Louis XIV

Before forming San Diego's Louis XIV, its central members had first collaborated in the rootsy alt-rock group Convoy, whose 2001 album was titled Black Licorice. By 2003 the vocalist/guitarists Jason Hill and Brian Karscig along with drummer Mark Maigaard had joined forces with bassist Jimmy Armbrust to develop the Louis XIV sound, which featured irreverent, oversexed lyrics and drew from glam, scratchy punk, and vintage Rolling Stones songwriting. A self-recorded EP generated strong local interest, while circulating MP3s extended that attention to England, prompting the band to issue additional material in response to rising demand. During the spring and summer of 2004 the group appeared at the South by Southwest festival, joined the Killers and Von Bondies on a U.S. tour, and secured a deal with Atlantic Records. The label put out the introductory EP Illegal Tender in January 2005 and the debut album The Best Little Secrets Are Kept the next March. Following an extensive touring period that included a ban in Alabama over the content of their lyrics, the band resurfaced in 2008 with the second album Slick Dogs and Ponies, which carried a decidedly more somber and world-weary tone.