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Immortal Lee County Killers and Modey Lemon: Hard ass, whiskey drinking blues.

Two of the most powerful bands in the States decided to hit the road together this fall and see what happens. Like chemistry experiment, you add equal parts Immortal Lee County Killers and Modey Lemon into the beaker of rock clubs across America. This combination has left many patrons looking like the kid who got his eyebrows singed off in class.

Tekst: Pat Wensink

Publicatiedatum: 16 december 2002

The two bands share an equal love for punk rock and the blues extrapolating every once of power that can be culled from humans playing such. Alabama’s Lee County Killers play like Satan’s bluesy backing band on its debut record “The Essential F**ked Up Blues” (Estrus) in 2000. Just Imagine Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers shooting napalm from their fingertips and you get a hint of this album. Singer/guitarist Chetley “El Cheetah” Weise’s griddle fried southern vocals scream, hoot and holler to the pounding delta punk. Live, the duo’s channel switching between a dirty blues rig and a thunder-like bowl shaking set up provide ample modulation. The band lives up to its moniker, “blues from the punk delta.”
The Modey Lemon attack the stage with a similar idealism but has a different way of getting there. The band’s self-titled debut (AF Records) is a ham-fisted attack of blues tuning and roadhouse rhythms. In concert the band snarls with equal fervor while adding organ keys to the mix. Seeing guitarist/singer Phil Boyd mash out bluesy riffs while pounding the keyboard is a sight to see.
The bands are equally punishing and pleasurable aurally. Hard ass, whiskey drinking blues that your punk rock pals can dig as well. The two groups kindly sat down to have a round table discussion with me. When two bands like this get together it’s best to just pull the pin and run.

Which plays a heavier part in your sounds punk or blues?
Phil: We’re both pretty heavy bands.
Cheetah: I think there’s probably more MC5 with us than pure Delta blues. I think it’s fairly obvious if you listen to our records. That’s what makes us different. (The Modey Lemon), whoever they’re listening to, that gives them their edge.
Paul Quattrone (Modey Lemon drummer): We go to Pittsburgh hardcore shows.

Right, you guys are on Anti-Flag’s label.
Paul: Yeah, but they’re not hardcore.
Cheetah: This is obviously a Pittsburgh thing.
Phil: There’s like a local punk venue with some of the newer, more innovative, heavier stuff. But I mean, we’re into songs but we’re also into Lightning Bolt.

Lightning Bolt’s good.
Paul: Lightning Bolt’s the best band.
Phil: They’re not like a hardcore band, but they’re heavy.

I caught them this summer at the More Than Music Fest in Columbus with you guys. (Ceiling tiles were falling off, water balloons were tossed and firecrackers set off. All the while the band opted to set up in the audience as opposed to the stage) It was crazy.
Paul: They’re loud.
JRR Tolkien: ILCK drums and witticism: Country, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, punk rock, bluegrass, country western, jazz—good music is good music. And that is what both these bands play. And this band right here that’s about ready to go on (Dan Melcoir’s Broke Review) and play.
Paul: If anybody asks you what we play, just say rock ‘n’ roll.
Phil: I mean, heavy is a pretty relative term.
JR: Hardcore, grime-core, slash-core, it doesn’t matter.
Phil: It’s not heavy as in Swedish death metal bands burning down churches. I’m just saying heavy music is kind of relative. An MC5 song can be a lot heavier to Cheetah than a Swedish death metal song. You’re gonna connect with different elements of it.
Cheetah: I guess maybe instead of heavy I consider the Killers, I feel we move a lot of energy. (The Modey Lemon) move a lot of energy.
Paul: Full throttle rock ‘n’ roll.
Cheetah: It’s very active music. A lot of people ask me about this new blues thing that’s going on. I think what The Modey Lemon and the Killers and so many other bands are doing is that we’re adding this more proactive, energetic stuff--from hardcore to whatever. The originators of blues obviously didn’t go to Pittsburgh hardcore shows or anything like that. That is why were adding to it. Eldridge Cleaver, an old Black Panther,… (The Broke Review begins and we are forced to stand in a parking lot around the corner) The blues were the kind of music for therapy and to express sorrow, but he probably lacked an element of action and protest. And I think that’s what all these bands are adding to it. Not necessarily a protest. That’s a dangerous word to throw around, I guess they add a more active element.

Since both of your bands have the same aesthetic or idea about music, how much do you think geography plays in music.
Cheetah: Phil’s cuter than I am.

I didn’t mean that kind of aesthetic. This isn’t a beauty pageant.
Phil: Yeah, Chet, get your mind off the beauty.
Cheetah: I’m pissed (laughs).

You were hoping to be the cutest guy on the tour?
Cheetah: Yeah.
Phil: Besides JR.
(JR walks out with a mock-wrestling championship belt with ILCK written on it)

Is that what this belt means, did you win the Mr. America pageant?
Phil: Yeah, Chet’s got the Cute Championship Belt.
JR: No, I’ll tell you. What the belt means is that it is all about the music, baby. It’s all about giving everything you’ve got. After all the blood, all the sweat, after all the energy has left your body and there is nothing left and you’ve done your best and you’ve been the best you can possibly be. That’s what it’s about: holding the title and holding the gold.

