We spoke to Dan, Aaron and Nathan to hear what they had to say about this years IOW Festival and their upcoming performances.
The Isle of Wight Festival is only a week away, are you guys looking forward to it?
"Yeah of course, i'd say we've been looking forward to it since last year. Its going to be great, we're obviously looking forward to playing and seeing the bands and stuff. Its going to be good" (Dan)
"It's going to be awesome, I think this year is going to be really good. I heard an interview on Isle of Wight Radio with John Giddings and he was saying how he's really excited so its going to be a really good year" (Aaron)
"Yeah Im excited because they've got all the new stuff and theres so many island acts playing this year as well. It's going to be really cool just going to the festival and seeing some amazing bands and seeing our friends play as well is going to be really cool." (Nathan)
"We said when we started the band that our first goal is to play the festival and we've acheived that which is really cool"
You're playing in the Cabaret Club on both the Thursday and the Sunday. Do you feel privileged to be offer to slots over the weekend?
"We were privileged enough really to be given four! we're playing again on the Friday in the Kashmire Cafe and again on the Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock on the Strongbow Gardens aswell. I've played the festival before but its only ever been the once and now we're playing over the whole weekend, its going to be great and should hopefully keep us in check a bit". (Dan)
"Yeah we'll have to cool the booze. We definitely feel privileged, it's such a great opportunity. Just playing once would be amazing but we get to play multiple times and on the new stage in the Cabaret Club which is going to be a cool new stage" (Aaron)
How important do you think the festival is to the Islands music scene?
"Its incredibly important, I mean It's one the pinnacles of what bands on the Island can get to especially when they are in their early stages. I mean its on our doorstep so everyone is kind of exposed to it but to actually be able to play at it is something different, they dont just take anybody the you know build up and be good enough to actually play which is obviously a great aspiration for everybody as well" (Dan)
"I think it also gives Island bands a chance to play to people who aren't from the island, which is think is great. So many people come to the festival from all round the south coast so you never know who's going to be watching you and it gives bands something to work towards." (Aaron)
"The whole scene seems to be coming back with serious bands who are trying to drive forward" (Dan)
Do you think that having multiple slots on different stages it beneficial to you as a band?
"Yeah definitely, I mean the whole point of the festival is that it's a blend of different genres and different styles and there is something for everyone really but there are certain areas and certain stages which gear towards certain crowds. So to be able to play on various stages and to be able to potentially bring in different audiences means that we essentially get maximum exposure to the people that come along" (Dan)
Do you feel the festival gives you something to work towards every year?
"Yeah definitely but for bands from the island I dont think it should be the be all and end all of achievements a lot of bands can fall into the hole of playing the festival but then thinking okay we've done that now but how come people still dont know who we are but you know its a great goal to have." (Dan)
"It looks good as well, I mean if you are trying to get a gig in Southampton for instance, being able to say we've played at the Isle of Wight Festival automatically makes people think ah! brilliant, they must be pretty good then" (Aaron)
"It looks good on your CV is a good phrase for this. " (Nathan)
"I mean the Isle of Wight Festival is such a big festival and we're really lucky to have it so close to us, its pretty much a ten minute drive from home so being able to play a venue that is so close is such a good opportunity to be given" (Nathan)
"Our message to other bands would be to set it as a target but use it as a stepping stone as well, you know it's a great thing to do and it feels absolutely incredible to play as we know from playing it before when we were in different groups. The atmosphere there alone is absolutely incredible."(Dan)
Do you think it's a good opportunity for bands from the island to expand their fan base beyond the Isle of Wight without having to leave the island?
"It's definitely a great way to expand your fan base like that but you have got to remember that you do have to build upon it afterwards. It's not like we can play the festival and be nationally famous afterwards because people from Dartford and Stoke on Trent turned up. Although it's good to have people from these places being aware of you, you have got to actually get out there and play at these places" ( Dan)
"I think networking is another good part of it. Not only can you get your music out there to these people you can meet other bands who might be playing before you or after you on the same stage you can have a chat and if you like each others sound you could start to build a tour roster" (Aaron)
How do you guys go about writing your music? Do the lyrics come first or do you build a song from scratch and then add the lyrics?
"It's kind of a mish mash of everything, we sculpt the songs as a band. I normally turn up with the base idea and sometimes the majority of the song but it's a case of refining in the practice room. A lot of the time I just get an idea when im walking around, I'll be humming something to myself and I'll think this is great idea. My phone has a recorder on it which is absolutely full of un-named tracks because they don't have any words or anything, it's just little melodies and little hooks that I think sound nice maybe some ideas for chords or something."
