Louie Fontaine: I am the man, who starts things

It’s not easy to catch Louie Fontaine for a talk. He is a very busy man. Finally the  date was set. We met on the afternoon of Saturday, July 9^th in the most quiet place that could be found in Fonofest territory – the Chill Zone. There were a few hours left until Louie Fontaine and “The Starlights Searcher” would hit the Radio 101 stage at Fonofest.

Let’s talk about the winners of Flashlight contest. The bands “Rebel Riot” and “The Snips” have released their albums. What do you think about these records?

These are good albums and the bands will go far. They have grown a lot since the time they started. In my opinion „Rebel Riot” are one of the best Latvian rock bands today. They have developed a lot since the last time I worked with them. Now we’re making a new CD with „Acid Rain” and then there will be „Black Apple Market”. It takes a lot of time to make records with these guys. It has taken two years, you know.

Could you tell more about „The Most Expensive Band in the World”?

 This week the movie “The Most Expensive Band in the World” has been finished and next week I am going to put out the commercial for it.And then there will be four songs released by “The Starlight Searchers” – a new song every week until after one month the whole movie (a twenty-minute film) will be available. It’s about the most expensive band in the world. A rock’n’roll band who tries to figure out how to make more money by playing rock’n’roll music. They raise the ticket price and let only oligarhs attend their concert.

That sounds like an irony about the things that are happening in our country.

No, it is just about the fact that music is business. I made fun of it instead. I don’t get paid very much so it is very hard to make the circus roll all the time. You have to play constantly. I haven’t played much the last couple of years, but now I am back, playing again.

Two years ago at the Fontaine Festival you were performing like an Iranian band. Why?

I wanted to play the bass again. I’m originally a bass player. That was probably the worst show I have ever played in my live. And I don’t think I am going to ever play it again. There was probably too much alcohol. The man who was responsible about the bombs released them all at once. It wasn’t possible to breathe. I didn’t hear the sound of my bass at all. So I left the stage after four or five songs.

In your last album „ Evil Love” there are songs about love. Why are they unhappy?

 To have real love you have to have bad love too. It’s not very sad. Those are murderous ballads. It stared when we recorded five songs, a long time ago. Then I stopped playing for a while and left them alone. Later I liked the slow ones. The songs are stories. In „Swimming in Blood” he kills his wife, his lover, because he loves her too much. Since she doesn’t love him back, there is no other way. He has to kill her. And „If I Had Enough of You” is about a wife who always takes dirty mechanics into the house and he can’t stand it no more. Is there actually a real love song on the album?

What about „ Six Nights”?

Six nights a week, yeah, it is a love song! We will be playing most of this record tonight, and new stuff too.

About nine years ago you had a band called „ Living Death”

Yes, that’s actually the original band that I’m playing with today, except for the drummer. Vilnis is not playing today.

Why do you switch the names of your bands?

I like to switch names, to create a new logo. „The Starlight Searcher” is the best name I’ve ever had for a band. Nobody had it, so I have the domain for that name. „Living Death”… when I came back from the States I didn’t have a band. I formed a band here. Latvia is very limited, I needed a bigger territory for this kind of music. You play five shows in Latvia and you have played everywhere. My first band was called „Fisher Fontaine Band”. It was a theater, a very big show. A lot of actors, costumes. „Living Death” was close to that theater. „ Evil Love” is more about the music than the show. There are some costumes today too, I didn’t put those away. But big shows are expensive and they cost a lot of money, and it is very hard to continue that way. I am planning to go to Germany this December and next year to Scandinavia with a new CD and a movie. The next year will be a very busy year. We will stick to being realistic. I will start playing like I used to. And maybe I will go toNew Orleansas well.

You have a lot of plans. What will happen with Fontaine Palace, Fontaine Hotels?

 I am the man, who starts things. I start and then give it to somebody else. I don’t like to run things.

How would you comment the tendencies Fontaine Festival has developed?

 Fontaine Festival has found the right place – the old city ofLiepaja. The right time – end of summer. Last year was probably the best festival we’ve ever had. And also you have to remember that it is a city festival. You don’t have to sleep in tents. You have to find the right level. I think the right level for our festival is 2000 – 3000 people and that’s where we are. This year we will have new stages. Each year we’ll have something new. Fontaine festival was never meant to be a big festival. We lost plenty of money the year Jimmy Cliff was playing. The festival survived – five, six years and we’ll stay there. This year we’ll have a lot of bands. People don’t know the names, but these are all good bands. I like to introduce new bands. People come to the festival because of good music not necessarily because there are some fancy names.

You mentioned new names… can you tell me more about „ Fabulous Twins”?

I used to play with the twins. They are very good. They play kind of like laid-back, relaxing, easy listening music. Two months ago they played in Fire Bar, it was nice. They are very talented, they have very good ear for the music.

 

What is „ Spanish Jam Workshop”?

 It is a jam session school in Barcelona. The level of the music is very high. There are 50 people. They are going to record the performance. There will be a DVD of the jam session playing in the festival. They are coming ten days before the festival; there will be a workshop in Liepaja. They will invite local musicians to work on songs that will be played in festival.

During Fontaine festival you will perform with The Beat Machine.

 Yes, together with Nils Ile. We’ll start practicing next week. I have never played The Beat Machine with a percussionist before. We don’t know yet if there’s going to be a bass or guitars and how many people will be involved. But it will be interesting!

Read Full Post »