{"id":3453,"date":"2011-08-18T23:16:45","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T06:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3453"},"modified":"2011-08-18T23:16:45","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T06:16:45","slug":"the-duke-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/the-duke-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"THE DUKE SPIRIT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

THE DUKE SPIRIT<\/h1>\n

A powerhouse band, a flamethrowing singer, a bruising album\u2014and home d\u00e9cor too<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Liela Moss is covered in paint.<\/p>\n

The Duke Spirit\u2019s lead singer is taking advantage of a lull in the group\u2019s tour schedule to take care of some decorating around her house in London. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to keep things looking nice,\u201d she chirps in her clipped, melodious British accent. Few would guess that this cheerful, petite\u00a0gal-about-the-house is currently one of rock\u2019s most compelling frontpersons, armed with a hurricane voice, smoldering onstage charisma and a well-known reputation for her ruthless approach to the tambourine. \u201cI think I\u2019ve used it to hide behind,\u201d she says with a chuckle. \u201cSomehow having percussion meant that I was definitely involved in the band, even though I wasn\u2019t playing a plugged-in instrument. I\u2019ve actually tried to reduce that because my right arm has a bulge and looks quite unladylike. I\u2019m Popeye on one side, Olive Oyl on the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too bad\u2014Moss\u2019 ritual tambourine abuse is a perfect accompaniment to the roar of the Duke Spirit, which also includes guitarists Luke Ford and Toby Butler, bass player Marc Sallis and drummer Olly Betts. The group\u2019s third and latest album, Bruiser<\/em>, further hones an already tightly focused sound. \u201cWe wanted to articulate ourselves more clearly this time around,\u201d Moss says. \u201cI like going through everything with a fine-toothed comb, creating space so that things can soar and sizzle. We shied away from that before because we were just having fun thrashing about, being a bundle of energy wrestling with our instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Duke Spirit has been \u201cthrashing about\u201d since 2003, when Moss, Ford and Butler met at college in Cheltenham. The trio moved 100 miles east to London, where they soon picked up Betts; Sallis joined in 2008. Moss\u2019 lyrics at first were a direct line to her reeling id, but now she prefers a \u201cmore storytelling\u201d approach. \u201cThings have changed on this record,\u201d she says. \u201cI felt like I needed to step out of adolescence. I tried to write observations on this big journey I\u2019ve been on, and to stop being so introspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Bruiser<\/em> due out in June and concerts scheduled through September, the Duke Spirit is already working on new material. \u201cWe tend to tour for a long time, and then you come home and you\u2019ve got no new material,\u201d Moss explains. \u201cSo right now we\u2019re all about having an album finished and a stack of new stuff behind it as well, just waiting to come out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Chris Neal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE DUKE SPIRIT A powerhouse band, a flamethrowing singer, a bruising album\u2014and home d\u00e9cor too Liela Moss is covered in paint. The Duke Spirit\u2019s lead singer is taking advantage of a lull in the group\u2019s tour schedule to take care of some decorating around her house in London. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to keep things looking nice,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[1807,10156,2410],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3455,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3453\/revisions\/3455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}