The Duke Spirit

The Duke Spirit are back after a five year hiatus, with a brand new album tucked under their arm. Making music that some have compared to Wolf Alice and PJ Harvey, they’re come a long way since meeting at art college in 2003. I spoke to lead singer Liela ahead of their date at Norwich Arts Centre, about being friends with Mark Lanegan, having a music teacher for a mother and side project Roman Ruins.

I know you met in London back in 2003 at art college; if you hadn’t have formed The Duke Spirit what would you all be doing now do you think?

I’m sure the guys would have tried to establish some sort of musical thing but I don’t know, I had a lack of confidence at that time. I was a massive music fan with eclectic tastes going to see bands all the time, but really I wasn’t the sort of person who’d bowl up to someone and ask them to write songs with me or spend time in a rehearsal room. Inadvertently Luke heard me singing round the kitchen and said “Why don’t you try to write songs?” and that’s where it started. I could always be a newsreader, or a geography teacher I guess!

Did you have professional vocal training? Have you always considered yourself a ‘singer’?

My mum is a musician and music teacher; I grew up just with her, and as a single parent she was very busy so we didn’t spend a lot of time making music together but there was definitely a feeling of a shared musicality between us. We played records and sang along, and then when I became a teenager I used to sing a lot in my bedroom. I don’t think my mum ever thought it was necessary for me to take singing lessons; your voice is you, your contribution to the whole, and if you take lessons the more homogenous you might sound. She’s helped me, since starting the band, with getting more stability from breathing and using your diaphragm to give you more power though. I do think singing lessons are good for confidence, I don’t have anything against them, but if you find yourself getting there naturally then that’s good enough.

Who inspires you now musically, and who has stuck with you through the years as an inspiration?

So many people..I have an enduring love for Bjork which hasn’t ceased since I was about 14 or 16. I’m a proper fan of her. A band that were a big inspiration that I still go back and listen to now are Spiritualised. Their album Ladies and Gentlemen..had that intensity, that depth, that element of being both fucked up and beautiful that we really liked. It came out a very long time ago now but I still stand by that record and say that without it there are certain shapes or textures we might not have embraced. I wouldn’t have picked up the harmonica had it not been for them. We listen to a lot of rock n roll but also Nina Simone, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, so there’s a real breadth to our music collections.

After you toured with your album Bruiser you didn’t do any Duke Spirit stuff for a couple years. Did you just need a rest at this point?

Everybody was having a life experience that was all consuming. Luke had a baby girl and my stepmother was passing away, so there was no space for any of us to make anything. Everything flat lined and I took some time to get over that and retreat into the reality of family and loved ones. We had a changing perspective after a year of trying to build ourselves back up. It takes a lot of energy to push a band forward when you’re still under the radar.

You and Toby created the band Roman Remains at that time – might you return to making more music under that name?

Yeah I‘m sure we’ll do some more when we have a break. It was something Toby had stockpiled. We were on tour with The Duke Spirit so were a bit bored during our down time and he was enjoying the technological potential of making music on your laptop, and it was driven out of curiosity really. I chucked a load of vocals on there which was really quick and crazy and I didn’t know what I was doing but it was fun! It was like a bedroom project, where you’re not sure what’s going to happen and then there it is in front of you. It’s not necessarily your new career or your new best friend but it’s cool anyway!

Your fourth album Kin is due out soon. You worked with some interesting artists like Hackney’s Deep Throat Choir and Mark Lanegan on it. How did that come about?

Ollie, our drummer is good friends with the ladies of the Deep Throat Choir so he suggested them for the choral parts on the album. Ollie has his finger on the pulse of the hip choir scene! So they turned up, we squashed them all into the studio and it was great! It was a joyful moment to hear your own song being played back, watching people performing through the glass, and for a moment you catch yourself thinking “Wow, we made this happen!” We met Mark Lanegan nine or ten years ago when we supported him on a UK tour, we had a few friends in common too and I sung at the Meltdown Festival for James Lavelle and Mark was singing there too. When the show had finished I asked him if he’d consider being on our album and he was like “No problem darlin’” and pinged the track back to me in about two minutes!

I’ve heard the latest track released from the new album, Hands; it’s pretty full on. I love the wall of sound element. Are you looking forward to playing these new songs live for the first time on this tour?

Yeah I am! If you’d have asked me last week I would have said I was just nervous about it because I like a new song, because if you play the old ones too often you get bored. That said, every song feels new played live in a room where people are up for it and there’s an atmosphere. So there is a sense of giving the song a proper delivery. But we’ve been rehearsing the last couple days and I’ve been really enjoying it. We have the added pleasure of having multi instrumentalist Daisy in the band for these shows and she was capturing it perfectly last night. It feels liberating to set it all into motion.

What’s your songwriting process?

We used to sit round together in my kitchen with a mic and I’d put some nonsense words together with a tune; we’d record it and then go back and listen and pick out bits we liked. We use technology now in a way that doesn’t lose any of that live magic, I can get more and more raw, private thought onto the page. Something’s recorded and then I can go back over it again with headphones and a computer on my own., like in a private cave. I can build up atmospheres in my head without anyone popping the bubble.

Why are you called The Duke Spirit?

Our producer from the first album was the first sincere, honest kind of guy to help us out in the industry. We didn’t have a name, so he suggested we look through a massive box of books in his office, and I crawled into this giant box and I saw some text in capitals which said DUKE SPIRIT. We all decided it sounded like something from deep within British history, a ship or a pub, something that had stood for a long time and has a haunting nobility to it. We were running out of time to decide so we decided that as it wasn’t shit we would use it!

I imagine you’ll be playing some festivals this summer..who would you really like to catch live if you can?

A band I’ve always respected but have never bought their records and I don’t know that much about them is The Coral. I know they’re back with a new album, and I just think they’re one of those brilliant groups of musicians that have done pretty well and are solid. I’ve heard their songs on the radio and think they’re great. I would love to see Eska, who was nominated for the Mercury. I’ve worked with her and a choir but I’d love to see her somewhere soon. Gotta see Savages in a festival environment too of course. They’re just fucking good aren’t they!

We’re looking forward to seeing you play at Norwich Arts Centre soon!

I’ve got a lot of love for Norwich. I’ve got a load of cousins who live in Norwich so they’ll be down at the show; we spent a lot of time together when we were little kids and it’s nice when you can catch up with family and friends on tour.

The Duke Spirit play Norwich Arts Centre on 21st March. Tickets available from norwichartscentre.co.uk.