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DUKE SPECIAL
VICAR STREET, DUBLIN
22 MAY 2007Aaron Jones talks exclusively to Duke Special prior to his recent Vicar Street gig in Dublin. Photos by Al Higgins.
So there we were, wandering around the backstage of Vicar Street, not a clue which room we're supposed to be finding. Not that the backstage area is huge, we just didn't have a clue where we were meant to find Duke Special.
We see a room at the end of a hallway, with more mirrors than the other rooms, and reckon that's the one. Entering it, we find the Tour Manager, Rea, and a Peter Wilson. As soon as they see us, they're offering handshakes, drinks, food and fruit, more than we could ask for! So we introduce ourselves as the people here to interview Duke Special for Distant Warning, and Peter is straight into action.
As we sit down, Peter and Aaron around the table, and me on the couch to the side, to sneak in a photo or two, Peter opens up a paper bag, with his shopping from his day in Dublin:
Peter Wilson: I've just been shopping, (Takes out several records and begins to go through them). Firstly a cd for community singing which features everything from 'Percock Robin' to 'Tramp Tramp Tramp' and the 'Vacant Sheriff', and em... 'Rag Time The Musical', conducted by Randy Newman which is very nice. 'Oklahoma, the Soundtrack' and a band called Vignette from Holland - a very strange record!
Aaron Jones: Cool, well right... just a few questions, nothing too heavy! Whereabouts are you from?
PW: Geographically?
AJ: Yeah, where do you come from, and what’s your background?
PW: Well, I was born in Lisburn, lived in Seemer Hill for a year, and Coleraine for seven years. Then Downpatrick for eight years, then Hollywood in Co. Down, Swindon, Bristol and Belfast since.
AJ: OK, so what's the story behind the name 'Duke Special'?
PW: Well, I just wanted to have a name, in the same way any band takes on a name. It's em, something I wanted to say, and something about the music and I wanted to be associated with the music. Also, it's like a gang, you know?
AJ: So have you always been a solo artist?
PW: No, I've played in a number of bands before, and even now I often front this collection of vagrants on stage.
AJ: So the people you're playing with now, how did you get involved with them? There's quite a few well-known names playing with you.
PW: Well, I do some shows on my own, but I do quite a few different set ups, and it's a collection of amazing musicians, who all come from their own area of expertise from around the world. I guess I like to think of it in a 'Magnificent Seven' kinda way - where each person has their own skill, or like the mystery men, where each person has a super power! For example, Temperance Society Chip Bailey is on drums and percussion, and he comes from a world of made up instruments and circus skills. Then there's Paul Pilot whose joy is Hawaiian slide and pedal steel guitar. Then there's Rea Kearn, who's opening the show tonight with his puppet theatre. He's also a great actor and a translator of old songs. He also does a lot of work with old people and children. There's all kinds of people who do their own thing, and bring it out on stage for what I'm doing, so we collaborate in that way.
AJ: Are they all from Ireland?
PW: No, they're from all over - Chip lives in Swindon now. There's Poisoner, who lives in the south side of London, and Ben Castle lives near London as well.
AJ: And how did you get to meet them all?
PW: Well, Rea, I was at a party at his house, after a concert, and he played Raindogs on the accordion, it was amazing. Paul, I met at a youth club, near Coleraine. Chip was tending goats on a meadow when I passed him (at this point the tour manager and Peter begin laughing)...kinda.. clipping their nails I think! But usually, I met them through music and just by reputation.
AJ: So, how would you describe your music then? What would it go down as in the dictionary?
PW: Hobo-chic
AJ: Hobo-chic?
PW: Yeah, hobo-chic - It's kinda like Stylish Tramp.
AJ: Stylish Tramp?
PW: Ha, yeah, it's essentially melodic pop music. From the late sixties early seventies, anything from The Beatles to Joni Mitchell and Burt Bacharach - that kinda thing, but presented in a theatrical way. So I like it to be like a good film or play - one minute you're laughing, one minute you're crying. I like comedy because it opens the doors a bit for something more serious.
AJ: So do you see it more like the theatre than a gig?
PW: Well, I see it as both, there's music used in theatre sometimes - and I like to use theatre in music - the other way around. I like music that's not just a collection of songs, that aren't...not that they have to be connected by theme, but I like music that dramatises...
AJ: So do you see it as a story then?
