Jim Louvau An Artist With A Vision.

     Jim Louvau is not only my favorite photographer but he also has fronted some great bands such as TheAttitude and Victims in Ecstasy. He is one of the most inspirational people out there in my opinion. He has photographed everyone from NIN, GNR, and Roger Waters to Black Sabbath. I wanted to upfront give credit to and a thanks to Jim for providing all the photos he has shot for this article. You can check out all his work at Louvau Photography.

 

     Patrick Houtz (PH)---Let's first talk about your photography work. How did you start getting into doing professional photography?  

     Jim Louvau (JL)---I took a black and white film photography class my senior year of high school and my teacher would always get upset with me because all of the assignments I would turn in were of a local band here in Phoenix called N17. He would tell me that if I ever wanted a chance to be a professional photographer I would have to learn how to shoot portraits and subjects other than bands. Music has always been my passion from the time I could walk and I always wanted to capture the energy of what I saw with a camera. At that time I didn't even own a camera I borrowed a friends dads camera that he hadn't used in years. I completely stopped shooting when I started Victims In Ecstacy and focused all my time on the band. Then in 2005 I went out on Warped Tour with my friends Opiate For the Masses to collect video footage and document their life on the road. When I wasn't shooting them I was shooting up and coming bands on the tour like Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance, The Transplants, and Billy Idol was on some dates. I came home from tour with a pretty good portfolio and no job to come home to. I was broke like every other artist in the world and I took the first job I could find doing customer service at The Arizona Republic. After I had been there a little while I just got on a company directory and found out who the photo editor was and I picked up the phone and called him. He sorta laughed at me and told me he was going on vacation but would look at my stuff and that there were no jobs available. Well after he got back he blew me off three or four times until I wouldn't take no for an answer. He finally met with me and he said your stuff is good but again I can't do anything for you but that I should reach out to the music department and let them know if anyone ever cancels or couldn't do an assignment that I was interested. A couple months went by and someone couldn't shoot an Aerosmith and Motley Crue show so they called me. I started with that one and then it was two a month, and then grew to the point I was doing four a week. The paper put me in front of the biggest acts that came through town and playing music over the years and making friends with so many other bands gave me unique opportunities to get access that others didn't have.

 

 

      (PH)---Who are some of your favorite bands you have been able to shoot either live or for cover art?

 

     (JL)---Getting the chance to shoot shows like Nine Inch Nails, Guns N' Roses, Marilyn Manson, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd on multiple occasions was pretty amazing as they were all very influential to me as a kid. As much as I love to shoot the live stuff album artwork is still the most rewarding as an artist. My favorite piece to date is still the cover I did for theATTITUDE's last E.p because I had a very vivid vision of what I wanted and I was able to execute that image exactly the way I pictured it in my head.

 

 

     (PH)---I know you also do some sports photography as well. Is it nice being able to mix up both music and sports to keep the photography kind of fresh for yourself?

     (JL)---Shooting sports is a whole new world for me and it's a completely different mindset in some ways to music since it's very unpredictable in what is going to happen and it's a lot more about guessing what is going to happen. Being a big sports fan myself it's quite the rush walking out of the tunnel of a stadium into full of fans and some of my favorite players.

 

 

     (PH)---I listen to your band Victims In Ecstacy still to this day. You guys had a killer lineup with you, Andy Gerold, and Jim Kaufman. All you guys have been extremely successful in the music business. What are some of the best memories playing and touring in the Victims in Ecstacy days? What were the biggest influences you guys had musically at that point? 

     (JL)---Most of my memories of the V.I.E days aren't really ones I can share but we were young and wild and that band shaped all of us to move on to the next musical moments in our lives. It's kinda funny to look back and remember when Disturbed opened for us or playing with Linkin Park and touring with Pigface. Andy has felt like a sixth member of theATTITUDE over the years as he has played on or worked on all of our records and Jared Bakin has also been in and out of the band since we started.

 

 

      (PH)---The Attitude was also an incredible band you fronted as well. Are you guys planning on anything coming up in the future as far as live shows or are you just mostly concentrated on photography right now?

     (JL)---We spent most of last year away from playing live and focused more on writing and making plans for 2014. We have a full record we haven't released yet and a bunch more remixes to go along with it that we will put out this year and hopefully do some more touring to support it. Music is an emotional roller coaster for me and photography helps me balance the two art forms and keeps me from going crazy.

 

 

      (PH)---There is video of you playing with tons of different people from Jay Gordon, Elias Andra, and Chris Vrenna to name a few. Who would you say has been the biggest honor for you personally to share the stage with? 

     (JL)---It was really cool playing with Vrenna, we met through Andy when we were both going through really dark times in our personal lives and I specifically remember heading to rehearsal with him and realizing he hadn't played any of the Nine Inch Nails songs we were covering since he had been in the band he had to listen to them in headphones to remember the parts. We toured with Orgy a couple years back so I've played quite a few shows with Jay Gordon and I actually had to fill in for 5-6 songs for them in Las Vegas last month when his flight was delayed. He has definitely taken us under his wing. As far a people I've played on the same shows as Chino Moreno, Chester Bennington, Scott Weiland, and Johnny Rotten even though I am not a fan.

 

 

      (PH)---Do you have any other musical endeavors coming up? 

     (JL)---Between photography and theATTITUDE my year will be pretty packed but I'm usually not one to turn down projects of interest.