KEY POINTS:
For Christchurch band the Dukes, success has come gradually. Since they formed in 2003 they have released an album, played on a special flight to the MTV awards in Australia, and are the subject of an upcoming episode of an American TV show about unsigned bands.
Tonight they are setting out on a nationwide tour with the Have.
Dukes singer Matt Barus thinks it'll be fun. "It's going to be one of those quite rough, backpackery-type tours. So, no luxury accommodation or nice food, just nasty, nasty toasties and pies."
Both bands have influences from the 70s so they should mesh well together, he says.
"There's a definite 70s thing, but with them it's probably more the blues end and the slightly heavier end. Ours is more the black end."
Drawing from a time like that makes it hard to be original, but Barus says that's true of any band. "You've only got a finite amount of chords you can use, and I think if you ask any band, they always think their stuff is really fresh, but everyone else can see their influences.
"That's pretty much how it always works with music.
"Everyone thinks they're doing something really crazy and new but it's only just slight little tweaks. There's nothing really that's mind-blowingly different."
The Dukes released their first album, Lil' Sunshine, in 2005. The current line-up of Barus, his brother Jo on bass, Lauren Mitchell on keyboard, Fausia Fialele on drums, and Brad Banks on guitar, have just recorded a second album, which will be mixed next month and released later this year.
"It's a better album as it's more our current band," Barus says. "The last one wasn't. It was pretty much me and my brother and some of our friends. This one's more stuff we play."
Barus says having his brother in the band makes things interesting. "It's a good thing maybe musically, but the rest of it's pretty rough," he laughs. "You know, you spend all these years growing up. You sort of want to get away from them.
"No. It's not that bad, but it is unusual being in a band with your brother. I think it means you probably end up having more fights."
The band dynamics in general are not without conflict. "I don't know ... It's tense, but good, depending on what's going on with everyone.
"Everyone's into such different music that always pulls in quite different ways. My brother and I aren't from a jazz background, the rest of the guys are. They're all well-schooled and I can't read music or anything like that. There's just different ways of doing things."
One thing the band has in common is that they all want to tour overseas, he says. They play locally but try not to do so too much.
"New Zealand is so small you can't really play at the same venue all the time. Most cities only have one, two, three or four decent places that [you can hear] original stuff, so you can definitely play yourself out."
The band has not signed to a label for their second album, which was a conscious choice for Barus. "It's sort of common knowledge that the music industry is dying as we know it and the days of record labels just giving artists heaps of money are definitely over.
"It's all about just get one hit and that's it. There's no longevity to it or anything like that and I think all of us want to sort of do this for a long period.
"[We're] keen to get four, five, or six albums out, not be around for one album or have one big single on the album. We want to have good albums that are going to put out for years and years. It's probably more me at the moment. I'm trying to convince everyone in the band that that's the way to go," he says.
Barus writes the songs and takes them to the band virtually complete. "There's not much of a democracy, but it seems to work better that way."
He says his inspiration for songs doesn't come from any "magic talent. I pretty much just write about my friends and, depending on what I'm listening to at the time, there will be some element of that coming out."
And what do his friends think about this? "Well, I don't tell anyone what the songs are about so they don't really know," he laughs.
"I mean I'm not saying bitchy things about my friends. I don't think they've minded so far."
When asked what he gets out of being in the band, Barus replies: "Huge amounts of money," then laughs. "No. Absolutely nothing. I don't know, I just love music. I've got a humungous record collection, and I'd probably do music in some form or another if I wasn't doing this band. It might be easier, too, actually if I didn't have to worry about four or five other people.
"But nah, it is really fun. You meet really interesting people along the way. You get to lose a lot of money. You get to have to have bad jobs so you can just leave whenever you want."
The lifestyle isn't for everyone, Barus says. "We've had a couple of people who weren't really into playing. They just thought there would be extras in the lifestyle, but it never really happened for them so they didn't last.
"If you're there for the fun, just because you enjoy the music, then I think you can last forever."
Though he loves music he isn't sure he would like to do it full time. Ideally, he would like to live off the music, but continue to work by choice.
"I would like to do something else outside the band because I think that's important. But also I wouldn't want it to take up my whole life. I mean, music as it is takes enough. It's nice to be able to do other things."
Lowdown
Who: The Dukes, with debut album Lil Sunshine
Line-up: Matt Barus (lead vocals and guitar), Jo Barus (bass and vocals), Brad "the Kid" Banks (guitar, vocals), Lauren Mitchell (keyboard), Fausia Fialele (drums)
When and where: Tonight, Dogs Bollix, with the Have. Tickets $10
- NZPA
