Musicpix.net

As we walked down Broadripple Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana to grab a bite to eat a couple of hours before our scheduled pre-show interview with Jason Hill of Louis XIV, I realized that we were walking right behind him! Coincidentally, we both had the same corner restaurant in mind. He stepped up to the bar, ordered a Bloody Mary as we took a window seat nearby. “Jason?” I asked. “Yea, that’s me” he confirmed. We made our introductions and he offered to jump right into the interview ahead of schedule at the restaurant… a great opportunity to talk music without all the distractions of pre-show chaos.

“The moment anyone tries to put me in a box, I want to run. So the idea that people will only think of us as a band that was a little bit bold, or sex obsessed, concerns me. I don’t want to be known for that. I want to be known for making a great record.”

Jason Hill

Musicpix discovered that Jason Hill is a meticulous, accomplished, serious musician that just so happened to focus on sex as the theme for their debut album with Atlantic Records, “The Best Little Secrets are Kept.” Given the explicit content of the album and the publicity that surrounds Louis XIV, it’s easy to think that the mystique of sex, drugs, and rock and roll is alive and well and embodied in the souls of the members of the band. Well, don’t assume. If you’re expecting a sex-laden discussion about Jason’s sexual preferences and urges, then you’ll be disappointed. If you’re a music lover and intrigued by artist’s personalities and what drives them, then our interview with Jason Hill will arouse you.

Make no mistake… Louis XIV is a band that ROCKS! Although already a fan of their latest cd “The Best Little Secrets Are Kept”, we were not prepared for the power and precision this band displays live. This band is a “must see”.

And now for the interview, read on...

MusicPix: We want to open by saying that it’s been a gas listening to your work! In a sense, we’re refreshed and stimulated because we share your feelings regarding the over-processed and microwaved world of music that exists today. So thanks for giving us a fresh musical aphrodisiac!

Jason: That’s very nice. Great…that’s fantastic.

MusicPix: Love has always been a hot lyrical topic …finding love, keeping love and of course, losing love. But you’ve chosen the direct approach…screw love so to speak… let’s just get to the Promised Land. So do you believe that true love is blind?

Jason: I have a girlfriend and still do. At the time, I was anxious and looking around at other girls and not really realizing that this fantastic girl is right in front of me. By the end of the song I came to the realization that she’s right there and I just didn’t realize it because I was so busy looking around at everything else. Actually, it’s a very odd love song. On the surface, it’s this girl-that girl-it’s fantastic. So yea, I sure think that love can be blind.

Louis XIV Concert Photo Gallery

MusicPix: The raw vintage production of Best Little Secrets is so appropriate for this sex concept album. Will this be Louis’ trademark sound no matter where you go lyrically?

Jason: I think I have to go someplace else different as a band. I don’t have to but I probably will because you don’t want to repeat yourself. Because I produced and engineered it and all that, it’s what I’d hope for. I like the sound of it. I don’t imagine it will change unless my tastes change. I always try to get thinks differently, trying different set-ups. I always try to get the sounds different from one track to another. The same thing with guitars. I might have certain things that I go for but I’m always trying to change a bit. As with any artist, you have to grow. If you don’t grow and change in some way, you’re stifling yourself. I had a friend who had a really great band a long time ago. I remember him saying to me that he couldn’t do a particular sort of thing because it wasn’t his fans kind of music but it was one of the best things that he’d ever done. And I thought…what a horrible thing to put yourself in a box. And ultimately, it stifled him and he couldn’t get out of the box and he sorted drifted away. He still plays but it ruined him in some ways. So I’m not saying that I can’t change or do anything I want. If I wanted to do anything, I’d like to think that I can do it. In terms of the vintage sound, it’s just sort of what I go for...what the band goes for. I like the sound. The nastiness of the sounds of the guitars and the drums is what I tend to like. When I was growing up and I first started recording, I’d go into studios and I would bring in these little four track tapes, or like those little cassette tapes that you’re recording on (micro-cassette recorder) and I’d get this great guitar sound when I was doing the song for the first time. I’d go into a proper studio, take it in and say this is the sound I want. And then I’d walk out with this sort of clean, sterile sound…and I’d say why? And that’s why I started learning how to record. And I was really poor growing up too so I couldn’t just go into a studio and record whenever I wanted or whenever I had an idea.

MusicPix: You wear so many hats. You produce, you engineer, you sing, you play many instruments. What do you like to do the most?

