The Dutchess and The Duke are a great live act. I’m finding them to be folk with garage punk influences. Spaceland is a fun club to see someone like them because it’s small enough to mingle a little with the artists and large enough to fit a decent sized crowd. The band is from Seattle and featured Greg Ashley of Gris Gris filling in on percussion. Greg played an introspective, talented solo set with his guitar as an opening act. His percussion kit with DD consisted of a single drum, one drum stick, and a tambourine.
Jesse Lortz is the great front man and Kimberly Morrison is a very fine leading lady accompaniment. They both sat down on stools while they played their guitars and sang with their unique style that blends together so well. They sounded lovely, harmonizing not unlike The Mamas and The Papas. There was one man standing on bass guitar, and he brought out a violin bow at one point. They were just phenomenal. The style is very becoming, one that uses harmony and great song writing that is timeless and catchy.
Jesse answered a few questions and said his influences are Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Love, The Beach Boys, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. It shows! They did stuff from both their first record “She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke” and their latest “Sunset/Sunrise”, both released on Hardly Art. I think the first record is the more stripped down of the two, and the second is a bit more fluid. They did their recorded songs much justice live, and it was exciting to hear the subtle variations of what are already classic tunes, including “Out of Time”, “Mary”, “Reservoir Park” and “Let it die”. The audience was definitely grooving along. Jesse hung around the merchandise table selling CD’s, records and T-shirts to many eager fans and even autographed a couple CD’s. They are well on their way of doing a great tour and, we’re hoping, continuing the great song writing to add more additions to their already astounding list of songs.
-DJ Suzy
To hear more, check out the Dutchess and the Duke’s Myspace!