Photo: jason Bergman
Let’s face it. The contrast between London & Los Angeles couldn’t be more apparent. Cold grey cloud coverage versus warm sun-soaked skies. Stylized scarves & pin-striped pea-coats versus bleached blond hair & barely-there bikinis. The crowded efficiency of the morning tube ride versus the enigmatic hell of the 405 freeway.
Yet despite all the obvious differences in culture & climate, the two towns have & will forever be linked through the growing genealogy of rock n’ roll history. Zeppelin won the west in a packed Long Beach arena. Jagger polished a masterpiece while exiled on the sordid streets of downtown. Lennon ran away with his wife’s assistant to the soft sands of Malibu. Whether it’s Ozzy Osbourne documenting his decline via reality television or Steve Jones redefining his legacy through the indie airwaves, the conclusion is obvious. The UK’s best musical minds have always found a home away from home in the solace of Southern California.
Decades later & nothing has changed. Just ask the Duke Spirit. The femme-fronted five-piece has been treading that very same line across the Atlantic for the past several years now. After breaking out with their 2005 debut Cuts Across The Land, the Duke Spirit has since recorded a follow-up in the Southland desert & hashed out new demos in Santa Monica, all before returning last Thursday night (12/30) to re-grace the stage at the legendary Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip.
That gracing finally came a half an hour before midnight, as the band members took the stage amidst a fog-machine haze & a chorus of pre-recorded chants emanating from the house speakers. The chants faded out as Marc Sallis’ booming bass-line fuzzed in, mixing with Leila Moss’ surreal croon to create the creepy intro to “The Step & The Walk”, the standout track from 2008’s Neptune. The band immediately followed with “Lassoo”, another track from their sophomore album that equally encapsulates that signature Duke Spirit sound. With their careful combination of indie shoegaze sheen & old school blues rock swagger, both songs served as a suitable starting point to another stellar Spirit set.
With the main reason for this West Coast one-off primarily being to promote their upcoming full-length Bruiser, the Spirit did just that, dedicating a considerable chunk of their set to showcasing new material. From the power pop polish of single “Everybody’s Under Your Spell” to the smoked out groove at the center of “Procession”, the new songs provided their performance with an extra sense of purpose, as the band seemed eager & excited to air-out what’s been brewing behind the scenes for the past year. Recorded with Andrew Scheps in (where else?) Los Angeles & slated to hit stores in February, Bruiser promises a more stripped down sound while still maintaining the dark & dangerous delivery of their previous recordings. No song delivers on that promise more than “Villain”, an epic piano-ballad that sets out to prove that Moss is not just a captivating rock n’ roll front woman, but a rising songstress as well. She definitely rose to the occasion on this particular rendition, haunting the crowd from behind a keyboard while surrendering lines like I want to follow you into sleep with equal parts conviction & uncertainty.
But don’t let this new found frailty fool you. When it comes to stage presence, there is nothing uncertain about Leila Moss. Decked out in leather boots & sequined pants, Moss stalked the stage from beginning to end like a woman in charge. Whether she was belting out a chorus, banging away at a tambourine, or brandishing the mic stand above her head like a lethal weapon, Moss carried with her that cool combination of sex appeal & self-assurance that make her one of the most exciting women in rock today. By the time she admitted I couldn’t keep a secret even if I tried during the rocking new cut “Surrender”, you couldn’t help but believe her.
Despite the energy evident in the performance, the show wasn’t without its hiccups. The band stumbled a bit at the beginning of “Lassoo” before really hitting its stride a few songs later with their slow-burn live staple “Red Weather”. The soundmen at the Roxy had their own problems as well, tweaking Moss’ vocals a bit too much, creating an uneasy crackle during a particularly poignant part of “Villain” & allowing an unneeded amount of bass to filter through the speakers on the following song. Regardless, the Duke Spirit stayed unfazed, reaching the highpoint of their set during the climax of closer “Love Is An Unfamiliar Name”. With Moss’ arms outstretched through the fog-haze, her trademark wail heavy in the air & Olly Betts’ drumming pounding away into the crowd’s psyche, it was hard not to think that they were better off without returning for an encore.
(via Hipster73)
The encore came nonetheless (albeit rather quickly) in the form of “This Ship Was Built To Last” & “Lion Rip”, before finishing it all off with a charged version of the popular title track from their debut album. The entire set clocked in at just under an hour, leaving the crowd with just enough air in their lungs to salute the band one last time as they sauntered offstage.
While the crowd inside was packed, the Roxy itself isn’t the biggest of venues & it was sort of shame that the Spirit didn’t get to fill more ears in their home away from home. Then again, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. With a new album looming on the horizon & a packed touring schedule sure to follow, this may have been one of the last chances to capture their soul-blues bombast in such an intimate setting. Either way, those on the West Coast who missed it needn’t worry, because the Duke Spirit will be the first to tell you: in the world of rock n’ roll at least, London & Los Angeles are never far apart. (Beau De Lang)
The Duke Spirit played:
The Step & The Walk
Lassoo
Cherry Tree
Everybody’s Under Your Spell
Red Weather
Hello To The Floor
Procession
Surrender
Into The Fold
Villian
Don’t Wait
Love Is An Unfamiliar Name
Encore:
This Ship Was Built To Last
Lion Rip
Cuts Across The Land
To celebrate the UK release of their KUSAMA EP, which hits the streets on Feb 7th (on CD, Download & 180gm 12″ Vinyl) the band are playing a handful of very intimate shows across the UK.
02 FEB – GUILDFORD BOILEROOM (16+ ONLY)
03 FEB – LONDON HEAVEN (14+)
09 FEB – SOUTHAMPTON TALKING HEADS (16+)
10 FEB – LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB (14+)
12 FEB – GLASGOW CAPTAIN’S REST
13 FEB – EDINBURGH SNEAKY PETE’S (18+)
14 FEB – MANCHESTER SOUND CONTROL (ALL AGES)
15 FEB – CARDIFF CLWB IFOR BACH (14+)
