Band of the Week: The Ludes

Welcome to Orlando Weekly's "Band of the Week." Every week, we highlight one of our favorite local bands. This week, we're pleased to bring you the Ludes.

The Ludes are playing a tribute set of X covers at Will's Pub, opening for Shonen Knife, on May 4.

Just the facts:

Who's in the band?
Jeff plays guitar. Captain Mike plays bass. Mark plays drums. Jeff also “sings”. We are a trio – which is scientifically proven to be the most efficient rock ‘n’ roll delivery system.

When did the band form?
Back in the day.

Currently available releases:
That shit is for squares. Rock music is a live beast. We are not going to be a party to your product-fixated, bourgeois commerce.

Websites:
Facebook is as websitey as we get. Sorry, nerds. Come to a damn show. You can enjoy the video for our feel-good anthem, “Kill Kill Fuck”, from the Facebook site though.

Upcoming shows:
On May 4th we’ll be paying tribute to the twisted genius of X at Will's Pub with a full set of covers from this seminal west coast punk band. We’re joining forces with two of our favorite people for this gig – Olivia and Colin from Thomas Wynn & the Believers. Hell yes.

Describe your sound in five words:
Heavy Shit for Weird People

Five questions:

What has been your most memorable show so far?
The annual Antemesaris Festival in Polk County is always the most memorable gig. Way out in the sticks, essentially lawless, chock-full of the best music fans in the state and double-dipped in a lysergic bath of creamy goodness. Many of our best sets have been out there.

Which local band is your favorite one to play a show with?
"We have many compadres in the local scene that we love & respect, but I gotta go with Little Tommy Wynn & His Beliebers and anything Steve Garron is involved with. Of course, Kaleigh Baker is the undisputed queen of the universe and I’m fortunate to be musically entangled with her as well. The Wynns are just insanely gifted and they rock like bad bitches. Steve “Kidney Boy” Garron is like a cross between Adrian Belew and a creepy dude on a playground – and maybe the best songwriter this town has ever produced. Kaleigh is the best singer on Earth. I’ll stand on Aretha Franklin’s coffee table and announce that to the world, yo." - Jeff Nolan

What description gets used for your band that you would most
like to correct people on? Why?
That we’re too loud. We are exactly the right amount of loud. We’ve had this confirmed by the International Volume Consortium in Switzerland and you can’t argue with the IVC. People think we’re too loud because they are not accustomed to hot rockin’ in the Information Age. As indicated above, the IVC has certified that The Ludes are exactly the right amount of loud. Look it up on your computer machine. It’s IVC certification number 714.

What’s your favorite thing about being an Orlando band? What's your least favorite? Why?
We have an embarrassment of riches here when it comes to cool and talented people.

It’s rather hot and humid here. We should pass some legislation to fix that. Why won’t our elected officials fix the weather? They’re all in the pocket of big humidity.

Any big news to share?
YES. Since X (the greatest American band of all time) is coming to Orlando, we’ve decided to pre-party that badboy at the world famous Will’s Pub on May 4th. We’re opening for Shonen Knife (which is in itself fucking awesome) and will be joined by Olivia Wynn and Colin Fei from Thomas Wynn & the Believers for a blistering set of X covers. Much like Mr. Reese’s eponymous cup, the Ludes and the Believers are two great tastes that taste great together.

We don’t do a lot of covers, so it’s a blast to work up these songs. If X isn’t the greatest American rock band of all time, they’re definitely in the conversation. This set will test the limits of Gretsch guitars through Marshall amps – but it will be exactly the right amount of loud (IVC certification 714. Documents available upon written request).