a dozen other bands you've never heard of. This was by far the most enjoyable email interview I've yet conducted. I hope and pray that the world hears a lot more from King Louie.
I tried to put the following questions and answers together in a way that would allow you to get some sense out of them, but I've also included the date of the MySpace message that each question and each answer was contained in, so you can get a sense of the disjointed way in which this "interview" took place. I corrected most of the spelling, but I've left Louie's CAPITAL LetTerS just the way he put them.
(8/31) Hey there, it's me, bmo (rhymes with Nemo) from Now Wave. I'm thrilled you're up for this. Your new record is my favorite release this year, no question. What I usually do is fire a few questions at a time, wait for an answer, then fire a few more. Look for some starter questions some time over the weekend. Or, if you'd rather do it through regular email, send me back your address.
(9/1) Cool, I'm GOIN' TO THE shrimp AND petroleum FESTIVAL TODAY AND I WILL WRITE BACK TOMORROW...
(9/1) I have no idea what it could be, but The Shrimp and Petroleum Festival sounds like the greatest thing ever.
(9/1) Well It rained and thundered so fuckin' bad the city was a mess so I didn't go, but I found an old Louisiana Cajun record in a junk store called ''FOR COONASSES ONLY". It has this warning label that says ADULT on it...Gotta be GREAT!!! What's on your mind?
(9/2) I'm READY...let's REALLY GET INTO SOME QUESTIONS. Fun STUFF NOT JUST FLUFF...I'm READY!!!
(9/2) First of all, tell me what the hell the Shrimp and Petroleum festival is.
(9/2) Well I guess god loves Morgan City, Louisiana so much he blessed them with not just one But two festivals...Either that or the city is just so small that they have to combine the two..Louisiana shrimp are really just the best and our oil is far superior to the Middle East...
(9/2) Also, and less "fluffy", how hard was it for you to fit into the Exploding Hearts, and bring your songwriting into that mix, when they were already writing some very good songs?
(9/5) Well first of all, the last thing I was trying to do was join another band. And due to the fact they only did one show before I met them, I didn't even know they were a band till I heard the demo Adam gave me at a strip club. I was just so impressed at what I heard. It was the songs that are on what kids have dubbed the "PINK DEMO". I basically had a pop song in my pocket and no outlet for it. I was just getting my feet on the ground and movin' on with my own thing musically. Adam really liked PRETENDER and I thought that that was gonna be it till he called up and was like come and play this live Radio spot...To answer your question, It just fell into place really quick. PRETENDER was in the bag, they still needed lyrics finished for some of the songs Adam wanted to do on the radio, and I'm always tryin' to learn something new...I did a crash course all week and showed up to the radio show with the letters of the keys to all the songs taped up to the keyboard...I banged up my brain a bit. It was great and fun.
(9/2) This new record of yours seems like a big departure, stylistically, from what you've previously done. Do you see it that way, or as more of a continuation of the creative process?
(9/6) Do you have a number? I need it...Louie
--after some hesitation, I did send him my phone number. He didn't call me. I don't know why he needed it, or if that's even the number he meant. Maybe he wanted my Social Security number, or the number on my mailbox. I don't really know-------
(9/9) You still there? Everything OK?
(9/11) Yeah just got back from Mississippi...recorded some stuff...tired!!! Ill start writing tomorrow...Louie
(9/12) No it's not a departure. It just looks that way as far as the timeline of my releases. It actually predates Kajun SS and One Man Band, too. I just couldn't get the right line up and keep it strong enough to record. Just kept slippin' through my fingers since about 1999...I like to keep busy, so I just kept other projects happening. I've known for a long time where I want to be!
(9/12) Questions!!!!! Need more
(9/12) You say you've known where you want to be...are you there now?
