Turn it up: Alex V. Cook (left) and Lance Porter (right) of The Rakers. Photo by Matt Sigur.
Around 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, the six-piece rock ‘n’ roll band The Rakers are tuning up for a rehearsal inside guitarist Leon LeJeune’s shop off Perkins Road.
Guitarist/singers Alex V. Cook and Lance Porter are trading jokes while saxophonist Ian Frazier is hurrying to set up a music stand.
“They like to show off,” drummer Anna Byars says, quickly casting the guys’ jokes to the side and announcing she’s ready to practice.
With tambourine in hand, Cook counts off the band’s “John the Baptist,” a bar room rumble featuring the singer’s best crazed preacher imitation.
Friday night (May 29) at Chelsea’s Café is a big deal for the band, Cook says. The Rakers open for Carlo Ditta and John Sinclair. Also on tap at the show is Andy Bernard doing a tribute to John Fred & The Playboys. Doors open at 9 p.m. Cover is $10.
Cook, a rock ‘n’ roll historian and writer, can’t wait to open up for Sinclair, a 73-year-old poet and political activist whose jazz poetry has even inspired one of the Beatles.
“This is the coolest thing to me,” he says. “It’s the closest thing to Tom Waits Baton Rouge will get. [Sinclair] is such a down-to-earth guy, but also John Lennon wrote a song about him.”
The rambling, crazed jazz will be a good complement to what The Rakers are cooking up.
“This is the band we all should’ve had when we were 14 years old,” Cook says.
Cook, Porter, LeJeune and bassist Lewis Roussell met while honing their talents in Dave Hinson’s Adult Music Club. Roussell says after a few years of jamming, Hinson told the guys to move on.
“He kind of pulled us off to the side and said, ‘All right, I gotta make room for more students,'” Roussell says.
With Hinson’s blessing, The Rakers started booking shows and writing more songs together. The band’s short history has seen a few people come and go. But unlike most bands, The Rakers’ goal isn’t to impress or force itself into the public eye. The band’s music and style is always about having a good rock ‘n’ roll time.
“This isn’t the place for ego or a compulsive anal retention,” LeJeune says. “If we make mistakes, we laugh.”