Jason: I like to record the best…the thing that comes easiest to me. I love songwriting but sometimes that’s a hard thing. I write songs all the time. I was writing today and just playing guitar on the back of the bus…but when you’re writing stuff, there’s more failure than golden moments. It’s not really failure, but you’re not reaching the cream. There are moments of greatest but it’s not always because you’re kind of an antenna trying to pick up something. You might have fifty ideas and find one or two that’s a gem. Recording, I just dig it. There’s always magic for me. And playing live, that’s fantastic too but it’s a different beast. There’s a lot more waiting around when you’re on the road… a lot more hardship. It’s fun but it’s not as easy as it may seem. Whereas you’re more in control in the studio and I understand it and I’m in more control of recording. You can do things, take chances and experiment. It’s my playground.

MusicPix: Could you talk about your recording studio? I understand it’s a refurbished urban church. Is there a left over vibe?

Jason: Yea, the one I have now. But in the beginning, I was homeless for a while. I still am because I live with my girlfriend… I kind of leach off her. (ha-ha) I wasn’t actually homeless. I had a room that was the place that I had for a number of years and it had of my recording stuff that I accumulated over the years since I was really young. It was full of pianos and this and that. It was in an office building …it was really small with low ceilings with ceiling tiles and florescent lights. There was no bed, just a couch. No shower, just a bathroom. I would shower out in the back with a hose…

MusicPix: So, love is blind and has no sense of smell either…

Jason: Exactly, exactly. I would go up to my girlfriend’s place and shower. Mostly in the summertime, but I’d do it in the winter too but it was bit harder. I’d go out at 3 o’clock in the morning because I’m a bit of a night owl and I’d go out back and shower with the hose. It was very glamorous. I could barely afford the rent because every little bit of money I would get, I’d spend it on recording stuff. What else are you going to spend your money on? I wasn’t going to buy a car. So we had this room where most of The Best Little Secrets Are Kept was recorded with the exception of the two things that were done in Paris. Illegal Tender and bits of Ball of Twine, were recorded in the new place. When we signed a record deal, suddenly some more money came in and we moved to an old Baptist church…one of these store front properties. It’s an old 100 year old building but it could have been anything…a clothing shop, anything. There was a little congregation of 40-50 people there, and they were moving. When we first walked into it, there was a steeple and pews. We looked at so many places because in California it’s really hard to find something with character unless you go into these really old neighborhoods and often times, those are too close together and they wouldn’t work out. And then there are those sterile kinds of warehouse buildings. So from the moment we walked into this place in the hood, even though we’ve had two or three gun shots go through the window, the moment we walked it, it was magical. There’s this big ceiling. This looks like a place from 1952. So we ripped up all the carpet and found white tile that reminded me of Motown. We spent more time trying to make the room accessible than finishing up our record near the end of it- which took a month and a half, maybe two months, ready to record.

Louis XVI Live Concert Photos

MusicPix: Was there any left over Baptist vibe?

Jason: Yea, I think there was definitely magic there. When we first walked in ready to record after we got everything wired and set up- that was most of the problem…wiring everything back together. I didn’t want to build too much. I wanted it to feel like a small room instead of a big room. I’m not a big fan of big, huge sound. The first thing we did, we set out to record, Vanity, Ain’t It a Bitch and then Brian walked in and started playing the bass riff to Illegal Tender. We hadn’t written that song yet but we said that’s really cool…alright let’s turn around; this is what we’re going to do. So we spent the whole night writing and recording that song. It was kind of magical. There is definitely a vibe in that place. It’s great. I was always there late at night before the sun would come up and I miss that. This particular stretch has an elementary school right next to it. But at night, that’s where all the hookers were…especially the trannie (transvestite) hookers would go. So at night, we’d walk out for a cigarette and see all these trannie’s going by so there was kind of their weird balance. Being in an old church and there’s hookers on the street. I walk out, and it’s kind of a sketchy neighborhood. It can be a bit dangerous at night. Especially if you’re all alone and thinking you’ve got all this vintage equipment, and if people know what’s in there, especially if they know you are gone…so anyway, I walk out and see this quite attractive trannie…he/she’s walking along and I say how are you? And she said, ‘just lookin’ for adventure honey, just lookin’ for an adventure...’ I went inside and tried to figure out how to make that into a song. It’s such a great line. It’s a fun environment. I miss it. We all miss it.

MusicPix: You’ve just returned from Europe. How’d the trip go?

