Happy New Year! Hopefully by now, the hangovers, belly aches and New Year’s resolutions are beginning to wear off and you’re ready to get well and truly stuck in to another year of gigs, festivals and good, old fashioned rock’n’roll-type fun. Yes, that’s right – after a couple of weeks off for the oh-so short Christmas break, it’s time for the new tours of 2011 to start rolling in so that the ticket-buying British public can see what’s on offer this year.
For the first Tour of the Week of 2011, we’ve picked London-based alt-rockers The Duke Spirit, who have just announced their next run of live dates for February, including a Shockwaves NME Awards show in Heaven – no, not the cloudy place in the sky. The new tour looks set to coincide with the band’s third album ‘Bruiser’, which is due out sometime during early 2011.
The Duke Spirit first started to get a name for themselves back in the early Noughties during the lead up to the release of their debut album ‘Cuts Across the Land’. Their initial success owed a lot to the attitude, charisma and good looks of the band’s frontwoman Liela Moss, but as time went on, the five-piece began to gain more credibility for themselves as musicians as they continued to draw more and more comparisons to renowned innovators such as Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Following the release of ‘Cuts Across the Land’ in 2005, the praise started to pour in and the Duke Spirit received a number of approving reviews from several high-profile publications. The band have since gone on to tour with the like of Queens of the Stone Age, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and REM.
In 2007, the Duke Spirit readied themselves for the big follow-up to their debut as they entered the studio once again to record their second album. On this occasion, they were to team up with legendary producer Chris Goss, who had previously been lauded for his work with Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age among others. This new partnership led to big expectations for a change in direction from the garage rock of ‘Cuts Across the Land’. Unsurprisingly, when ‘Neptune’ was released in 2008, the Duke Spirit were widely applauded for the maturity of their sound so soon after the release of their first effort. Their success continued to spread further overseas as they were met with some appreciation on the other side of the pond.
Unfortunately, despite their irrefutable success so far, the Duke Spirit have not yet found the level of admiration at home as they probably deserve. However, with a new tour and album on the way, it seems quite likely that this could be their year. In fact, along with the likes of the Joy Formidable and Warpaint, the Duke Spirit could be leading the way for female-led rock groups in 2011.
February 2011
Feb 2nd - Guildford Boileroom
Feb 3rd - London Heaven (Shockwaves NME Awards Show)
Feb 9th - Southampton Talking Heads
Feb 10th - Leeds Brudenell Social Club
Feb 12th - Glasgow Captain’s Rest
Feb 13th - Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s
Feb 14th - Manchester Sound Control
Feb 15th - Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
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