Where did you get the band name?
We were in [Cocteau Twins bassist] Simon Raymonde's office, grabbing anything that might inspire us. We found a huge box of unpublished books and randomly stabbed our fingers at them. Eventually, Liela found "The Duke Spirit." It seemed to fit with our notions of music as ennobling, regal, healing energy.
I've read that you're huge Pixies and My Bloody Valentine fans. Like your band, they had powerful female presences.
The Pixies were a really big influence. Liela and I shared a car in London, and the only tapes we had were "Surfer Rosa" and "Doolittle." We knew every breath of those records; they never, ever got boring. And Kim Deal rules: I hear her in Toby [Butler]'s bass lines for the Duke Spirit. She, Kim Gordon and Bjork were huge inspirations for Liela. Other than Elastica and Polly Harvey, there wasn't much inspiration back home; it was all coming out of the U.S. For myself, My Bloody Valentine was a huge inspiration. "Loveless" was weird, alien music, and in many ways it still is. No one has sounded like that since.
Your new effort echoes Phil Spector in places. Do you find that parallel in your music?
Yeah, hopefully. I think that notion of making symphonic music with throwaway boy/girl messages over the top was incredible. Shadow Morton and Spector were so ahead of the game, it's mind-blowing. I don't think we would ever go down their lyrical routes, as we're all far too cynical and twisted in love! But the influence is certainly there: dark underlying tones, with a honeyed lyric floating over the top, but never covering the cracks.
Other than serving as the group's origin, how did art school with Leila shape the band?
The art school thing feels like such a cliché, but they do inevitably inform what you do. You're working while surrounded by others expressing themselves in often very different mediums. You inevitably end up with a collaborative spirit.
"Neptune" was recorded in the fabled desert of Joshua Tree. Were you itching to get the hell out of there?
We found Joshua Tree to be an incredibly inspiring environment, especially coming from London. It's the polar opposite. Joshua Tree runs many lines of contrast. Beautiful sunsets at night; punishing sun in the afternoon. Dust storms, loads of dangerous animals, spiders, snakes, scorpions, coyotes, bobcats. Even the plants are out to get you: I spent a whole afternoon pulling cactus thorns out of my leg. They've got some pretty dangerous people too; loads of fucked up meth heads. But they've also got some amazing outsider artists living there, and great musicians too. We loved it so much and we were sad to leave.
Finally, the still annoying lack of frontwomen in rock. Do we still have to consider it?
Well, I don't really think of the Duke Spirit as a female-fronted band. I just think of Liela as a great singer. But undoubtedly, music is still a big fucking boys club. If we can inspire even one lady to go out there and form a band, then that's a great thing.
