The Duke Spirit interview

The Duke Spirit are defensibly the hardest working band in rock 'n' roll today. They tour ceaselessly, interview tirelessly and they all have second jobs at a cannery in Middlesex. I spoke to Toby, the hardest working member of the world's hardest working band, and he said it wasn't so bad, Snow Patrol work in a textiles factory where they get paid in corned beef, cholera and the lash. Right now The Dukes have taken a break from the non-stop touring and the lowest factory wage permitted by law, to work on some new songs, cook some soup and gird themselves for their first ever Australian tour.
 
Jason Crombie: Hey Toby!
Toby Butler:  Hi!

JC: Where are you?
TB: I'm in Wales at the moment.
JC: Wales?
TB: We hired this huge house in the middle of nowhere in Wales, and we've brought all of our recording equipment down here. We're demo-ing for about two weeks, writing some new stuff.
JC: Great! What's the house like?
TB: It's amazing! It's this huge, four story, country mansion in the middle of the woods. It looks like a scene from a fucking horror film!
JC: What, like The Shining or something?
TB: Yeah, it's somewhere between The Shining and Blair Witch Project. If you don't ever hear from us again it's because some crazy local has come and killed us.

JC: That'd suck. Especially now I know there are some new songs in the works. How are they coming along?
TB: Well, this is the first opportunity we've had to do anything. We've been touring Neptune since it came out about a year ago, and we've been touring pretty much solidly. We haven't really had that much time off in the past year.
JC: But now you've got some time off before the Australian tour.
TB: Yeah. We could have just put our feet up for a couple of weeks, you know?  But because we know we'll be touring again for the next three months we thought we'd get our heads down. Everyone's got bits of ideas of songs knocking around, and we were feeling kind of itchy, like, we want to get creative again.
JC: How many ideas for songs are knocking around?
TB: There's about ten ideas for songs knocking around. But this is literally the inception of (our next) complete album.
JC: And I'm interrupting!
TB: No, no, man. I've been sat playing the same guitar line for five hours now, it's all right, I needed a break.

JC: What are you eating up there for the next two weeks?
TB: What are we eating?
JC: Yeah.
TB: Well, Luke just cooked a very nice vegetable soup!
JC: Yum! It sounds really good, eating and working on new music
TB: It's pretty cool actually; we got a load of nice food in, and a load of nice wine. We spend all day getting ideas in and then we stop and cook for each other and have a bit of wine, then we carry on. It's quite a civilized way of working. When we recorded our last album out in the desert in California, that's how it worked there as well.
JC: Nice. Who's the best cook?
TB: I reckon Luke probably is at the moment. He surprises us; he keeps coming up with these nice soups and things like that.
JC: He's in the lead?
TB: I think he's in the lead at the moment, yeah. The rest of us are going to have to come up with something pretty special in the next few days.

JC: You guys seem to be constantly on tour. Is it abnormal?
TB: We used to think that was what all bands did. We kind of just though that's what you do, you go on the road, you just tour and build your fan base, you know? We just presumed you recorded an album, put that out, and then the rest of the time you toured. But actually, the more I talk to people now, they more they go: "Fucking hell! You guys tour a lot!"
JC: I think you really do.
TB: I'm starting to think we actually do tour a lot more than most bands.
JC: Is it hard?
TB: It is hard, yeah. It can be brutal if you're not up for it, or you're not prepared, or if you're not that strong as a band.
JC: You guys are super strong though. Look at you! You get two weeks off touring and you move into together and cook for each other.
TB: Yeah, man. I think it's important to do that stuff. If you can't be strong as a unit you're never going to last.

JC: So, you're going to Australia?
TB: Yeah, yeah! Were going at the end of March!
JC: Have you been there before?
TB: No, we've never been.
JC: Are you scared?
TB: Scared?
JC: Yeah.
TB: What should I be scared of? Australians?
JC: No. Bogans. Plus it's really fucking hot right now. Do you do Fahrenheit or Celsius in the UK?
TB: Ah, Celsius.
JC: Okay, so it's been over 45 degrees Celsius this summer.
TB: Shit. That is hot, isn't it.
JC: You'll be getting there at the beginning of autumn though, shouldn't be too bad.
TB: I'm really looking forward to it, man. We're only doing three dates out there - Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, but then we've got a couple of weeks off, so we might have a bit of a break! It'll be cool to just hang around and get shown the sights, y'know?
JC: You can a touch a Koala!
TB: Yeah! That'd be cool!
JC: Are you doing any TV appearances in Australia?
TB: I have no idea, I've not seen any itineraries yet.
JC: You should go on Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton.
TB: Bert Newton?
JC: Yeah, write that down: Bert Newton.
TB: Is it a morning show?
JC: Yeah.
TB: Is it cool?
JC: Oh yeah, it's the best. I love Bert. You should talk to your tour manager about it.
TB: Okay, man, will do.

By Jason Crombie

Release: Tour

To Cure: A quiet weekend

Keywords: The Duke Spirit, Speak n Spell Records