BILL ORCUTT - Four Louies Live BILL ORCUTT

All-star live rendition of Steve Reich’s Four Organs-inspired rendition of the Kingsmen’s classic “Louie Louie”
Features Eli Knowles, William Winant, Wendy Eisenberg, Mari Maurice, Cyrus Pireh, Alan Licht, David Golightly, Chris Corsano, Eli Streich, Jas Stade, Emmalee Johnson-Kao, Bryan Day and Bill Orcutt
Recorded live in concert March 21 2026 at Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn NY

“Upon seeing the Instagram post announcing the upcoming LP release of Bill Orcutt’s The Four Louies, an inspired mashup plonking excerpts from Steve Reich’s epochal Minimalist slo-mo phase variant Four Organs onto the Kingsmen’s equally canonical garage/frat/mumblecore chestnut ‘Louie Louie,’ I immediately commented ‘Kingsreich as opposed to Qüeensryche’ (not even realizing the Kingsmen and Qüeensryche both hailed from the Pacific Northwest). My bon mot was seemingly rewarded with a mailed copy, and upon receipt I luxuriated in Bill’s latest opensource leveling of rock and classical minimalist tropes, a worthy successor to A Mechanical Joey’s tautological tomfoolery. I was jazzed when a year or so later he inquired if I would be up for taking part in Louies live in New York. I wasn’t sure how familiar Bill was with my checkered history of untutored organ playing (both in Run On and solo contexts, not to mention a short-lived go at the pipe organ with Connie Burg and Haino Keiji), but he also tapped fellow guitarists/non-organists Wendy Eisenberg, Mari Maurice, and Cyrus Pireh, plus a couple of ringers (David Golightly and musical director Eli Knowles). So that’s already six organs instead of four, flanked by a fullfledged rock trio (the nimble Gumby’s Junk), a noise-tablist (Bryan Day), master percussionist William Winant, and frequent Orcutt sparring partner Chris Corsano—a veritable Orcuttstra, whose ranks exceeded the lineups of the Kingsmen and Qüeensryche put together...
“After some downtime and enjoyable band bonding backstage, we finally traipsed upstairs and hit the downbeat. Frankly, it exceeded all expectations. The Four Louies album is well-executed but, given its plunderphonic provenance, comparatively stiff. The live Louies was a blazing and expansive wall of sound, with impeccable time-keeping by Mr. Winant on maracas. The twin drums exploded immediately, and Bill’s riffing prodded Gumby’s Junk into some boisterous interplay. In the grand tradition of Kiss Alive, Frampton Comes Alive, Live at Leeds, or When the Shit Hits the Fans, Four Louies Live eclipses its studio predeccessor, and surely portends an attendant commercial breakthrough.” — Alan Licht