Jason: It was fantastic. We still haven’t had any time off yet. A month ago, we had four days off and we spent two of the days back in the studio. But Europe was incredible. We went to Paris first which was a great experience because it was the first time we’ve been back since we recorded there. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the story…but I remember having to sell a guitar and an amp for plane fare to go over there. There was a recorder there just like mine but a different year and we set up in this little basement and started the band. It was just the three of us. We sat in this basement and became a band. So this was the first time we’ve been back and we played to a sold out show in Paris and that was incredible. You come into a place where you’ve never really played to a sold out show…maybe 400 people or so and everybody’s just going crazy. Then we played England. The first show was sold out and two more shows sold out…Manchester was sold out. Some of the middle towns did really well. They didn’t sell out but they had really cool crowds. That was the first time I had ever been over there to really play. I’d been there a year ago and played just one show but that was before anything was happening for us. So it was a great feeling to suddenly go in there… God Killed The Queen got released as a single and went to straight #50 which is really cool. And we got mentioned at the NME, which is a pretty big paper over there and God Killed The Queen was the runner-up single of the week. It was a really great thing because we thought we’d be playing to 10 people there every night. A good reception. They’ve seemed to have taken to our music.

MusicPix: The name Louis the XIV is so fitting because you appear to be ruling your destiny and not following the traditional music model. Where do you want your kingdom to go?

Jason: I just don’t want to suck. I just want to keep achieving. I don’t think I necessarily care to be the biggest band in the world. But for myself, I’d like to think that we’re the best in our existence. That’s quite a statement I know. But you have to try to achieve that or what’s the point? We’ll see what happens. America is harder because it’s harder to conquer Middle America. We haven’t played here and it’s a bit harder. But it’s like anyplace where there are people. People are people whether they’re in San Francisco or New York or Birmingham, Alabama. There are people who are like-minded and get what we’re doing.

MusicPix: Does it make you a little nervous about opening this leg of the tour in Indianapolis, in the heart of the Midwest?

Jason: You know what it is? Its radio that’s hard to tap into in Middle America. Not people necessarily, its radio. It’s harder to get radio to take chances in Middle America. There are not as many independent stores or independent press organizations. But the internet…I think is great. I think it’s wonderful. But no, it doesn’t make me nervous. We need to do it. We need to start breaking in. Every time we’ve played in America so far, it’s been really, really good. We rolled into Kansas City a month ago and played a sold out show- a big place like the one we’re playing at tonight. And that was just incredible. Same thing. You think you’re going play to 10 people and you roll into town and it’s packed and people who know your songs and they’re singing along… So when I say that Middle America is harder, I just mean it’s a matter of radio. I think the shows, without jinxing it (knocks on the wood table) will all be good.

MusicPix: You guys are great musicians and you’re meticulous in production and engineering. Coming out of the gates you’re being driven largely by the umbrella of sexual content. Are you a little afraid of being driven by that and not the quality of your music?

Jason: Yea, that’s a good question. Quite often, I’ll get on the defensive about the sex thing which is stupid for me….but because sometimes people take you as one dimensional. To me, our record is very much about recording…and the process of love for recording and sex and girls or relationships is sort of the vehicle for the album. It’s more or less the topic of the album. To me, it’s about the sound of the album and not the song. I’ve always been able to identify a good song whether its country music or hip-hop music or pop…whatever it is, I can recognize a good song. For my own stuff, it’s hard to separate the sound of it. The moment anyone tries to put me in a box, I want to run. So the idea that people will only think of us as a band that was a little bit bold, or sex obsessed, concerns me. I don’t want to be known for that. I want to be known for making a great record. We’ll see where we go from here. We’re certainly not limited to only talking about sex. It was conscious but it wasn’t contrived. When we made the record, we wanted to push certain boundaries. There’s so much music that’s around that’s introspective in a whining way. It was only in hip-hop that you’d hear more confidence…it was kind of left out of rock and roll for awhile. So we wanted to make a record about what’s good about hip-hop stuff and what’s missing from rock and roll. And ultimately, I just wanted to make a record that was cool. The songs, especially the sexual ones, were written on hot evenings in the studio when the lyrics would come out. I would be by myself and I would just press record and those would be the lyrics. I can’t remember exactly what I was thinking necessarily. Whether I was foaming at the mouth for girls, or needing it or having too much of it... I just remember being in the studio all the time and loving it.

Louis XIV Concert Photos

MusicPix: We have a series of questions that we ask every artist we interview called the MusicPix Six:

MusicPix: What is the first musical instrument you played and at what age?

