Louis XIV

0:0088.3CJQFM sitting here with the with Louis 14. Louis the 14th. Yeah, is it Louis the 14th or 14th? Yeah, 14th. You never know by just looking at it. Well, you know, the son King part is in the part of the name. Where did you guys call up with that? It was the first, no, it's just the first riff that we wrote as a group. And Brian and I wrote it when we were just hanging around. It was just stuck. We just decided to name a band after them. We flew to just outside of Paris and recorded our first record. Is that cousin? It was around there that we actually decided to call ourselves Louis the 14th after the song. Did you have to see any of the stuff while you were in France? No, we just recorded.

0:45It was like the name. We just went, we recorded an album the first time we did, which is hard to find. You can only really get it off of on vinyl right now. We had to discontinue selling it while this new record is out. Why is that? Just wait a little. We sold it over the rights to it, you know. Just so that it wouldn't compete with the new record. But the first, there's two songs on the new record on the best little secrets are kept. That's the name of our new record. That is, there's two songs from that initial, those initial recordings that we did in France. But we just recorded in an old basement sort of magazine distribution warehouse where things would come in, like newspapers and magazines would come in and then go out to the newspaper stands in town. Our friend had a tape machine, a 16-track 2-inch machine.

1:31We brought over just a small little console and some microphones and compressors and recorded an album. Nice. Why don't we play a tune off the record, your choice? Start it up. How about Louis XIV, the first song we ever wrote. Cool. Sounds good. Here it is, 88.3.

4:53Louis XIV with Louis XIV. Title? Yes. Band-name track, I was going to say Title Track, but it's not the title track. There's a title track to our first record. Oh, yeah? Which is called Louis XIV, yeah. But it is the first song that we wrote for Louis XIV. Cool. I want to talk about rock music, getting kind of a revival lately too, especially bands like yours, and the bands that are here tonight, Future Head's Hot Hot Heat. Mm-hmm. I think that style of rock music. Do you think it's, do you think it's got a future with it? I mean, hip-hop's really big right now and rock's starting to come back. Well, to be honest with you, I think our music is closer oddly enough to hip-hop than it is to hot-hot-heater the future heads. Well, only because it's very beat-oriented, our stuff is, and very rhythmic in a odd way, you know, but in sort of just more rock and roll way.

5:40Yeah, I mean, we sort of stand out from a lot of those groups. Is it a cool tour? The fans enjoying it? The tour's been incredible, yeah. Yeah, really. The fans are great. Canada's a really great place. Is it just a Canadian tour? We toured with Hot Hot Heat in America, but not with the Future Heads just recently and mixed with our own tour. Then we did our own West Coast tour and now we're doing Canada with them. So we're having about five more dates. By the time probably this airs, we'll probably be done with this tour. Yeah. Then we tour East Coast on our own and then with the killers in the US and at the end of May. Cool. What do you think of the killers' music in that whole new wave dance 80s retro type thing coming back?

6:27I like it. I like, well, when you say types, you generalize a lot of things. I know, and I feel bad for doing that. Well, no, no, I don't, but I like the killers. I don't necessarily like all the other ones. You know, I mean, but there are some good groups out there, you know. It just seems to be what's popular in now, Front's, Ferdinand, all Interpol, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I like the killers the best at all those groups. Yeah. I think they're the best at them all. You know, I mean, we don't consider ourselves really a part of that whole scene. Oh, I mean, we sort of have come up at the same time as all those groups. And so we get lumped into it, but really only because we're gaining popularity at the same time they are. How do you start? I mean, 91x and San Diego started playing you guys. And then it just kind of, I guess, blew up.

7:13You want to say that? I mean, but. Well, we started our own record label. To get our music out there, the Pine Up Recording Group and everything we released, it still goes through the Pine Up Recording Group. We just happen to now be affiliated with Atlantic now, too. So. Let me give you what you want. You like that? They let us do everything we want. We produce our own records. We engineer them. We mix them. We do everything ourselves. They artwork, you know, they allowed us to have nudity on our cover, you know. It was something we would have obviously done on our own record label. But now that we have to, we're being distributed through Atlantic and whatnot, you know, they were really gracious enough to allow us to do that. You know, in a day and age when you can't do that. You know, I mean, I haven't seen it done. So. Yeah.

