In March of 2005, a couple days after seeing the pillows live at the Knitting Factory in New York City, I went into Tower Records inside Trump Tower. The new Queens of the Stone Age album had just come out, and I went to purchase it. Sitting next to the new QOTSA album was an album from a band that I had (at the time) just recently heard of: "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept" by Louis XIV. I had only heard their song "Finding Out True Love is Blind" on the radio and in an EA Sports baseball game, but I was enchanted by its album cover: the song titles written on the back of a naked woman. I had to own it. The next night I took a listen, and I was enthralled by its power and sound. The era of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll had returned; and I was a happy little ducky. TBLSAK wound up being my favorite album of '05.
This year Louis XIV's third album "Slick Dogs & Ponies" was released, and it has proven to be one of this year's best. I went and saw them play last Monday at the Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they put on a show that was almost too good for words.
I was originally going to interview the band, but by the time the show had ended my ride had arrived. I sent a letter of apology to guitarist/vocalist/pianist Brian Karscig, who told me to send him the questions; and then would proceed to email me back the answers.
The following email interview contains 10 of my own questions, 6 from the fans taken from the band's forum, and one final question from me:
King Baby Duck: Where did this asphyxiation for Louis XIV originate from? Why not another king?Brian Karscig: Well, we recorded our first self titled album (out of print now, but soon to be re-released) at a friend’s flat in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 2003. We were just ending a long relationship in another band, and went to Paris to get away and take advantage of a cool place to record and free place to stay.
If our friend lived in England, we very well may have been Henry VIII.
KBD: When you go into recording an album or a single, do you have a special routine that you do (like something that motivates you to create and record)?
BK: There is no better feeling than completing a song, or any piece of art for that matter, and feeling good and confident about it...In fact, I think that is what has kept me a songwriter to this day, is chasing that feeling of accomplishment.
Jason, Mark, and myself have been friends since grade school, and have been playing in bands together since then....We have an irreplaceable knack with working together, and all love making music.
KBD: How was recording "Slick Dogs and Ponies" different from the process of making "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept"?
BK: Well, it was a little more difficult. We went crazy trying to figure out what kind of album we wanted to make, and there were points of anxiety and self-consciousness...
The one certainty we all agreed on is that we did not want to repeat ourselves and make the same album...
Louis XIV - Guilt By Association
KBD: Your band has some of the most unique album covers. Your first album had that sort of classic 1950s song-titles look, and then for both the "Illegal Tender" EP and "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept" you had the nude ladies (which fit the style of your music perfectly). For "Slick Dogs and Ponies" what made you want to return to the classic record look instead of the girls?
BK: I think we wanted to go back to the beginning in some way. Try to not over think anything, and set out to just be artists again....That was our mentality when the group started, so we brought it back.
KBD: One song in particular I’m interested in learning about is "Stalker." How was the song and its rhythm created, and is there a story behind the song?
BK: Jason came to the studio one day with the b-minor descender part on the piano, and made a beat around the sound of a gun shot, a match being lit, and a clock. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and we both came up with a story of a stalker, because the groove had an evil feel to it...We both went out on the mic and started just kind of vamping melodies and wrote the words around them.
KBD: In "Sometimes You Just Want To" what is the meaning behind the lyrics "You used fucking as an adjective/But you can’t save time at a bank for kids"?
BK: It’s about my girlfriend...She's the most lovely woman in the world, but loves the "F"-word to describe everything.
KBD: In the song "Money Bunny" you say "Who wants true love when you can buy it temporarily." Do you truly believe in that? Why or why not?
BK: Not really, it was sort of a double meaning and tongue and cheeky at the same time...The song was about women who love money, so it just seemed suiting, but at the same time, we wrote it shortly after the success of “Finding Out True Love is Blind.” I was ready to move on from just being the FOTLIB band, so "Who wants True Love when you can buy it temporarily" was also in some ways a statement about moving forward into the next phase of the bands identity.
KBD: What has to be the worst show that you’ve ever played, and why?
BK: That’s a toughy...Probably NYC black ball with David Bowie, and Alicia Keys...It was mind blowing being on that bill, and Tom Cruise and his wife were 5 feet from me in the front row...Weird? But they were super cool afterward.
KBD: Recently, you lost a good friend: Natasha Shneider. On your website you talked about how "everyone whom she had contact with is better, different and changed." How did she do that, did she give any kind of advice to you that any one out there can follow?
BK: I still haven't come to terms with her passing...She's hands down the most talented musician we've ever worked with, beautiful in mind and spirit. I’ve taken a lot away from the experience with working with her.
KBD: What do you think of the state of American rock ‘n’ roll? Do you think it’s gotten better or worse in the past few years, in your honest opinion?
BK: That's a tough question...I don't really like speaking negative about anyone’s music or politics for that matter, but I think that American music is becoming more homogenized...Everything is starting to sound the same, and it feels very forced and sterile.
Bands that I listen to (i.e.: Led Zeppelin) used to make "albums,” and that’s what we like to try to achieve as LOUIS XIV, not just a "single" and 9 filler songs...which is what the state of the business seems to have become.
Louis XIV - God Killed the Queen (from the album "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept")
Now I would like to present to you the questions from the fans!
Sans Nom: I always kind of wondered why they named their label The Pineapple Recording Group.
BK: We all lived in a house many years ago, and when we built our first studio in there, there were these bronze etched Pineapples...So we just named ourselves Pineapple Recording Group.
janna: What is their favorite city to perform in?
BK: I love a lot...NYC, Berlin, Paris, London of course, but also some of the smaller ones Montreal, Tolouse, and Zurich.
orangeblossom: Will Brian ever lose the beard?
BK: I'm sure I will.
samwise: I would like to know if they are planning to release another single from SDAP.
BK: None planned.
xxiolla: do they know about all the remixes that have been done to their songs and how do they like/feel about [them]?
BK: I haven't heard them, but would love to hear them...
Kat: Whatever happened to Dominique?
BK: The world may never know...
The final question:
KBD: What is Louis XIV’s plan on taking over the music industry?
BK: We will do what we've always done, and just make uncompromised music for ourselves, and keep challenging ourselves creatively, and hope our fans come along for the ride.
Louis XIV - Air Traffic Control
I would like to thank Brian for taking time out of his extremely busy schedule to answer these questions. My gratitude towards him and the rest of the bandmates is ever eternal. I would also like to thank the people on the Louis XIV Web Boards for their great questions.
Louis XIV's "Slick Dogs and Ponies" is available in stores now. It's one of my top albums of 2008 to check out.
This is King Baby Duck saying, "It takes a lover that knows I love her like no other."
Labels: Interview, King Baby Duck, Louis XIV, Music, Rock