Jason: My folks bought me a drum set. this incredible drum set that was owned by the band LOVE. Actually, I don’t know if they really owned them but it had this LOVE logo on it. At the time, I really didn’t know them. I still don’t but I’ve heard of them. This incredible white Ludwig drum set. I was probably around 10 years old. The drum set was set up in the garage and I couldn’t get it at first. Needless to say, I gave up on it which is such a pity because now I love playing drums. I think I’ve learned more about guitar playing from drummers than from other guitar players in some weird way. Very soon after that, I got a guitar and I was hooked. We had a piano in our house that was my grandmother’s. When she passed away, it came to our house. This really gorgeous little upright piano but it was always out of tune. I would fiddle around on it but it was so out of tune that it didn’t make any sense to me. I was hearing all of these melodies in my head as a kid and it was kind of annoying because I couldn’t get them out of my head. It’s still hard to get them translated out of your head with any instrument, but it gets easier and easier as days go on. And then there came a point, where you’re learning too much… When you’re younger, and I think a lot of people hear music like this, that its one whole entity. Its one wall, its one line…one big wall of sound. Now when I hear music, I hear all of the little bits….the bass, the piano, the percussion, the vocals, the drums. So it’s like tasting a soup-being able to taste every little of spice that’s in there. And there’s an empowerment in that but there was a time in my life where I got really worried that I was loosing being able to appreciate music as one big blob of something. As a kid, I was kind of neurotic about it but now I can appreciate that I can articulate what’s in my head.

MusicPix: If you weren’t in your current band, what band would you like to play in?

Jason: That’s a good question. It’s a hard thing. If I was in a certain band, then that band would change and I would loose what I like about them. If I was in The Rolling Stones, then they wouldn’t really be The Rolling Stones anymore…[Big laugh]

MusicPix: You’d be The Rolling Stones plus Jason Hill.

Jason: Yeah, yeah, we’d be a cover band doing Rolling Stones songs in a weird kind of a way.

MusicPix: Was Finding Out True Love is Blind inspired by Some Girls by The Rolling Stones?

Jason: I don’t think I was really conscious of it at the time…it was one of those songs that I pressed record and started speaking off the top of my mind…the first two verses just kind of came out but I didn’t have the third verse without the chorus. The chorus we (Brian and I) wrote last. It was more like a 2000’s version of California Girls by The Beach Boys…but a much bolder version. I remember thinking it- I don’t remember if it happened during recording or not. It’s always been one of my favorite Beach Boys tunes…a very well constructed pop song. It was sometime later that it’s (Finding Out True Love Is Blind) been compared to Some Girls, for good reason I suppose.

MusicPix: What are your 3 ‘desert island’ albums?

Jason: That’s an excellent question. I guess anything you choose you’re going to get kind of bored with it after awhile. I guess you can’t really say a box set can you? [big laugh]

MusicPix: You’re the first artist to say that so yea, we’ll count box sets!

Jason: That’s hard…I’d probably want a box set of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, but then again I listen to them so much….I’d want one of our albums. In my vanity, I’d like to be able to listen to it. You know you paint a picture, you want to able to look at your own picture. T-Rex, I wouldn’t mind having that. Oh yeah, and some old blues, Sunhouse, I love all those records.

MusicPix: OK, we’ll give Jason a couple extras…

MusicPix: Who do you think is the most over-rated in the music industry?

Jason: Oh now we’re going to be vicious…I think there are a lot of them out there. There’s a number of modern bands that I’ve seen, that I haven’t thought were the greatest in the world after hearing many say they were incredible. Maybe there’s a little competition in there, but I’d like to think not. I like to go see bands and just get blown away. To feel like my religion has somehow changed…to be overwhelmed. It makes you want to go do something incredible. I’ve been disappointed by a number of some but also inspired. I don’t want to name names because we travel in the same circles and they happen to be nice people.

MusicPix: What’s your ‘perfect world?’

Jason: My perfect world would be a world full of love. There’s so much viciousness and unnecessary violence. Just today, I saw on the news a story about a woman who couldn’t take care of her kids and killed them. I’d love to live in a world that wasn’t like that. And Suicide Bombs like when we were in London recently just two blocks away from the bombings. People who go around a kill unnecessarily. By the same token, it would be nice to live in a place where a government didn’t kill 40,000 people by bombing everywhere for whatever reasons they feel it’s justified. But it would be great to live in a world that didn’t have that. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world that was all smiles…to feel good all the time?

