Duke Special’s new live show The Silent World Of Hector Mann & Songs From Mother Courage is coming to Limerick on Friday June 4. Duke Special has made a “bold move” and explained to the Limerick Post that he “wanted to stretch as an artist and do something I felt good about, a conscious decision to put myself in a different place, to not just be somebody that writes music for radio”.
Duke Special is just about to leave Cardiff where he and his band played their new show to an enthusiastic reception from the Welsh faithful.
Limerick Post: How is the tour going so far?
Duke Special: “It’s going really well, people have been really open to engaging with the new stuff. We were a little apprehensive since we were presenting so much new material and wondered how it would be received as opposed to playing all the songs people would know. It’s not inaccessible music, its melodic and entertaining and audiences have bought into the concept of the show which is more than a strict gig.
LP: What is the new show?
DS: The first half is from the Hector Mann record, the second is from Mother Courage. There is a lot of humour in the first part – as we portray songs based on Mann’s films the second part is a darker set of songs from the play. The whole evening brings people on a journey, they literally come with us on that.
LP: Will the show feature music from your previous albums?
DS: “No, theatre people don’t go to plays expecting to hear lines from other plays that they saw the last time, we have tried to use that as a motto for this tour”
LP: Including yourself 12 songwriters contributed material to ‘The Silent World of Hector Mann’ how did you manage to get this collection of songs to sound so cohesive?
DS: “I told people that the songs should be written in a pre-rock’n’roll style so i think that helped them be cohesive but each of them, I think, has the original DNA of each of the writers in them. We recorded all 12 songs over 3 days with Steve Albini, he is a master engineer and an amazing recording engineer, it was absolutely thrilling to work with him but very intense because I had to get through everything so quickly. Tracks were generally played live in the studio, It was kind of old school, you have to decide on one take or another as opposed to dropping in parts and repairing things.”
LP: Duke Special has a very definitive, iconic image, is he a character that you play?
DS: “I suppose when you walk out on stage, its always a heightened version of your self, whether you have a stage name or not you are essentially reliving the emotion of the song you wrote a few years ago, there is always an element of acting involved.”
LP: Lookin’ forward to playing in Limerick?
DS:” I love dolans there is always a great reception not only from the audience but from Mick and all the staff there, I love the bar at the side where you can go after the show, it just a really welcoming place, absolutely love playing there.”
LP: What is the next project for Duke Special?
DS: I’m writing some songs based on old photographs in a museum in New York, I will hopefully go and perform them there plus collaborating with writers and producers about the next record.
I’v no set plan as what that’s gonna be, over the Autumn I’m going to do a lot of writing and see what emerges.”