Who’d you get the belt from?
JR: The belt was given to us by the lords of rock ‘n’ roll, baby. It came in the mail to the studio. It said, “wear with pride, wear with honor.” So we accepted.
Phil: I was thinking about what he said. About giving everything you’ve got. Sometimes people talk about how heavy or dark our music is, but if you listen to or go see, like we were talking about Lightning Bolt, I mean we don’t even compare to that. But I think people come and see us give everything we can give in a show. And we might not be the hardest, fastest, heaviest music you’ve ever heard. But we’re gonna do the best we can to give as much energy as we’ve got into what we do. And I think that’s what we relate to people across genres. If a punk kid comes to see us and ends up getting into our music. It’s not because we fit into the whole punk aesthetic. We just try to give our all.
Paul: We try to exhaust ourselves.
Phil: Yeah, we try to exhaust ourselves.

Both bands definitely have a lot of energy how much do you think geography plays a role, the Modey Lemon being from punk Pittsburgh and the Killers being from the blues Delta. How much does geography play a part in your sound?
Phil: I’ve been thinking about that a lot on this tour. America and the world are so… Driving through the south and driving through the southwest I feel like scorpions and coyotes and canyons are as much mine as the Appalachian Mountains are. You know, because imagery I grew up with in America seeing, being able to travel around. So just as much as the landscape of the country is ours, so are the different cultures. Southern blues—just because I grew up in the northeast doesn’t mean I couldn’t have grown up on blues music.
Cheetah: John Lee Hooker was from Mississippi but he made his name in Detroit, Muddy Waters made his name in Chicago. I think where you are and your environment does play a role. They were saying they went to hardcore shows in Pittsburgh, when I was growing up in Memphis I didn’t know much hardcore but I would go down to Beale Street and see people playing blues on the street. I think the Killers have a bit of a southern (Cheetah begins clapping his hands) “thing” going on that I didn’t necessarily want to be there, but just is. You know? (laughs) I can tell after seeing them and know where they’re from it’s like ‘oh, this makes sense,’ I know that some of the stuff that is out of New York is out of New York. It doesn’t really have as much to do with… everybody is influenced by the friends they hang out with and scene they’re a part of. Every scene can’t be the same.
Paul: I think there are a lot of similarities, though, of scenes. For the most part, especially in these times, there aren’t that many musical differences geographically. Because, you can pretty much find a cool record store in your hometown that has good music. I mean you might have to seek it out, as long as you can find good music out there you can take from scenes all over the world. Which is what you couldn’t do 20-30 years ago.
Cheetah: That’s the big advantage to being in a touring band. Is to be able to see other people’s scenes. You can go into a record store, you know I knew the MC5 but they certainly weren’t from Mississippi. The same is with Hooker and Muddy Waters and everybody, they took what they had and went other places. I think it’s all intertwined, but there’s subtle differences. There’s no completely homogeneity. Everyone’s not isolated and segregated either, that would be horrible.

Speaking of influences, what is one of the first records you can remember buying that blew you away?
Paul: Live at Leeds
. Paul: The La Bamba soundtrack.
Cheetah: I think Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” was the first rock ‘n’ roll record I bought.
JR: The Police “Synchronicity.”
Phil: My first real rock record was Jimi Hendrix’s “Are You Experienced,” once I really got into music.
Cheetah: Phil and I have been talking, both of us are really into the Doors. I mean I was heavy into the Doors when I was in high school. They’re probably one of the few bands I’ve stuck with my whole life.
Phil: The Doors get a lot of slack, especially from the punk community.
Cheetah: I think a lot of it has to with the punk rock community listening more to the hype than actually listening to the music. That’s not what punk is supposed to be about. As soon as that Oliver Stone movie came out the Doors just went massive. No punk could say they like the Doors after that. I was a nerd in high school so I never had to worry about that (laughs). I was free from all that pressure (laughs).

(Interesting side note, because of this conversation The Killers played an impromptu cover of the Doors “Been Down so Long.”)

Phil: I think that’s a good thing, though. Being in a band and stuff people think like, ‘oh, you’re in a touring band, you think you’re so cool.’ But Paul and I always talk about how nerdy we are. Because all we ever talk about is music and partying and stuff.
Cheetah: Oh yeah man! Shit! I played Dungeons and Dragons when I was in college still.
Phil: I think music’s just like that, though.

After some chit chat about why the Killers where not going to wear their suits tonight Tokien puts the finishing touches on the interview.

JR: The fact of the matter is that you can go from Australia to Asia, from Europe to the Americas, all the way, all the way up to Antarctica, baby. And you are going to find bands that rock, entertainment, good music, you’re gonna find a good record store, a good place to eat and a good place to sleep. Because rock ‘n’ roll is everywhere, it is global, it’s not just in Pittsburgh, it’s not just in Auburn, it’s everywhere, baby. Cause everybody’s got a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll inside their soul. And the Tolkien One and El Cheetah, Paul and Phil, The Modey Lemon and the Immortal Lee County Killers—we are not here to disappoint a single solitary soul. We plan on thrillin’ ‘em all, baby. So you call your grandma, your mama, your daddy, your girlfriend, your brother, your sister, your one-eyed jack that’s been gawkin’ at the Tolkien One all night long and you get ‘em all to come down to the show in Tucson, baby. Tell a friend, call your neighbors, I don’t care what ya gotta do to get here, but come on down the next time the Fun’s in town, baby! WHOOOO! The Tolkien one’s getting a drink.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/immortal-lee-county-killers-modey-lemon/immortal-lee-county-killers-and-modey-lemon-hard-ass-whiskey-drinking-blues/2141/
Meer Immortal Lee County Killers & Modey Lemon op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/immortal-lee-county-killers-modey-lemon