Image: Damian Strigens
Louie & The Flashbombs
Louie & The Flashbombs
A Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. might not be your idea of the rock and roll hour, but in this downtown subterranean recording studio time stands still. Louie & the Flash Bombs are at work on new recordings with Jeff Hamilton at the controls.
“Sounds like you are singing nice. Maybe try it a little more reckless,” Mike Benign suggests to Louie Lucchesi who is in the vocal booth. The powerful music blends crunching rock and pop hooks. Benign taps his foot in time with the kick drum as Hamilton juggles dozens of tracks on the computer screen, a far cry from the days when these guys saved up band funds to buy a precious two inch reel of tape for recording.
'Shiny New Skin' by Louie & The Flashbombs
Louie & The Flashbombs EP release show with BingBong and Wire and Nail, Friday, 8 p.m., Anodyne Walker’s Point.
Benign and Lucchesi have been making music for decades, separately in bands like Crime Family, Klaus Nomi’s Homies, Umbrella Man, Arms & Legs & Feet, and Blue in the Face. As songwriters, the pairing takes the best both have to offer. By the time “Shiny New Skin” reaches the bridge, Benign’s sonic fingerprints are obvious.
Worlds Collide
Lucchesi and Benign began collaborating in 2021. Armed with over two dozen songs they assembled a band that would perform live in May 2022. The sextet includes a group of veteran musicians: Paul Biemann on bass and vocals, drummer Bo Conlon, Al Hildenbrand on guitar and vocals and Matt Meixner on keyboards and vocals.
Late last November L&TF are playing a set to a yakking audience. It is difficult to imagine this many people paid admission for the pleasure of missing a band. Go figure. If L&TF notice, it doesn’t show. Clad in black like a half dozen middle-aged ninjas, with Benign shadowing Lucchesi’s vocals, the band is a lesson in growing old tunefully. Maybe even gracefully.
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A few months later in January the band commands the stage at Linnemann’s Riverwest Inn for a set that runs close to an hour in duration. Lucchesi is in fine voice and pushing a lot of air. What’s the big deal?
In September 2020, Louie Lucchesi was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer, and it was spreading rapidly. (shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/louie-lucchesi-is-well-and-ready-to-rock) The cancer couldn’t be dealt with until doctor’s dealt with tumors. Benign even fronted the band for a show when Lucchesi caught COVID.
Rock and roll has always been drunk on the image of itself as badass. Yet, here’s vocalist Lucchesi—forming a band, writing and recording new material well into his sixth decade—while going toe-to-toe with lung cancer. This goes beyond any skull and crossbones, tattoos-and-grimace cartoonery. You don’t have to be a student of literature to appreciate this is real life leaning into Shakespeare.
Far From a Hard Luck Story
In conversation, Lucchesi acknowledges his health challenges, then steers conversation back to his band mates and opportunities on the horizon. Like how the lineup of the band fell together and how they have a backlog of 40 finished songs they’d like to record--all the while he and Benign continue to write new material. Scan Benign’s back catalog and you’ll find a discography littered with witty and intelligent music; often in groups with Biemann serving as consigliere. Conlon (BoDeans), Meixner (Hudson, Stress Kid, session work), and Hildebrand (Pet Engine) all have made a mark locally; L&TF was recently nominated in the WAMI awards.
This wealth of riches is not lost on Lucchesi. He is grateful for the band’s focus and having picked its punches in scheduling gigs and recording sessions.
louieandtheflashbombs.bandcamp.com/album/shiny-new-skin-ep
Back in the studio, with each vocal take--Hamilton and Benign’s suggestions offering grist for the mill--Lucchesi focuses on his phrasing; as his voice warms up his personality comes through more and more.
Point of Origin
Benign’s Telecaster won’t let him sleep. For every Flashbomb, there are scores of people who joined a band then left the guitar case in the closet to gather dust, moving on with life’s other chapters. What make this group different?
Settling in perhaps, then locating a degree of grace—at an intersection where the energy and folly of youth turns into measured life lessons. People, like these guys, who chose to write, play and record music after life has unfolded know that projects like these have to be juggled with responsibilities. That’s the bargain.
And it isn’t a rock and roll fantasy but a way of navigating life experiences with Art that requires as much focus, attention and presumably clarity as can be mustered--ingredients that might have been taken for granted decades ago when bands simply aimed for the weekend.
In early April L&TF is running through the set in preparation of the upcoming EP release show. The music is too loud and the room is too small. And it’s warm bordering on hot.
“You’ll have to suffer with us,” Benign laughs. But the band’s practice space serves as a comfortable pressure cooker; spartan amenities, yet perfect to focus on getting the job done. And these lifers don’t seem to mind. Collectively they have seen a lot. It reflects in the music.
It’s a hundred years from today, to steal a quote from Elliott Murphy, and a kid is assigned to write a report on classical rock and roll. They would do fine choosing the story of Louie & The Flashbombs.