PW: No, not as structured as that, but I think, I just like the idea of people going on a journey with you. Like when you step into a theatre, you don't go "There's a bloke up there talking" - he's a character. And, I don't want to play music where people go "There's a bloke up there singing". I want it to be like a world where people can go into.
AJ: So how did you get around to using instruments like a cheese grater and wardrobes? Was it just from jamming with them?
PW: No, no. It's poverty really. The first EP was made for no money, and we didn't have access to decent studios - we had a little room above a shop and we just improvised really. We didn't have a wardrobe so, we rooted around the kitchen to see what we could find. Chip fell against a wardrobe, and it just made a really nice 'thud', so we got him to do it lots of times, and it became the kick drum! It's nothing new using found items. I think we wanted to make something that sounded in its own place as well.
AJ: How long have you been a professional musician, and how are you finding it? Was it much of a jump from amateur to professional?
PW: It's a blurred line. I think, as an artist it was a big jump to think of myself as "I'm not trying to be something, but I actually am doing it or being it". Part of the biggest jump is in your own head - there's a lot of people doing music full-time, who probably feel it's not their calling, and there's some people who aren’t even remotely part-time, but who are amazing artists or writers. So I think that was the biggest hurdle, it doesn’t matter whether I have a record deal or not - I'm a songwriter, I'm an artist, and nothing can stop me doing that.
The last six years have been really busy, a lot of touring. Initially on my own, just in a car, sleeping wherever I can. You have to be really determined, but I just knew I didn't want to do anything else. Recently, the last year, it's been a lot more profiled with what I'm doing. People are more aware of what I'm doing, the conditions are a lot better. I get a big fancy fruit bowl in the centre of the table! Before I'd just get a bag of apples and a bottle of water.
AJ: So how do people react to the music when you play? Say, when you play somewhere you haven't played before? How do people who haven't heard you before react?
PW: Good! It's had a very organic growth, because I had been touring so much before there was any write-ups about what I'm doing. The audience grew with me, it was very word of mouth, where people would tell their friends, and more would come back the next time. So I've been quite lucky that way - you hear about bands that have a big hit, and people just come along and want to hear that one song. It's been really exciting to go places I've never been before and people are singing along with the words.
I find it a real challenge - I played in Limerick recently because they had seen me on the Late Late Show - the previous time there had been about 40 people there, and this time there was over 400 - that was a challenge because it was like playing for somebody else’s audience. People have expectations of what you're going to do and don't know the music, so you have to win them over. But I love that as well. I love playing to other people’s audiences though. I played bars around Belfast for a lot of years, where you were either in a corner singing or playing piano while people were eating, and you know, you just made it your goal to win a few people, and by that, I don't mean playing what they wanted to hear. I was playing Nirvana to pensioners, and they were applauding it! Little did they know what I was doing! Or playing in places where, like if you were shit, they were right, so that was where I learned to be a performer.
AJ: So what are the plans for the future? Are you working on more songs, and with festival season coming up?
PW: Well, writing-wise, I'm embarking on a time of writing, and just to try out things for a new record and also, I really want to collaborate with a lot of different people, and push myself to try things I wouldn't have tried otherwise. It's like you have certain tools you use all the time, and I want to find a few new ones. Writing with someone else, you get to nick a few of theirs!
AJ: Do you get much time to do any of that on the road?
PW: Not so much, but usually, it gives you some ammunition. So yeah, the next three months, there's going to be a lot of different festivals, which is fun, you know? Playing to a lot of people you wouldn't be able to otherwise.
Upcomind Tour Dates and Festivals
August 5th
Dranouter Festival
Spot on the clubtent/second marquee
http://www.folkdranouter.be/dag.aspx?id=4
August 9th
www.dunamaise.ie/
Dunmaise Theatre in Portloise
Part of World Fleadh.
August 10th
Birr Theatre
Part of Birr Vintage Week Festival, County Offaly
August 11th
Belladrum Festival, Scotland
http://www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk/music_and_entertainment.asp
August 12
Summer Sundae, Leicester, UK
http://www.summersundae.com/
August 27
Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham racecourse http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/index.php?s=77&day=monday&submit=Go
Main support on Mainstage. Possibly to Chas and Dave!
August 31st
Electric Picnic
Headlining the Crawdaddy Tent
http://www.electricpicnic.ie/flash.html
Vicar Street Review
Waterford Review
