Artist: THE DUALERS
Label:
Galley Music
Label Mates: Nursery Ann, The Bulldog,
Si & TyberHere's the deal. Here's the BiG DeaL. That shitty four-piece
you've been in with your mates since Year 8 eventually managed to get some daft
industry type to hand over a blank cheque and to tell you were going to be famous.
Very famous. You wouldn't have to talk to your former classmates at school. You
wouldn't have to get up early. They only thing they didn't tell you was that music
was more than just writing songs and shaking your balls on stage. It was about
being there on time. Releasing something on time. It was about being famous on
time. But if it meant turning into something you were not, being famous
could wait. When the wheels of the industry started rolling backwards and all
the cargo you'd broken your back preparing in the first place, and all the momentum
you’d gained through working your own pitch from Canterbury to Kingston started
tipping you into the murky fathoms of the Thames, being famous seems like the
kind of gifthorse you could quite happily look in the mouth. At least that's how
it is for Ska, Reggae and Soul brothers, THE DUALERS. If you read between
the lines, signing to Gut Records was like having your vapour trail wiped clean
through a lack of industry understanding and a failure to identify the natural
pace of your craft and its natural environment. Ska music has to be heard live
to be understood. Polishing it up and serving it in the cool, sterile environment
of the press or the British Broadcasting Corporation seldom brings home the message.
Bands like Madness and UB40 did more harm than good as vital as they were in bringing
Ska and Reggae back into the public domain. Only now with bands like The Ordinary
Boys and The Dead 60’s are we beginning to see the energy that Two-Tone initially
promised. But crowbarring the Cranstoun brothers into this particular musical
vent would be a similar disservice. The band’s new album, ‘The Melting Pot’
draws not only on the jiggling, infectious skank of Two-Tone but on the fierce
simplicity of labels like Trojan, artists like Sam Cooke, The Skatalites, The
Blues Busters, and even 50s vocal groups like The Fleetwoods. As long as the brothers
continue to withstand the centrifugal pressures of the industry, The Dualers’s
pitch should expand quite naturally. Afterall, the band’s first single ‘Kiss On
The Lips’ made into the UK Top 20 without any industry help at all. ‘The
Dualers perform a unique blend of ska, soul and reggae that appeals to all ages
with members of their database ranging from 1 to 91. They have a fan base of approaching
10,000 members but have probably been seen by in excess of 4 million whilst busking
around the south east for the last 8 years. They have sold over 35,000 copies
of their first two cd's on the streets alone’ Ladies and gentlemen,
I give you The Dualers. Signed. Sealed. Delivered.
How
did you get signed?
Through a singles deal at Gut Records.
How
did you celebrate?
I actually filmed my brother (Tyber) on my mobile phone
at our music lawyers.
Did you have any other labels biting at your
heels?
Shell Records were interested.
What would you NOT be
prepared to do to promote yourselves?
Shoot A Chicken.
What
other names for the band did you consider?
The Cocks! Why this one? It
was better than The Cocks.. there are enough of those already gracing the main
stage.
Live circuit or showcase.. Did you do it the hard or easy way?
Live. We’re still doing it the hard way.
How did you blow
your advance?
Our advance was used to pay for the producers and a photoshoot.
On signing was there anything you were asked to do that you didn’t
want to do?
They wanted us to become Robson & Jerome.
How
much did getting signed rely on being tied to a scene?
It didn’t. We’ve
been busking Croydon and the whole of South East London for as long as I can remember,
just doing our own thing. Come Saturdays, we’d be covering songs we grew up listening
to. We then put our own single out, which proved very successful. No national
coverage. No airplay. Just me and my brother selling it out on the street and
just from the support we got local.
Does your label or your management
support or discourage unruly rock n’ roll behaviour?
We discourage it.
I think it’s been a little over played on for…erm say the last 30 years.
Where’s
the strangest place you’ve been asked to do publicity?
On top of a toilet
for a works do (True)!). I was shitting myself. We sang ‘Ride Your Pony’ and it
went down a storm.
Have you ever been conscious of lifting directly
from another record?
No absolutely no way…no, it is forbidden. We must
push forward and create new music.
Ever burned a copy of an album/single
put out by your label for a friend?
Again playing with fire is a dangerous
thing. No burning thus far.
How dirty a word is ‘industry’ to you?
Put it this way, I’m already reaching for the super thick bleach.
What’s
your biggest Rock ‘n’ Roll style fantasy?
Landing on the national playlist.
Here’s the deal: you’ve made an excellent record and some unscrupulous
hack handling the press release is about to screw it all up. What words would
YOU use to describe the release?
” Why, that unscrupulous hack was about
to tell the world that ‘Cod Reggae’ is back in the form of our new album! I’m
going round his house and after I’ve punched him on the nose, I gonna teach him
about a record label called “Trojan Records” for all your melodic authentic SKA
& Rock Steady along with another label called “Two Tone.” If both he and the people
out there like Trojan/Two Tone then our new album “The Melting Pot” out 3rd July
will be fully appreciated.
If it were all to collapse tomorrow would
you go back to your old ?
Busking was my old job…busking still is my
job. My pitches are listed at www.thedualers.com
'The
Melting Pot' - Out 03.07.06 on Galley .
relevant
sites:
www.thedualers.com
Nosey Bastard for Crud Magazine 2006©
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