It’s weird because a lot of great art is made because of that world we live in. So if there wasn’t the pain and the sorrow and the darkness, you wouldn’t have some of the greatest things in life. Emotion is such a great thing-good or bad. It makes people change or create. Some of the greatest things I’ve ever done was when I was in a bad mood. But on the same token, I’ve done great things when I’m in a great mood. Emotions are a wonderful thing. I’m guilty of every once in a while drowning myself in Xanax…to go to sleep to just forget about things that are going on. I used to be into other drugs and stuff. It relieves you to do things but it also numbs things that shouldn’t be numbed. And maybe if there was a too perfect of a world some of those great things in art wouldn’t be there.

MusicPix: Is that part of your music…that hedonistic, I just want to have a good time mentality?

Jason: Maybe… some if it is an escape. I am guilty of when I want something; I really have to have it. I’m focused on it. Whatever it is. In some of our music, that comes out. Not in a bratty way, I need this now! But more like, if there’s a will there’s a way to achieve it. It’s weird to think about what you were thinking about when you wrote music because one of the most beautiful things about making music and recording it at the same time is-you go into a room without any idea of what you’re going to do and 5 hours later, or 24 hours later, suddenly you have this song. And the best ones, you don’t remember where the ideas come from. There’s a fatigue at the end of it and after you listen to it you wonder where did this come from? Then you feel like to cheated. Not that you did, but I didn’t think of those ideas because you don’t remember where they came from. You’re an antenna as they say. Keith Richards always used to say that we are antennas and you just hope yours is up and you pick it up. But at the end of those moments, it’s like you weren’t there. But there’s a satisfaction there- you just don’t remember how you got from point A to Point B, where the lyrics came out, where the drum parts came from. It just kind of happens. I remember moments of the process like what I was wearing or what other guys were doing…It sometimes hard to discuss the topics especially how flippant it happens.

MusicPix: Do you think you’ll be able to maintain that? The maximum was 4 or 5 takes on The Best Little Secrets Are Kept right? I know Bruce Springsteen recorded The River was recorded all live. Do you think you’ll be able to control yourself if you’re such a perfectionist to not over produce yourselves?

Jason: Maybe…maybe….I think I used to overproduce more than I do now. Before we starting doing the Louis the XIV’s stuff, I would add more and more instruments to stuff that didn’t need them. Usually out of a lack getting it right the first time. It’s like painting a picture; you can always be guilty of having a great picture and adding more stuff to it. Sometimes the greatest paintings are the ones that are very simple…with just a couple lines, or one only half a face, or the nuance of the face…but you can always keep drawing until you finally ruin it. I do that when I paint. I’ll do something really cool and I’ll keep working on it until I did that! One day, I’ll get really into painting but I don’t have the time to do it now. It’s important to leave holes in music. To not fill up everything. That’s one of the biggest things, maybe George Martin said it and I’m not quite exactly sure of the phrasing…but as an artist, you have to know when to edit yourself. You have to be able to know when you’ve said it. There. Done. And be confident as a musician or as an artist, when to stop. If something wasn’t right, as a musician you can always fill it up with melodies. And then you’ve stacked it with all of these instruments and all of these melodies and it’s great. The Phil Spector kind of approach to it. Other times, you just need a piano and a drum set and a vocal and it’s great.

At this point in the interview, my tape recorded hit the end of the tape, so it must be time to stop. Hmmm, knowing when to stop…

The Band

Jason Hill (producer/vocalist/guitarist/pianist)
Brian Karscig (guitarist/vocalist/pianist)
Mark Maigaard (drummer)
Jimmy Armbrust (bassist)

The Tour

07-23 Mt. Pleasant, MI
07-24 Chicago, IL
07-26 Denver, CO
07-28 Tucson, AZ
07-29 San Diego, CA
07-30 Tempe, AZ
08-09 Saint Paul, MN
08-10 Omaha, NE
08-13 Tokyo, JPN
08-14 Osaka, JPN
08-17 Grand Prairie, TX
08-18 Austin, TX
08-19 Del Mar, CA
08-21 Tampa, FL
08-22 Atlanta, GA
08-23 Orlando, FL
08-24 Fort Lauderdale, FL
08-28 Nashville, TN
08-31 Boston, MA
09-01 New York, NY
09-02 Toronto, ONT
09-05 Los Angeles, CA
10-29 New Orleans, LA

Louis XIV "Finding Out True Love Is Blind" Audio Real Media Windows Media Video Real Media Windows Media 56k 100k 300k 450k Quicktime

By: Gwyn Tyme
w/Steve Mitchell