With their steampunk-esque image of bowler hats and flying goggles, Soho Dukes love a good old-fashioned yarn, claiming to have started life as a nineteenth-century drinking club.
“The real truth is that my great-grandad and the great-grandad of Bomber [the band’s bassist] used to have a Vaudevillian act in Whitechapel,” teases frontman Johnny Barracuda. “Mine was a trick cyclist and Bomber’s was a sword swallower.”
In fact, the pair first met at 10 years old and have spent a lifetime in rock’n’roll. Back in 1987, with the now long-defunct Monterrez, Barracuda and Bomber opened on two nights of Guns N’ Roses’ three-show residency at London’s Marquee club.
The Dukes’ music is as colourful as the patter. Each of their records has taken a huge leap in quality, especially since the addition of a permanent keyboard player, the magnificently named Swerve. Listening to Nighthawks, Acrobats And Everything Under The Moon, their third album, its lineage is obvious – you hear the Heavy Metal Kids, some Small Faces and Ian Dury, plus a healthy splash of punkoid attitude.
“We love all of those bands and many more, but there’s no intention to write like them,” Bomber insists. “We just love a good chorus.”
Besides his irresistible delivery as a frontman, Barracuda adds terrific, engaging wordplay to the songs; the Dukes somehow manage to namecheck Yootha Joyce (Mildred from 70s TV comedy George & Mildred) in Nighthawks & Acrobats. The album sees them tackle such subjects as pretentious pseudo intellectuals, the value of a good suit and a mismatched relationship that’s heading down the spout. With its hilarious couplet of: ‘We moved into her mum and dad’s/False teeth and incontinence pads’, the latter song is reminiscent of Squeeze.
Ballad A Stone’s Throw is voiced by special guest Spike (of the Quireboys), and features a guitar solo from Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell of Bad Company fame. When asked how those two became involved, Barracuda sets off on another yarn: “Well, the thing is, Spike’s great-grandfather used to be a lion tamer…”
You’ll have gathered that the Soho Dukes are on a bit of a quest to bring back some fun to rock’n’roll. “Music should be entertainment, and I wish there was more of it around,” says Bomber. These childhood friends are no longer in their first flush of youth, although that makes Soho Dukes all the more determined to pursue the fame they so richly deserve.
“After all this time, we don’t give a monkey’s any more,” Bomber says. “We just write what we enjoy, and it’s brilliant that others seem to like it.”
Nighthawks, Acrobats And Everything Under The Moon is available via Duchess Records.
