For Louis XIV, glam rock rules
If you turn on the History Channel, you'll probably learn that the reign of Louis XIV came to an end in 1715. If you turn on any music channel these days, you'll probably find out that the reign of Louis XIV is just about to begin.
Confused? The truth is that the San Diego band creating a stir on the pop scene has little to do with the French ruler, but it owes a lot to history -- rock history, as in the trashy glam era lorded over by David Bowie and T. Rex. The group's throwback sound, complete with slashing guitars, super-sexed-up lyrics, dollops of kitsch, leering, sneering vocals, and stylish swagger, has helped the quartet quickly rise in the alt-rock ranks.
''You have to be honest and admit that no one is doing what we are doing these days," says lead singer Jason Hill by phone moments after he has just left a Toronto tailor where he bought a new suit to wear at a recent gig. ''I really don't want to come off and sound like an [expletive], but I think what we're doing is groundbreaking stuff. Sure, we have a lot of influences that are obvious, but what else out there sounds like the music we are making?"
Hill knows that journalists are comparing Louis XIV with bands such as the Strokes and the Hives. ''I'm thinking, 'What are these people listening to?' We sound nothing like those bands," he says. ''One of the things we built the band on was that if we heard the music scene going in one direction, we were going to go the other way."
What has people buzzing is the group's major label debut, ''The Best Little Secrets Are Kept" (Atlantic), a tart set of noisy blasts of naughty-boy rock that at its best is prickly and provocative and at its worst merely redundant.
Hill is no doubt exaggerating when he suggests this is groundbreaking stuff -- it all comes as part of the oversize persona that is Louis XIV -- as the band evokes everyone from Bowie to the Stooges. But let's face it, everything's been done before. The trick these days is how you recombine the various ingredients, and Louis XIV is clearly having a heck of a good time stirring the pot.
Whether the band has staying power is a question it will have to answer. George Varga, who has followed the group as pop music critic for The San Diego Union-Tribune, says Louis XIV's wild popularity in its hometown may translate to the rest of the country.
''They are no doubt good at what they do, but I'm not sure that there's going to be longevity in a sound like a neo-glam movement at this time," Varga says. ''They will find a lot of fans who may not know of Ziggy-era Bowie or T. Rex, just as people who aren't familiar with New Order respond to the Killers these days."
Hill won't mind if the band doesn't have widespread appeal. ''Let them buy a Jimmy Eat World record," he says. ''Heck, 3 Doors Down still sells 10 times what we will no doubt sell, so to each his own. But we don't want everyone to get it. There's something wrong when everyone likes you."
Mostly, it's the group's lyrical content that has stoked the flames from those who like their rock neat and tidy. Many songs on the disc revolve around skewed relationships and are delivered by Hill with more than a little irony.
''Me, me, me, is all I ever want to talk about" he snarls. And he's likely to drop a line like ''I know I ain't correct but politics are so much better when there's sex" as a sweet bon mot to his loved one.
''All these people calling us sexists are nuts," Hill says.
He describes the album as a ''dialogue between a man and woman," with several songs detailing what the man is thinking.
''Life is complex. Things are layered," he explains.
For now, the group, which also includes guitarist Brian Karscig, drummer Mark Anders Maigaard, and bassist James Armbrust, is headlining its first US tour and selling out clubs across the country. (It plays the Middle East Downstairs tomorrow night.) Success has come quickly for the members, as they've been together for only three years.
Hill says that he especially appreciates the small rewards that come with being an industry buzz band -- for the past two years, he has slept on friends' couches and had very few material possessions besides musical equipment.
But, to play off a phrase glam icon Bowie once wrote, who needs TV when you have T. Rex, right?
