jam with everybody in town. Apart from occasional trips to Japan or New York City to tour and record with Toru Oki, Louis X. seems perfectly content to develop his original tunes in various Seattle clubs and studios. ' One night I dropped in to the Dragon Palace, a restaurant-lounge with snappy live music and a well-stuffed jukebox, and there sat Louis X., sipping a beer and watching the New Flamingos. It seemed like an opportune time for an interview, what with the ersatz Oriental decor and all, and Louis X. was amenable to a sociable chat. It went like this: CLINTON STREET QUARTERLY: I’ve never understood why you left Mink deVille right at the height of their popularity and went into Japanese blues music. LOUIS X.: It just happened. Toru Oki, who is the only major Japanese blues singer, was in New York City, and he came and saw Mink deVille. We just hit it right off. I went down and jammed with his band, who are all black musicians out of New York — they used to back Evelyn “Champagne” King and Stephanie Mills and Yolanda McCullough — and we all had a real good time, and so all of a sudden I was in Toru Oki’s band. I always wanted to see Japan. CSQ: What’s Toru Oki like? LX.: He's got this long wispy black hair, with a wispy Japanese mustache, and he wears a white suit, white shoes, and a big white hat, and carries a white pipe ... the first time I saw him he came into TRAX like that, and he looked like an old distinguished guy, even though he’s young, and all I could think of was: “Wow, this must be the Colonel Sanders of Japan!” He’s really soft-spoken, and he’s into the blues. CSQ: Are many Japanese people into the blues? LX.: A lot of them are. The blues are very big in Japan. I’ve toured there twice with Toru now, and he sells out the major halls and appears on all the TV music shows. What blues singer could do that in the United States? It’s complete culture shock for me. The first time especially. I couldn’t even read the signs to find out where I was going. It’s a beautiful place, though. The United States could learn a lot from Japanese culture. CSQ: Did you grown up on the blues? You’re from New York City, aren't you? LX.: Yeah, Manhattan. My sister used to listen to the blues. She had some Jimmy Reed albums, and that’s how I got into it. I started trying to buy some blues records, and there were all these record stores that sold that stuff real cheap, like two dollars. I started listening to it, and now I can’t do without it. What a curse. CSQ: When did you start playing it? LX.: I started playing it on the piano when I was about seven years old, and then later on I played it on the guitar. I used to go to the Cafe au Go Go where they used to have these “Blues Bags,” and hear the blues guys. I heard Muddy Waters there when I was fifteen. Otis Spann was playing with him, and James Cotton too, along with Howlin’ Wolf and Big Joe Williams who had a big piece of sweat hanging off his nose the whole show. It was what you call the blues. CSQ: Did you ever sit in? LX.: Yeah, I went to see John Hooker one night, and he had band called Rhinoceros backing Lee this him up. They weren’t doing it very well, and this friend of mine who was a real aggressive guy went up and told Hooker: “Hey, this friend of mine here, he can play guitar better than* that guy you got!” and Hooker said: “Hey, bring your guitar tomorrow night, but if you’re no good I’ll throw you right off.” I went back the next night, and me and my friend who played harp, we wound up playing with him. It was pretty amazing. Hooker liked it ... he got up and danced. I was like sixteen years old and I didn’t know exactly what to do, so I’d spent the day before planning notes to play that wouldn’t get in the way. CSQ: So then you played in bands around New York City? LX.: Yeah. Whitestone Rick and the Hoochie Coochie Men was one. Actually it was the Hoochie Coochie Man, since it was a two-man band and I was the other guy. I was in a band called the Stingrays with Kim Field, who I met at Columbia University. We played CBGB’s before it was a punk club, when Patti Smith and Television were the main regulars, but we were rhythm and blues. CSQ: /s that when you joined Mink deVil Ie? XL.: About then. Mink deVille came to New York from San Francisco, and this guy called me up and asked me if I knew any places where a band like theirs could play, and I told him about some. Later on I saw them playing, and I thought the band was kind of O.K. but the singer was great. I thought that I’d enjoy getting into a band with a great singer, and then I got a call for an audition with them one day and when I went down it just came together. You just kind of had that feeling the whole time that anything could happen, because Willy could really sing. The band is still good, although they need a guitar player. No, really ... I saw them on TV the other night, and they were great. CSQ: How long were you in Mink deVille? XL.: It lasted about five years. Touring is an experience that’s a lot more draining than I imagined. The money these record companies used to throw around was incredible. Now they’re all panicking ’cause they overdid it, and the artists suffer. The critics didn’t really jump behind us until our Paris album came out, although Rolling Stone liked our first album. I’ve still got my Rolling Stone varsity sweater, which I wear everywhere it’s called for. Mick Jagger and the rest of the old rockers used to come and see us fairly often. CSQ: Did Jagger ever perform with Mink deVilIe? LX.: No, when he’d come to our gigs he’d just say hello and pinch us on the asses and just generally try to weird people out with his bisexuality. He knew our songs, though. The way I found out was I ran into him once in New York. He was next door to a party I was at, staying with John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, and when I heard that he was there I knocked on the door. Jagger invited me and my friend in, and he was real nice. He has all of these record albums that I’ve always liked. He played us some unreleased stuff from Some Girls and asked us what we thought. He was totally gracious. He had several guitars lying around, none of which had six strings, but he saw me fooling around with them and went upstairs and got me one. I started playing blues stuff, and Jagger was singing Mink deVille shit over them. CSQ: It makes sense. Both the Rolling Stones and Mink de Ville are based in the blues. LX.: I told Jagger, half kiddingly, half scared, that he was drifting away from his blues roots, and he shoved me down on the couch. It pissed him off, ’cause you can tell he still loves the blues. I think he’s doing good stuff and always will. I saw him around after that ... he used to come to TRAX all the time. CSQ: For some reason that reminds me of a story that Frank Zappa told about meeting Mick Jagger. LX.: What’s that? CSQ: Zappa said that he was at home in Laurel Canyon once, and Jagger unexpectedly crawled up and picked a splinter out of his foot. LX: See? I told you he’s gracious! CSQ: It looks like you’ve made Seattle your home base. You live here, play with the Slamhound Hunters... LX.: Right, when we’re working. CSQ: ... hit the road whenever you hear from Toru Oki ... LX.: Yeah. CSQ: ... and spend the rest of your time playing the blues. XL.: Yeah, that’s fun. I’m pretty glad that I moved to Seattle, but I don’t know how much longer I’ll stay. It’s such a small scene, it can be discouraging. Wherever you play people want to hear their favorite songs, so it’s hard to do anything on your own. The thing about the Slamhound Hunters is we do all our own tunes. We’re one of the few bands around Seattle that does that. You can’t categorize us as a blues band, because we do all kinds of music, but we love the blues tunes. CSQ: Seattle is a city of rooms, but not as many opportunities to get rich quick as the cities with heavy music industry action . .. LX: Well, I don’t know about getting rich quick, but if you want to stay productive you need some support and inspiration ... or at least know someone who /s getting it. The musicians are here but the audience isn't. Not yet, anyway. Wait until it gets overcrowded and unhealthy. Then people will be dying for music. Literally. HEAD SHOP FANTASY ISLAND 2057 SE Stark ,CK)UR / ‘PARAPHERNALIA ~'CWEAE>QUARTERS BONG SALE Open Tuesday thru Saturday 10 to 10 Clinton St. Quarterly 35
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