(9/13) Yeah, I feel like I'm There. It's more of a frame of mind and feeling like I'm in the right creative spot...It's been over ten years since I've been in a band that can play for hours on end and has 30+ songs. Buy January we will be at 50 songs and our second album (a double LP) will be in the can just as our first one is getting out!!! We are doin' small town Louisiana shows now and along with the punk crowds too. I feel like the guys in the band really want to blast out with some hard edge stuff and also can go on and do a swamp doo wop thing if we have to. We are a real band. I've known them for years, but we just never got together. Julian was busy with The DETONATIONS and Dustin and me were in a band called KONDOR that would break up and get back together every week!!! The hurricane really made us just buckle down with one project...and it's been a bit of a challenge. I like that. When we came out it was like people thought we were a southern rock band. And maybe in the beginning we came off as that cuz we were just hammering out rock and learning to play together. I think our newer stuff is way more power pop laid out as country and bayou soul!!! But I could be wrong about that too. I just am all about my band and am happy kickin' ass...WHAT THE HELL IS SOUTHERN ROCK ANYWAY??? Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eye Hate God and Elvis Presley are all SOUTHERN ROCK!!!
(9/13) Well, Memphis Treet definitely sounds southern, and it's definitely rock, but you're right: I wouldn't want to put it in the same category with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Do you listen to much country music?
(9/17) Yeah!!! Most of the stuff I've done this decade has been based around country...One of the reasons I decided to leave the Heart was to work on more country related stuff too. Yeah I love it!
(9/17) What current country artists do you like?
(11/25) Mike Hurtt and the Haunted Harts, Gretchen Wilson, Kitty Lynn!!! A bunch of shit comes on my satellite radio when I'm at work. I don't always stop to see who it is. If it's new and good, I will dig it!
(9/17) Living in Memphis, do you ever see Alex Chilton hanging around?
(9/18) Well I Live in New Orleans and So has Alex since about 1987!!! But I'm in Memphis a lot and he's never around. We did a show in 1996 with Big Star. Only seen him in Memphis maybe twice since. Chilton pops his old ass in and around NOLA sometimes. Never know when though. He bought some hardware from my family's store after Hurricane Katrina...
(9/18) That's what I get for assuming, and not doing any research. How did you and your family come through Katrina?
(9/20) HEY MAN, WORKIN' A LOT THIS WEEK WILL MAIL YOU ON THE WEEKEND AND GET THIS GOIN' MORE...loomis
(10/4) OK, I'm back from Memphis and rockin' the Goner Fest...I can finish this up soon. So where are we...Oh yeah the hurricane...I'll get back to you tonight...Louie
(10/7) Well my car was crushed under a church!!! And my mom's Store's roof was ripped off and it rained into the upstairs (where she lived) and then molded for a month and we had a tarp on the roof for almost a year cuz the insurance ripped us off!!! I was stranded for days in the Mississippi forest when the hurricane changed course from heading to New Orleans and went to the gulf coast, Where I evacuated to (stupid Fucker)...ALMOAST DIED. Very lucky!!! Doin' well now though. Just really have buckled down and gettin' the BRB goin'. Ya see, I used to do a band or a record and move on and that was it. Now I realize I wanna be in one great band and make that my goal. I came back from Memphis and was like, who can I get that's on the same page and just wants to put all their faith and energy in to what I want to do. Now the world has BRB!!! Yeah I one off a show here or there with my old stuff, but BRB is the focus. I had it good in Memphis too. I could be there and rockin' with all my buddies, but I just thought NOLA needed me to get home and set this new thing in place...
(9/18) Do you work in the family store?
(9/18) I've heard that, along with most of the rest of the city, the music scene in New Orleans has changed a lot post-Katrina. Would you agree with that?
(10/4) Give me some insider stuff about Gonerfest.
(10/22) HEY!!!! Send more question!!! I forgot where we were. (Same message again on 10/24)
(10/23) Did anything crazy/funny happen at Gonerfest?
(10/25) CAN'T REMEMBER!
(10/23) Did you take the "King" part of your name from the character in The Jungle Book?
