“You know those double guitars?” Walton asks. “We’re like that, but with frontmen.”
La Paloma Cafe in Brunswick turns out to be the perfect environment to meet up with the charismatic duo, chatting away next to a vinyl setup pumping out up tempo percussion and bass-heavy reggae.
“We’re influenced by songs like this, that have a beat that feels summery,” Maloney says, signalling towards the record player. “Latin groove, African music, or just fun ‘80s music, although we’ve definitely started to branch out more. Initially we were doing just Calypso stuff, that was our main vibe, but now we’re dealing with everything tropical and going for our own style. After a few years of playing together you work out what your sound is and what style you’re working towards.”
Completing the lineup is Mark Monnone (double bass), Cam Hassard (saxophone) and Steve Sajkowsky (drums), who’ve helped develop Mighty Duke & The Lords’rhythmic, horn-laden tropical pop sound. They’ve coined their unique stylistic blend ‘trop-pop’. “The genre doesn’t exist yet, but it will,” says Walton. “We’re pioneers.”
The two frontmen handled the bulk of the songwriting during the band’s early years. However, given the band members’ ties to such acts as The Melbourne Ska Orchestra, NO ZU and The Lucksmiths, they’ve a whole range of influences to draw on.
“Everyone comes from a songwriting background with their solo stuff. We’ll come in with an idea and then it’ll get fleshed out through jamming. We all like a bit of a joke as well, so writing lyrics will become who can outwit each other, so it’s a good environment for that.”
After a long build up, a date is finally locked in for the release of Mighty Duke & The Lords’ debut album. However, they’d envisioned it arriving much sooner.
“We recorded it live,” Walton says. “And the time since has just gone into putting a few finishing touches on it. Wally actually recorded some percussion drumming groups over in Mexico when he was there six months later.
“All these little bits ended up making what we thought would be a six month process of making an album into a two and a half year odyssey.”
The album is currently in the mixing and mastering stage, and it comes as no surprise the band are already looking towards the future. “I like it when an artist releases something and within a year they have another record out. We’ve already started planning the next record. Going on a bit of a writing camp in January, maybe down the beach somewhere, get a boat and write some tunes on the water.”
BY MICHAEL CLARK
