Formed in 2002 as the result of couple of brews at a bar-b-q and to come through on a boast of being able to provide a live sound, Deluxe Leisure King has evolved at its own pace thanks to devotees of the jangly sound, a commitment to doing \"their own thing\", and the belief that pop is alive and well. Releasing 15 Minutes of Shame in 2004, the DLK received acclaim and comparisons to the likes of IRS era REM, The dB’s, The Windbreakers, early Elvis Costello and scored a track (\"She’s So Nervous\") in the Margaret Cho film Bam Bam And Celeste. Their sophomore effort, 2006’s \"Debbie Does Nothing\", pays homage to powerpop, psychedelia, folk and americana, while holding fast to their southern jangle roots. Most of 2007 was spent writing and recording their third longplayer, Miss Steak. The record’s first single, \"Wanna Girl(Like That)\", found its way to the Australiasian sector of the Pacific Rim and wound up on the Intercontinental Pop Controversy vinyl sampler (which sold like fresh shashimi in Japan) and the CD compilation Invaders From Planet Pop both from Smashed Records..a cool \'lil indie label from down under. No surprise that the 12 string jangly goodness of \"Wanna Girl\" garnered airplay in Spain and Australia respectively. What does the future hold for the DLK? Who knows. They’re not getting any younger or less bald or better looking. But they focus on staying, as Not Lame records put it, \"wonderfully out of step.\" And it shouldn’t be any other way.
The Suburban Weirdness of Deluxe Leisure King
Local band\'s third album presents an off-kilter view of life
It\'s telling that the two most intense exchanges during an interview with Deluxe Leisure King involve not music but (a) the merits of the various actresses who have played Catwoman, and (b) what it might have been like if Jack Nicholson had ever been cast as Jesus. The two themes have nothing to do with the trio\'s recently-released third album, \"Miss Steak.\" Or, at least there\'s no direct relationship.
They do lend some insight into the band\'s point of view, however. Either topic would serve well as the kernel of a DLK song. Lyrically, they tend to sound like a group of guys who found themselves living in a cultural wasteland, shrugged and decided to go native.
They pretty much spell it out on the album\'s opening track, \"Welcome to the Neighborhood:\"
\"The man that lives behind me/ feels so complete/ he runs a dirty little business/ from the corner of the street/ The repairman in the phone truck/ is working for the feds/ he knows what everybody\'s doing/ in everybody\'s beds.\"
From there it\'s on to a heavily ironic catalog of suburban weirdness and dysfuntional characters.
There\'s an ode to actor Aldo Ray and a sunny paean to cult leader Jim Jones; a character sketch of Donya Petrova, who in the midst of Glasnost and Perestroika just wants to become a human cannonball; and \"Superwaitress,\" a slow-paced number whose dreamy, soothing tone belies a vicious assessment of a woman vastly overqualified, at least in her own mind, for the job:
\"And all those great big words/ make you sound eloquent/ but you still pay the cable bill/ before you pay the rent// Acting so smart makes you look so dumb/ in the final scheme/ you can talk about Nietzsche/ while you take these salads to table 14.\"
Vocalist/guitarist/principal songwriter Seth Cherniak said the song, contrary to what one might expect, didn\'t originate with a specific bad dining experience. \"It\'s all fly-on-the-wall conversation that my wife brought home from the gym,\" he said. There, he said, she\'d been amused by the complaints and the attitudes of a couple of women who\'d paused to take a cigarette break in the middle of their workout.
Musically, Deluxe Leisure King sticks to what Cherniak refers to as jangle-pop. It\'s a sound very close to late-80\'s college radio: A heavy dose of R.E.M., some Tom Petty, a dash of Byrds, with rough-and-ready directness valued over studio polish. It\'s an approach that has held since 2004 when the band released its debut, \"15 Minutes of Shame.\" The follow-up, \"Debbie Does Nothing,\" came in 2006.
As before, Bobby Frost handles the drums and a gentleman who prefers to be known as Self Abuse plays bass. Everybody sings. This time around, Self Abuse contributed several songs.
Although he\'s not the sole songwriter, Cherniak said he\'s particularly pleased by the cohesiveness of this album. More or less by accident, the trio found a theme.
\"Most of the songs do deal with some kind of mistake,\" Frost said.
As for the off-kilter view of life found in the lyrics, \"You write what you know and where you are,\" Cherniak said.
Deluxe Leisure King isn\'t exactly a high-pressure project. Two of the three members have buttoned-down, white-collar careers, and the band isn\'t maintaining a busy live schedule these days.
Despite that, it\'s managed to put out three albums in a town where it\'s a common complaint that a lot of bands never survive long enough to release their second.
Asked where this puts the band on its career arc, the members were typically self-deprecating. \"Reduced for quick sale,\" said Cherniak. \"Rapidly spoiling,\" amended Frost. And yet, Frost said, there is a fundamental reason why they keep going. They\'re making the kind of music they like to hear, and they like to share.
\"It\'s fun getting it out there,\" Frost said. For sound samples and tour dates, visit myspace.com/deluxeleisureking.
-Lawrence Specker
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