The Dukes of Ted: Majorly into music
When asked to describe their sound, the band known as The Dukes of Ted said, without hesitation, so funky you can smell it.
A little bit silly, but it works for these ex-HSU music majors who decided to stop studying music in order to make it. Someday you are gonna walk into a music store and see a section of music called 'So Funky You Can Smell It,' said guitar and lead vocalist Keith Okie. That's where our albums will be.
The Dukes of Ted met in the HSU Music Department and collectively decided to retire from school to start a band and play music for a living. Right now, it doesn't exactly pay the bills, but they're still committed to making quality, creative sounds with musical instruments until people sit up and take notice.
We decided we would be on the road a lot, said PJ Einsohn (drums). We wouldn't have time to go to class and we would fail miserably.
They try to practice six days a week, and when you've been playing together that regularly for more than a year, you get a real chemistry: The music manifests so much easier, said Einsohn. The other members of the band are Mirco Altenbach, who plays saxophone, and Adrian Engfer on bass guitar.
In regards to where the band's name comes from, Okie said it has nothing to do with anything that might pop to mind. It's left up to interpretation, he said.
The Dukes have a few things going for them. For one, they have complete commitment from every single band member. These four guys have given up everything to do music.
If we had jobs, we would get fired, said Okie. This is not your average bunch of guys who are kinda bored and happen to play instruments. They are serious about what they do and what it takes to do it for a living.
A recent tour of the state introduced The Dukes to San Luis Obispo, Pitzer College in Claremont and Santa Cruz. They played for over 300 people and the response was positive. We're just trying to gather a fan base and play as many shows as possible, said Altenbach.
Learning the rules of making music at HSU and listening to great music along the way, The Dukes are adept at bending those rules. They have a wide range of influences and each musician adds his own creative flair to a given song. Their songs are a genre-less conglomeration of funk, jazz, rock 'n' roll, soul and anything else they want to throw in the musical gumbo. It's not the same four chords we've heard too many times before. The Duke's sound is funk and fresh -- you can kinda smell it.
Their songs tend to be about passion and feeling. We write about traveling and love and lust -- people we know and experience we've had, said Okie. And there's a lot of collaboration: I hand them a black and white song, said Einsohn, and I say color it for me.
Einsohn just returned from Brazil where he learned new drum techniques and was able to witness the religious festival Steps of Bonfim, where the ladies carry water to Bonfim Church to wash the steps. This ceremony was so inspiring to Einsohn, he wrote lyrics and brought them home for the band to color with music.
The Dukes of Ted have played shows at local breweries, a neighbor's Fourth of July party and even weddings. They say their target audience is people who like to shake their booty. They are beyond talented, said Joe Pitre, who had The Dukes of Ted play at his wedding. You can't really put your finger on the style 'cuz they just jam -- you can't label that, it's their own thing.
The Dukes of Ted assure you it's nothing like you've heard before. We don't regurgitate other people's music, said Okie.
The future for the Dukes of Ted looks busy. They have an EP out called The Bird On The Wire with four tracks. They plan on traveling as much as possible but promise to stay based out of Humboldt, because the area inspires them. We aren't exactly city boys, said Okie.
We used to be music majors, said Einsohn.
Now we are majorly into music, said Okie.
Melody Hogan For the Times-Standard
Eureka Times Standard