Ripping Up Trees: Louie

Many bands meet at University. Jim Morrison and Ray Manzerek met at UCLA film School and went on to form one of the most legendary rock bands of all time; Damon Albarn met Graham Coxon at art college and formed the best that Britpop had to offer. But, not many bands have the immediate and seemingly effortless success that six man band Louie have had during the last year. After meeting in drama school in London they formed in 2004 and since then have gone from strength to strength.

Gigwise met with Louie’s front men Gaz Tomlinson and Jordan Smith for a chat over a Chinese, in a restaurant just around the corner from Oxford Streets famous 100 Club, where they will later put on a show that explains their quick speedy success.

It all seems too easy really. “We played in Portugal (at the Super Bock, Super Rock Festival in May) with Incubus and the Prodigy, after only 10 gigs. We went on stage and they must of thought we we’re huge – nobody’d ever heard of us,” explains Smith as he wraps up a tasty looking duck pancake. People have certainly heard about them now. Louie have toured with Mick Jones (The Clash) and one popular mainstream music publication has even; inevitably compared them to The Libertines, less common MC5 and another of the usual suspects The Clash. And, they are building quite a following. “The following became noticeable when we started to get a bit of press, then more people started coming to the gigs to check us out ‘cause they had been reading about us,” explains Gaz.

They don’t seem to be able to pinpoint why they’ve seen such early success, or to care. “We’re very fresh and original,” says Gaz with a smile, like he believes it but feels a bit of a prat saying it. “We’re just doing our own thing,” Jordan adds. “We just got in the studio and were just writing and writing and writing. We didn’t really notice. We played our first gig and because our songs are good people really picked up on it early and the press picked up on it instantly as well.”

Despite the positive press Gaz sees comparisons with other bands as a mixed blessing. “I thought it was a compliment being compared to them (The Libertines) and it also annoyed me at the same time. It’s all right being compared to them but it’s not really what we want,” he says. They don’t really seem to care about comparisons and analysis really though. They see it as more of a press problem than what real people think. “People can compare us to other people all they want but if they came to see us we don’t sound like them at all,” says Jordan, licking his fingers. “I think the press do it more actually. People make their own decisions. It’s just round here everyone sounds like them (The Libertines) don’t they?”

Louie formed and live in London but they certainly don’t regard themselves as a London band. With Gaz hailing from York, Jordan and Twiggy (Bass) from Cumbria, Russell Ditchfield (lead guitar) from Cheltenham and Mikey Parish from Kent, Louie are of mixed geography and they say they don’t really have a home base. It certainly isn’t London. “We’re not part of the London scene despite the fact that we live here. Certainly not part of the Libertines…” and Jordan’s voice trails off into a mouthful of duck, as if it’s too much to even finish the sentence.

“We’ve played quite a few gigs outside of London recently. We just want to get out,” adds Gaz. This urge to get out of the city is because of a desire to be different. “A lot of bands play in and live around London and it all gets a bit the same. When we play here we want to have an impact,” says Jordan. As well as playing outside of London as much as possible Louise have just finished their first solo tour. A month long trip around the UK that despite their youthful energy was hard going. “We’ve just come back off a month tour which has been brilliant,” says Gaz. “But really hard work, our first tour on our own. But it went down really well.”

And if Louie continue to go down well then the future is looking bright. They’ve just signed a deal with Graham Law (the guy who signed Kasabian and Black Rebel) at Tumbling Dice and they’re all set to go into the studio with Steven Street to record their second EP and then the album should be out in March, then Louise will play the festivals. So watch out. And their attitude reflects the apparent ease with which Louise have got themselves into this position. Gaz says that in future they would like to influence other bands and Jordan agrees, as he finishes his pancakes he smiles and adds, “We’d like people to be pissed off because they’re being compared to Louie.”