(10/25) HAAAA NO, I just gotta be KING Louie till I'm SAINT Louie I guess...
(10/25) The last group of answers are kinda short, but I think they work, send more...LOOMIS
(10/26) Sometimes shorter is better. What's the last song you've written, or are in the midst of writing?
(11/6) Wrote a song called DITCH QUEEN. One of the lyrics for it is "A lifeless dong from a tuned down gong"...and I got this song for a BLACK ROSE BAND /JIMBO MATHUS record where we back each other up on a few songs too. It's Sad and Poppy stuff. Also another called WOODEN SKY about some one choppin' their way out of an attic trapped in a flood! Hurricane flashback, I guess...probably ten more about barmaids and hookers too.
(10/26) Do you usually write lyrics first, or music first?
(11/6) I'm always writing a story or repeating a melody. A hook gets stuck and spins round and round for a day or so in my brain. Sometimes I wanna bang my head and make it stop. Really I've been like this all my life. Lyrics are the same way. I get a word or sentence caught in my brain and say it from front to back...I think I do well with stories because of this. I used to write lyrics and fit them into what I could play on the guitar. I always looked at my guitar playing as a facilitation of my stories and lyrical hooks. But now I can do just the opposite. One man band got my chops up and I'm truckin' with BRB and Ju Ju's a gun slinger...It's like there are pop, and country and rock and roll and so many different formulas for them, But they seem to fall in one place for me when I'm writing...right off the side walk or some curb I've been kicked to...
(10/26) What 50's rocker do you most associate yourself with?
(11/5) just got back from Memphis...27+ hours in the studio. I will answer this when I get my mind back together!!!
(11/16) I just got back from Bamma recording session!!! SO BUSY...Can you round up the questions I have not answered yet and send them at once. I WILLLLL finish it on Sunday. I promise!!! Louie (same message again on 11/17)
(11/17) Here you go. Feel free to give me any other rambling insanity you feel like inflicting on the eWorld. What 50's rocker do you most associate yourself with?
(11/25) WOW!!! That's not fair! There's like old NOLA dudes that have done great stuff and I like to give the unsung guys their props, but I would have to say for me it's Chuck Berry. Musically my stuff always starts right smack dab in the middle of one of his songs...Not to mention we share all the same vices and have definitely wound up in similar situations, but I won't comment on that too much...
(11/17) I've heard that, along with most of the rest of the city, the music scene in New Orleans has changed a lot post-Katrina. Would you agree with that?
(11/17) Hey...Ask me about guitar Lightnin'
(11/17) Alright, what can you tell me about guitar Lightnin'?
(11/18) Well the guy is just like this long lost relic of New Orleans R&B. The dude has never made a recording but ran with all the greats like Earl King back in the Dew Drop Inn days!!! Paul form Die Rotzz found the guy ten years ago and has really been the driving force behind him getting his songs recorded after all these years. I'm blowin' harp for him, Marvin Rotzz is on Bass, this cat Blind Hershel Jenkins is on slide, Paul Rotzz plays drums and believe it or not we even got Fats Dominos' son Twan playin' keyboards. It's turning out to be this live power house around town and we recorded a 45 7" for the Die Slaughterhouse label in Atlanta...Lightnin' was a fighter and fight trainer too. The stories are just too great for me to even try and tell them to you. Everything that comes out of the guy's mouth is genius! We are the right crew to back him too. We are not kids learning from the school of New Orleans horn funk...Lightnin' is from the era before that stuff. The stuff punk was originally trying to get back too. I feel so comfortable on stage while he plays and tells his stories and he feels just great when he does the Cramps song "Human Fly". He stands up and starts boogiein' spellin' out the word F-L-Y!!!!!!
And that's it, which leaves me feeling that there's no actual ending to this piece. Sorry about that. I guess what you need to do is to go buy Memphis Treet and play it about 200 times in a row. Then you can do your own damn interview.