When “King” Louie Bankston was drummer for the Royal Pendletons, every drum fill was an adventure. There was no telling what condition the beat would be in by the time the fill was over, but no result, no matter how amiss, seemed to daunt Bankston’s joy. He was making a rock ’n’ roll noise and that seemed to be all that really mattered. Fast forward almost 10 years and his love of making a rock ’n’ roll noise still outstrips his technical proficiency, though now he wrestles his guitar as well as drums.

 

On Chinese Crawfish, he sets songs about being a one-man band and his girl being a big bopper to standard I-IV-V changes. In the title cut, he works in a double entendre, which just might be his nod to the blues. His guitar and voice are heavily reverbed, so it certainly sounds like the garage rock equivalent of the blues.

 

How you’ll feel about Chinese Crawfish depends on how you feel about someone making rock ’n’ roll noises. If it’s charming in an everyman way when the person making it has more ambition than chops, then Chinese Crawfish is a winner. If it sounds like the artist’s aspirations are too low and too easily achieved, then King Louie is not for you.