7:58Yeah. It's been, we just sort of got our own record label, started getting stuff out. And because of the internet and because of word of mouth, people started buying our records. Then all of a sudden we had a song, a finar trailer was blind, an mp3, like an unmixed version started getting played on 9-1-X. And then it started getting played in San Francisco and then in L.A. and then Portland, Seattle and Phoenix, all this. You know, and then we signed, you know, we had every, you know, major label offer you can imagine. No, really? Why did you do that line up then? Because they wanted, they believed in us and believed in not messing up what we did. You know? So they were good people, you know.

8:45We just really liked the people that we were dealing with. And it's sort of you want to be able to hang out, you know, alone with these people, you know, that you're getting business with. You know, and that believe in what you're doing. They didn't try to, you know, stick one of the same five producers on us or, you know, do this or try to change us in any way. They just liked what we were doing. And as a matter of fact, said, you know, keep doing exactly how you're doing it. We don't want to mess it up. And so we recognized that. And a lot of the other labels could have just been coming on because the buzz was there, you know. Atlantic, the guy from Atlantic saw us play and within five days had a deal on the table. That's nice. You know, so that said a lot about his character to us.

9:31Is your beer right behind me? I wish it was. Oh, it does not. No. So you might as well grab that now. You mentioned downloading how the MP3 got out there. How do you guys feel about downloading? I think it's helped your arms you more. Yeah. That's great. However you can hear the music, I don't think from the get go we ever expected to be a band that, you know, we've got into our own niche where we just kind of accepted the fact that we make music on our own. And we put it out ourselves and perform it ourselves. So I think we wanted people to download our songs just to hear about us, you know. And you know, but now it's a day and age where CDs are expensive. You know, I'd like sure. Go out and buy the record because you'll love it. The one thing I don't like about downloading is you don't get a chance to hear the whole album, which I think resembles.

10:20In the order that was intended more than just one song that you can download, you know, but shit, you know, I downloaded it if you can't buy it. It's okay, it's called radio. What did I say? Yeah. It's a good. No, I feel this exact same way. I think it's what helped garner attention towards us as people download our music. The thing is that we also made an album though. You know, that's a collection of songs in a particular order with even segues on the album, you know, in terms of so that it would be sort of a timeless record like a Zeppelin record or, you know, like something that you wanted to listen to the whole way through to see what the vision of the artists were. You know, and so when you do just download a song or two, you only get that one song or two, you don't get the whole idea, the whole vision of the album, which we specifically made an album.

11:12Do you think that's going to be going away and then bands will make an album, you know, just as an album? Kind of like the way it was in the 50s with singles being major things and then the album, you know, some people would have an album and just be collection of songs. I don't know where, like, which way the wind is sort of blowing. I just know that we've made an album, you know, we have singles on that album, but, you know, the ones that aren't the singles are just as good as the ones that are the singles. I mean, at least in our opinion. Yeah, well, I'm sure you want to put them on the record if you didn't feel that way. Yeah, you know, I mean, and I think a lot of records that do come out do have one or two songs that are sort of the singles and you can tell which ones are those and then they have a lot of filler. And we've made a very focused and clear point not to do that. I don't think we know how to make one of those records really.

11:59I mean, we've never really been in the business of predicting what way music is going to go, you know, we just have always kind of done one thing and stuck with it. And our now just kind of starting to get recognized, I guess. Yeah, along with you as I'm playing together. Well, Brian and I've known each other since we were little kids since we've had a recess in sixth grade, but we played in different bands, you know, over the years. But, Louis XIV, we started this group together and two years ago, April, April 2003, that's when we went to France. Come along, Lasons, then. Yeah, it's been very quick and a lot of playing, a lot of recording. But we set out, I mean, before we started touring every day, you know, we recorded every day.

