The band Louis XIV was courted by the big record labels last year. But the group's members weren't comfortable playing for record executives in private settings.
"It wasn't us, to be playing to 10 people in suits in a club that held 300 people," said guitarist/pianist Brian Karscig by phone from his home in San Diego. "So we asked them to come to one of our actual shows. And the people at Atlantic caught our vision."
The band — comprised of Karscig, vocalist/pianist/guitarist Jason Hill, drummer Mark Maigaard and bassist Jimmy Armbrust — signed last August with Atlantic, the home of Kid Rock and rapper T.I.
"(Atlantic) knew we were different and unique," said Karscig. "And they gave us 100 percent artistic control, something that we never thought would happen. We had heard horror stories about major labels and control. But Atlantic liked what we were doing, and they appreciated our grass-roots approach to our own independent promotion."
That grass-roots approach included Louis XIV recording its own demos, setting up its own independent record label (Pineapple Recording Group) and hawking CDs at shows and online. "We had initially pressed 1,000 copies of our debut album and did what a lot of independent bands do — sell them any way we could."
Karscig and Hill had known each other since they were in elementary school. Throughout their junior high school and high school years, they were always in bands. "I originally had to be forced to take piano lessons," said Karscig with a laugh. "When I was old enough to make my own decisions, I picked up the guitar. And with my background in piano, the guitar came easier than it would have without any prior training."
In 2003, the band (before Armbrust joined) flew to France and recorded the self-titled debut. "We knew what we wanted to do with our music," said Karscig. "We had been in bands most of our lives and knew what kind of sound we wanted."
The next year was a busy one as Louis XIV hit the road and, still unsigned, opened for the Killers. "We were confined to the tour and didn't have a lot of outside contact," said Karscig. "So we had no idea how the album was doing. It was actually taking off quite nicely."
After signing with Atlantic, the band got busy working on the "Illegal Tender" extended-play CD. The five-song disc was released last month and has received a lot of attention. "We were careful with this release," said Karscig. "We have a motto — 'Don't overthink it.' And we stuck with it. We don't like the idea of doing 10 takes on a song to make sure everything is perfect. That takes something away from the idea of rock music."
Karscig said he wants the band to be able to do what Grammy-winner Beck has done — make albums that are diverse, yet cool. "He can do all this technical stuff but then come back with an acoustic-based album, and it all sounds great. We don't want to pigeonhole ourselves with a certain sound. We want to be versatile and do what we want."
If you go . . .
What: Hot Hot Heat, Louis XIV
Where: In the Venue
When: Sunday, 7 p.m.
How much: $13 and $15
Phone: 467-8499 or 800-888-8499
E-mail: scott@desnews.com