Metro Pulse/Music/Immortal Lee County Killers

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What:
The Immortal Lee County Killers with The Modey Lemon and Broke Revue

When:
Saturday, Sept. 14, 10 p.m.

Where:
The Pilot Light

Cost:
$6

Poor or rich, the Immortal Lee County Killers play their freak-out punk blues

by John Sewell

The Immortal Lee County Killers' Chet "El Cheetah" Weise is not your run of the mill wildman. Sure, it's requisite behavior for any and all rockers to do anything and everything to prove their supposed insanity. The cliched rock rebel image is not something Weise is interested in recreating. Instead, his insanity comes through in his music, a gutbucket mix of blues and punk that will peel paint off any surface within earshot.

Named after rock's original wild man, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Immortal Lee County Killers are hellbent on distilling 50 years of rock history into its purest form. The Auburn, Ala., duo eschews overdubs and studio wizardry in order to capture the sonic raw power of their live performances.

"We record all the music live," says guitarist/vocalist Weise, who is joined in the group by percussionist J. R. R. Tokien. "And if it comes across through hearing it as being wild, then you'd probably freak out if you saw us play live. You'd think, 'Wow, these guys are nuts.'

"Usually, trying to get energy and chaos across in a recording is next to impossible. So, if that chaos comes across in our recording, then that's a reflection of what we really are. I think we're best experienced as a live band."

And what the 'Killers deliver is a warts and all delivery of the blues' rawest bestial wail. Oddly enough, the 'Killers are being lumped in with several popular bands defined as having the garage sound, most notably Detroit's White Stripes. Being on the cusp of the hype is a good thing for the band, at least for now. But Weise is well aware that manufactured trends in the music industry are quickly discarded.

"Back in my old band, The Quadrajets, the same thing happened for a while where revved up garage rock 'n' roll was supposed to be the big thing," says Weise. "And we had people telling us that all these big things were going to happen for the band. That time around, it didn't happen and I was a little disappointed. But these days I'm just taking it all with a grain of salt.

"I mean, if someone were to call us and say, 'Hey, you're part of this big new sound and you can have X amount of dollars,' well, we'd sure take it—as long as they'd agree to let us record it the way we do and to do it our way. But unfortunately everyone knows that when the money starts getting thrown around, the artist is expected to start making compromises."

Weise concedes that the music industry's primary concern is to move units and realize big profits. So he's happy to remain with his current indie label, Estrus Records. The Bellingham, Wash.-based label, which basically provided the blueprint for much of the Y2K Garage sound, has very little money but a lot of indie credibility.

Set to release their second full length, Love Is a Charm of Powerful Trouble, the 'Killers are doing everything in their power to spread the gospel of "punk blues," a term Weise uses to describe his band.

At the band's inception two years ago, the idea of being a duo was far from common. But now, thanks to an oh so cute, red and white clad team from Detroit, everything is different.

"Personally, I think the White Stripes write really good songs. But how that's going to effect us, I don't know. A lot of people think we're trying to rip them off," says Weise.

"Really, what we do is a lot different than what the White Stripes are doing. I mean, when the 'Killers started, I thought being a duo was going to be unique," Weise continues, laughing. "I mean, we were influenced by old blues from the Mississippi Delta; and basically that stuff was played by one person playing and stomping his foot or by a duo of guitar and drums. That's how blues used to be.

"There have been a lot of duos around. But since the White Stripes hit it so big, oh my god, there are duos everywhere. I'm just hoping that once again the radio will have good songwriters and get rid of this formula kind of stuff. And I hope that someone hands J.R. and me a check for two million dollars. But somehow I just know that's never gonna happen!"