The Duke Spirit Tickets Go On Sale Today for the June 7th NFTN show at Neumos

We just couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. We are excited to announce that London’s The Duke Spirit will be playing NFTN 2012. They will take the stage in Seattle at Neumos June 7th, 2012.  Tickets are available online here.

The Duke Spirit show is the first to be announced for the upcoming NFTN 2012 Festival to take place in venues all over Seattle in the first two weeks of June. Proceeds form the festival will benefit a local Seattle nonprofit that will be named in the coming week!

Thursday June 7, 2012
Noise for the Needy Presents
THE DUKE SPIRIT
Live @ Neumos
with Special Guests
$18 ADV/ $20 DOOR / 21+
Proceeds benefit the NFTN 2012 Beneficiery

BUY TICKETS

The band released their first single “Darling You’re Mean/Bottom of the Sea” in May on the City Rockers label, without having performed live. The line-up was completed by guitarist Dan Higgins (who also created the woodcuts that served as the band’s early artwork) and drummer Olly “The Kid” Betts, and the band played their first show at the Brixton Windmill later that year. They released the “Roll, Spirit, Roll” EP toward the end of 2003, which won the band critical acclaim from publications such as NME.^[2]

The band’s debut album was due to be released in September 2004 until their record label, City Rockers, ran out of financial steam.^[2] They moved over to Loog Records/Polydor and released the album in the UK on 16 May 2005. The album’s producers were Simon Raymonde (formerly the bass player in Cocteau Twins, and now Bella Union Label boss) and Flood, best known for his work with Nick Cave, NIN and U2.^[2] After headlining tours of the UK, the album was released in the U.S. and the band found themselves traveling through America for much of 2006, including a highly praised^{[citation needed]} performance at the Coachella 2006 festival, California.

The only release of 2006 was a downloadable EP and limited 7″ single entitled, “Covered In Love”, (released through Velo Recordings). This was a collection of songs, recorded to 8-track by the band, written by the recently deceased (Arthur Lee, Desmond Dekker and Jessie Mae Hemphill).^[2] In early 2007 the band signed to You Are Here a new independent Anglo-Canadian label. The track “Mayday”, a collaboration between UNKLE and The Duke Spirit was released on the latest UNKLE album, War Stories, in the UK on 9 July 2007.^[2]The track was recorded with Chris Goss at the Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree, California ^[2] where they returned in April 2007 to record their own second album, also with Goss. Neptune was released in February 2008.^[2] Shortly afterward, Higgins left the band to concentrate on his family, which prompted a personnel shuffle: Toby Butler switched to guitar, with longtime friend Marc Sallis replacing him on bass.

In February 2009, the band released a 10-track compilation CD featuring three songs never released in the US (“Masca”, “Souvenir”, “Do What You Love”) as well as a cover of Alex Chilton‘s “Baby Doll”. The CD was sold alongside a McQ Alexander McQueen collection, one of the shirts of which featured the face of singer Liela Moss.

The band’s third album, “Bruiser” (produced by Andrew Scheps and Rich File), was released in September 2011 through Fiction in the UK, Shangrila music in the U.S. and Co-Operative Music throughout the rest of the world. Scheps had previously done a bombastic one off mix for the track ‘You Really Wake Up the Love In Me’ on the Neptune album which had impressed the band greatly and meant they were keen to work on furthur projects with him. Rich File had previously been one half of UNKLE and had worked with the Duke Spirit on the Mayday track where a kinship had developed and a desire for further collaboration.

The album was proceeded by the Kusama EP in early 2011, named in tribute to the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama whose work had become an inspiration to the band during the writing of the 3rd album. Yayoi Kusama was also the main inspiration and lyrical focus for the song ‘Sweet Bitter Sweet’ on the Bruiser album.

Buy Tickets for The Duke Spirit’s NFTN show in Seattle, June 7th