Louis XIV, the band's first album, was recorded in the spring of 2003 in a basement in the Latin district in Paris on a 16-track tape machine.

They were embraced by Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme at the 2004 NME Awards.

Independent record label Stolen Transmission released a three-song CD featuring the songs "Hey Teacher" and "God Killed the Queen".

Eight major radio stations on the West Coast then named the single a top five song, leading to the band signing to Atlantic Records in late 2004.

The band released a self-produced EP entitled Illegal Tender in January 2005, followed in March by their second full-length album, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, produced by Hill.

[3] The music video for "Pledge of Allegiance", again filmed by Hill, featured "The Best Little Secrets" cover model undressing in front of a camera.

In 2007 David Bowie and Alicia Keys asked the band to play their BlackBall charity event for AIDS in Africa.

[4] The band toured Australia, Mexico, and the USA with The Killers and played several AIDS in Africa charity events.

In an interview with NME on June 30, 2009, The Killers' lead singer Brandon Flowers mentioned that he thought Louis XIV had broken up.

"[6] After performing a number of shows on their "Return of the King" tour in 2012 supporting The Killers, Jason Hill officially confirmed in an interview in March 2013 that the band had decided to reunite.

As Hill explained to Reverb Magazine on November 17, 2007, while on tour in Melbourne: When you hang out with us, you realize that we are constantly laughing and messing around.