The Duke Spirit is a band from England. They are in Seattle to play at Neumos tomorrow, Friday, March 8th for John in the Morning’s Birthday Bash. They are two guitars, bass, drums, and singer Leila Moss. It’s rhythm and garage. It kills. Leila hunts you like a pack of melodic wolves.

Drummer Olly Betts and I spoke in the sauna at their hotel:

Man, it’s hot as hell in here. I guess I should take off my parka.
Olly: Yeah. Have a seat. Sweat some toxins out.

(De-parka’d) So your new full length Neptune is finally out. It’s gotta feel good to be touring on this record.
Actually, Neptune’s not out physically in the US until April 8th but it’s available on Itunes, It came out in the UK a few weeks back. Yeah, it feels great to have an album out, playing every night, meeting new people, seeing old friends, and being, how you say? – a rock and roller type.

You all played in Seattle before, right?
We have indeed. We played the Crocodile Cafe two years ago, and also an in-store at the great Sonic Boom. It was a busy day. We even managed to play a session for KEXP. We like Seattle a lot. We’re all caffeine fiends, and Seattle is a coffee mecca. Your air is impressive too. So is Puget Sound.

How does the Duke Spirit get over jet lag? Any tricks?
Don’t go there. The rest of the guys seem to get over it but I find it particularly hard. I was going to try Melatonin this time, but I forgot it. I went with peppermint tea and a couple of sleeping pills. Usually, we stay up as long as possible and intake alcohol. And feel like shit on the other end.

Who do you all want the next US president to be?
As long as it’s a Democrat, that’s enough. An American friend of ours has always maintained that George Bush will work a way into getting a third term. That would of course be a travesty. Policies aside, I think it would be great to see new ground broken with the first Woman or African American President.

What kind of drums do you play? For the Seattle gear heads, bequeath for us now talk of those drums.
I can do that. I’m a diagnosed drum geek. I love vintage drums and have a few prized snares that I use for recording with like a 60’s 400 and a Slingerland Radio King. I’m hooked up with Premier drums and love them. The Premier Series kit I have sounds great. Really thin undersized maple shells. They’re made like the best vintage kits and sound as good but have the guts for the road which so many great old kits can’t hack (which is a shame). I’m a Paiste man through and through. If you were to snap me in half, there would be Paiste juice in there.

We should get out of here now, huh? And get some water. Maybe you all should change the name of your band to the Duke Sweat-it.
That sounds good. We’ll change it immediately. Cheers.

Here’s the video for Neptune’s “The Step and the Walk”: