If King Louie Bankston had retired after his brief stint as a songwriter/keyboardist in
the Exploding Hearts, he would have done enough to be remembered as a punk pop hero. He kept moving, and after a few projects had come and gone, he returned in the 2010s with a new combo called
Missing Monuments. Their formula is simple. Louie writes super catchy songs, shouts them out in his hoarse holler, and the band tear it up with vim and vigor. Their second self-titled album is bursting with fun and fiery uptempo rockers that have a kick like a mule, midtempo ballads that mix punk, rock, and soul up in a whirring blend, and even a couple slow-burning tracks that steam along like lost AOR classics. It’s not easy to fit into any narrow definition of punk rock or garage punk or any other, since Louie and his crew are a little too weird and wild to be tied down. To that end, you get the occasional drum solo, songs about superheroes (the sweet as sugar “Super Hero”), headbands, and every last song has a fiery heavy metal guitar solo by Julien Friend that sounds ripped right off from a
Saxon song. Or
AC/DC. The raging “Crash Landing” even has some truly nuts dual guitar riffing that’s so sweaty and hairy you can almost smell the wet leather. Friend’s virtuoso skills match Bankston’s uncanny knack for crafting songs that stick in your head like chewed-up bubblegum, and the rhythm section plays with intense energy when they need to, but also scales back impressively on the tunes that need some finesse.
Missing Monuments is garage punk rock & roll at its best and proves without a doubt that King Louie Bankston is some kind of wizard, able to conjure up heart-pumping magic with a couple of chords and some noise. Dirtnap makes the package even better by including the band’s entire first album (Painted White on Douchemaster) and their 7" on Hozac as bonus tracks on the CD and download editions. ~ Tim Sendra