A rare picture of LV, the orginal DragKing drummer, without his sunglasses.
He put so much into DragKing before moving on to San Francisco
(and forming the band Kill with original DK lead guitarist DJ Chubby Flea)

LV (aka Lavon Washington) grew up on the west side of Chicago.

By the time we met him he was living in South Shore with his cousin in a building owned by his aunt.

He met the Birdman at work in Hyde Park, and eventually helped to form DragKing, although he didn't own a drum kit, and he didn't have the same musical taste or interests as the Birdman(for example, the birdman was into some crazy stuff like Pussy Galore, Big Black, Laughing Hyenas, Australian sludge rockers Slub, Slint, Bastro, Nice Strong Arm or the Pain Teens, or anything with Lydia Lunch)

LV was into what he called "deep house", an elastic category which included alot of rock as well as more traditional house music which you might have heard DJ Frankie Knuckles spinning at the Warehouse up on the northside on Saturday nights. The music that was played at the Warehouse in the late 1970s and early 1980s was really disco music. But early house music also included lot of other influences including "classic rock", jazz, rhythm & blues (groups like Heatwave, Isley Bros, etc.) and Italian groups like Alexander Robotnic and Dr.'s Cat and German groups like Kraftwerk as well as disco records like Sinnamon's "Thanks To You", D-Train's "You're The One For Me" and The Peech Boys' "Don't Make Me Wait". These influences can be heard in early house records like Jesse Saunders' "Fantasy" and "On & On".

But what LV referred to as "deep house" could also include Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, and even punk groups like the Clash or WaxTrax! bands like Ministry or Front 242.

The most important thing was that LV was open to experimentation and trying to come up with a new sound.

LV's friends Sultan and Emir became some of DragKing's earliest and most enthusiastic supporters (along with the birdman's bro Pete and Hyde Park poet Nina Marks)

James Warden mentions collaborating with LV in his story about his musical development: http://www.etherfrolics.com/pages/james.html

The most important thing about LV was that he wasn't doing anything except hanging out and playing music. Unlike the rest of the band members he was totally dedicated to the task of making music. We were all into it. We all spent huge amounts of energy and time (and in the birdman's case money) on creating music. But LV was really into it.

LV and DJ Chubby Flea developed a really strong friendship and eventually Chubby Flea moved into the basement of LV's place down in SouthShore. Then, when Chubby Flea decided to go to San Francisco LV went too. He had never lived outside of Chicago before and had nothing to loose.

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