Southern Comfort.

Rip It Up, Issue 235, 1 March 1997, Page 9

Southern Comfort.

King Loser

It was a few years back, the first time I saw King Loser. If I remember rightly, it was one of those multi-band extravaganzas (yet held in Dunedin, thus the extravaganza definitely had' a lower case ‘e’). The usual thing: great pop bands, cold rain, cold beer, lots of second-hand leather jackets and rumours of a party happening “somewhere in Cannongate”. . Then King Loser took the stage. ' <• . The whole thing was like watching a Mexican whore fight. At first just names and a few slaps here and there, but by the time the band got to their killer finale (a crazed incoherent sleaze romp cover of ‘Whole Lotta Love’) it was purely Latin blood violent sexual anger. Yeah, it was cool. '■/ 1 ' In that time there’ve been singles, albums, line-up changes, and plenty of varied opinions. Now, with the release of their third album, Caul of the Outlaw, King Loser appear to have found a solid quorum, but perhaps with a slightly shifted focus. Sure, the band are still frolicking in the addled surf; but they’re also wandering into Southern death country. The exploration has suited them, as the single ‘Troubled Land’ demonstrated: a Nancy and Lee-type duet taking the listener through a musical journey of dusty roads and inbred gas station attendants. But as if to pre-empt himself, Chris Heazlewood sings of ‘harnessing the power of a rock ’n’ roll band’, which he does later in the album with the typical Loserite grace of tracks such as ‘New Age Power’. and ‘Lazenby’s Folly’, taking confusion to a level where it can be understood — there’s something metaphysical in chaos, but Chris himself is less philosophical in reacting to analysis. “‘Lazenby’s Folly’ is basically a jam: an invention of a group of people in their late twenties, maybe getting into their thirties, who-are communicating musically on a pretty intimate level. There’s a sense we can fall into whatever the other is playing, but without making it routine or losing anything essential.” r .. So, is it like good sex within a good marriage, where the passion and fire dims to be replaced, by something on a more intellectual and spiritual level? - ' “No, I don’t think the fire dims. When a band is

playing real tight and everything’s going well, there’s plenty of fire, plenty of passion. But I guess sometimes, when you’re not playing or not on stage, real life can intrude.” One “real life” situation King Loser have been plagued with over the years has been that of constantly itinerant members, but now with Tribal Thunder firmly planted.behind the drum kit, and Chris’ old Sferic partner in crime Sean O’Reilly adding guitar, the deal appears to be done. Yet even though the band are riding the crest of their own musical wave, Chris is uncharacteristically self-effacing about the songs on Caul of the Outlaw, he describes the dark themes as universal, and they were not in the collective psyche at the conception of the album. “We had no real idea of what we wanted from this album before it was put together. There were too many songs and we chose the ones we all liked, any feeling that comes from it was not intentional. Anyway, anybody could have written a song such as ‘Troubled Land’. The things it deals with are everywhere, everybody has experienced them.” Such as? We must ask, blissfully ignorant, despite being enlightened by Loser. “Trouble ’n’ strife. The law ’n’ the wife.” Ah, so that’s what it’s all about, but sometimes we can’t understand because King Loser hide all these self-realisations behind a veil of (to some) unbearable noise. Take, for example, the added CD version of ‘Stairway to Heaven’, with its wrung-out amp being whipped till bleeding, and its little soundwaves of terror zapping through your ears like an electric shock. The same could be said for King Loser’s cover of the Dolly Parton song ‘Down From Dover’ (off the Troubled Land EP), when Celia sings a straight and effectively melancholic version, before a rush of guitars enter the picture and spray the walls with blood red sound. “I like that. I like trying to cross over ideas, and fooling whoever is listening into thinking the song is one thing before springing this on them. There are lots of different musical combinations that work which you would never believe. Of course, there are a lot people try which don’t work, but I think it’s necessary to try and do that

with music, and constantly re-evaluate what the whole thing’s about.” Whether they are taking Dick Dale to the downtrodden sleaze merchants or introducing countrified wonder to pressed T-shirt wearing first year varsity students, King Loser are making listeners re-evaluate their musical boundaries — but again, Chris is surprisingly humble. “I’m not sure of what we are or how people

see us. Perhaps we’ll become a punk rock R&B band, which I guess isn’t a bad thing. No, I suppose we’re pretty good. But there are a lot of great bands here, and I think people are realising it’s better to get out and make your own music than to sit at home and put down other bands. Rock ’n’ roll will fuck with your head, but there isn’t much alternative.”

JESSE GARON