12:44So we haven't really taken any time off since we started. You know, we haven't really got going on this time. That's a big problem sitting well. We found out Brian's in town. Brian Duck. So let's play another scene. Yeah, let's play another scene. What do you want to hear? I should say. Well, I mean, you could play Find An Out, Should Have Was Blind or maybe Let Of The Dominique. Yeah, okay. Let's play both of them. Okay. Here they are. So this is Find An Out, Should Have Was Blind and then a Letter To Dominique is next. Oh, the imagination.

19:25You record an album and you want is the album concept.

20:32Do you record them in that order too or is it just kind of, you know, here and there and then? No, you never know when certain things are going to come out. Yeah, it brings up a very interesting. Yeah, I did. But the problem with the way we do it is we write and record at the same time. We don't usually write a song and then go record it sometime later. We go into the studio just and just decide to sort of make something up. You know, and you leave the, you go in at say noon that day. And when I say studio, really just our room. It's just a room. We don't go, we don't record in proper studios. We just record in our place with all our stuff. So we go in and just sort of like our little playhouse and then, you know, at four in the morning you leave. And on the good days you came up with a song that you really dig.

21:17It's a good jam session I guess. Yeah, and you never know what sort of, what's, you never know the order that things are going to, that inspiration is going to come. You know, that you're going to be sort of fortunate enough to see, but we could have feasibly done it that way. I think it's a great idea. In some ways we, it actually in reality is some ways we did do that with the odd song a little differently. But the first song on the record is the first song we ever recorded, which is Louis the 14th. You know, the last song, the last two songs are the last, no, last three songs are the last three things that we did. So I mean, yeah, I guess it does. I guess so. I guess once you really sit down, I think that it's good. It is sort of that way. Gosh, I'd be, I wonder if it really is actually in the order that it was written.

22:02No, because you got finding out. Yeah, you do. Well, God killed. God killed the Queen. Is he on the little one that one was recorded in France? Yeah, that was done second. So, yeah, anyway. It was still pretty close. Very close. I got the wrap-ups time. So I got five quick questions. Just one word answers from both of you. Okay. What's in your CD player right now, or iPod or whatever you guys do? Yes. Yes. One word answer. One word answer? Or just like what bands in your CD player are? Uh, listening to a lot of, uh, gosh. Stuff. A lot of, a lot of stones, a lot of Bowie and T-Rex. The faces. The faces, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's absolutely great. That's why I'm just amazing. Yeah, a lot, a lot, I mean, it's hit too many different things, you know.

22:47Yeah. Especially in the day to age of, of iPods now. It's just so much stuff, yeah. So it's not really a CD player. Cool. Leonard McCutney. I like Leonard. I do too. But I don't not like Paul. Yeah, I do. I'm the same way. Cool. Alcohol or marijuana? Alcohol. I like the combination of the alcohol. Yeah. Cool. Song you've written that you're most proud of. Ooh. That's a tricky one. You know what? I don't know. It's not finished. There's one we have in the works that always kind of. Where have all my chickens gone? No. The, uh, Sipping a T like a porcelain doll. Oh, yeah. But it's not. It's not finished. But I do love the actual song. Yeah. That's, that's too hard to say.

23:32There's too many of them. Not at all. It's that sort of a cliche thing of these are your little kids. You know, and would you want to really pick which one you like the best? Yeah. Cool. Louis XIV, just one word. First thing you think of. Our. Incredible. Confidence. Great. Yeah. Thanks guys. You want to pick another tune to close us out? Uh, yeah. How about, actually, how about one of the. Another two actually. How about. Two tone sets. I wouldn't. Ball of twine. Ball of twine. I was just thinking that. The last song on the record is called Ball of twine. And then what would be another one? How about Pledge of Allegiance? The Pledge of Allegiance. Cool. Thanks so much guys. Appreciate it. Thank you.

25:38Thank you. To a ball of twine. You're like a yodel on the big pinks. And then I think that I hear on my way. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here to listen to the kids.