"Then we bring it all together in the band situation and get the general vibe of it and everyone talks about how they think it should feel as a song, we get the rhythms down and get the little hooks put in and kind of finish the process up." (Dan)
"Whats useful is that everyone in the band has their own different take on what they like and they're are so musically diverse. One thing a lot of people have said to us when giving us feedback is that they find little bits they like from different things but they can never quite pinpoint any particular style of music, which I always think is quite good because no ones ever gonna get any closer to finding anything original these days so you might as well take a bit of everything and see if you can dress it up to look like you've invented something new." (Dan)
"We've had some songs that have taken 2 days to write and they've gone down so well with the crowd and then we've had songs that have taken 3 or 4 months and we've just been honing them and they never sound quite right until it finally clicks. It's always a case of this isn't quite what we're looking for and then Ross, the basist, will play like one note and we'll be like thats it, thats the song!"(Nathan)
John Giddings recently said some very nice things about you guys , did reading his comments come as surprise to you or had you heard from him before hand?
"We've talked to him before after we had played at the Black Sheep and he had some nice things to say, which is always nice to hear from someone of his stature. I can imagine that he's heard it all before you know people probably send him stuff all the time and its absolutely incredible to get some good feed back from him especially as he hadn't even heard of us before" (Dan)
"The biggest thing we can take away from it is that is how our music comes across to people that walk into a venue but people that walk into a venue to listen music" (Dan)
Mr Giddings also described you as sounding like Cockney Rebel meets The Libertines. Is that the sound you have tried to create yourselves or do you just do your own thing and leave it open to interpretation?
"We never really tried to create a sound really. I mean the Cockney Rebel thing for me is incredible, I'm a huge fan and I'm going to be front row for Steve Harley when they're playing on the Sunday."
"We never tried to set out to do anything in particular, the general consensus was we're going to write some songs and we're going to play them like we feel like we're going to play them and see what happens. But its great to be likened to such great bands. I've heard us likened to many different bands and I'm pleased to say I'm happy with all of them."
"It's interesting to hear what people have to say about it because we never set out to be anything in particular aside from whats happened." (Dan)
"I mean I always find it really difficult when people who haven't heard us say what are you like and I always have to say that I can't really describe it." (Aaron)
"I always end up with the same, I end up with David Bowie, The Strokes and theres like four bands that merge in to one but I can't describe what it is. We're a mix of those three and thats what we sound like, I've never been able to put a genre on it." (Nathan)
"The best way to say it is that we're just really really good a nicking ideas. It's just a lot of different things and there is no other way I can say it other than that." (Dan)
So do you have any particular influences? and would you say that these affect the way you write and perform your music?
"My influences include a lot of Bowie and im quite in to my brit pop as well at the moment, things like Pulp and Swede and I've definitely lifted a couple of front man ideas from them and kind of put them together and I think as a front mant you also have to have your kind of moves and your shapes and its so hard to do anything with that that hasn't been done before. Another front man that I idolise is Dave Lee Roth, he's absolutely incredible, I've nicked some moves from him as well."
"I definitely here little licks coming through in the music which the rest of the guys are influenced by. We've taken a lot from a lot of places and a lot of thinks that we like and a lot of people that hopefully a lot of other people like and put them together to make something completely new and yet completely unoriginal at the same time."(Dan)
What plans do you have beyond the festival, what can we expect from Duveaux in the future?
"The best thing about the festival for us is that its a step, its the first rung on a very very very tall ladder. We've got a long way to go but I imagine that the view must be absolutely incredible from the top because everybody wants to get there. So you know just watch this space really." (Dan)
Can we expect to hear a new EP or album in the near future?
"Ooh we've got enough songs" (Aaron)
"I've accidentally written a double album."
"We're going to be in the studio a bit over the next couple of months any way and we've just been promoting what we've got so far and we've got a new website going up soon to make it for people to find us. I can definitely see some more recordings coming out soonish, plenty coming." (Dan)
"You always need to keep pushing your product forward. You need to publish all your gigs on your website and keep putting as much content out their as possible" (Nathan)
"hopefully we will have some new stuff out real soon" (Aaron)
Where does the name Duveaux come from?
"Well I am Dan Duveaux and the name came about purely by accident as the bands concerned. I was going under Dan Duveaux before and when we put the band together we didn't have a band name. We kind of didn't settle on anything and I would say the hardest part about starting a band is finding the band name. Number 2 is learning how to play an instrument but number 1 is getting a name. So we gigged around under the name Dan Duveaux at first and then we had a gig at the Black Sheep and then we got asked what we wanted to put on the poster and we were still desperately looking for a name but everything was either taken or didn't fit anything at all. The promoter for the gig was pushed for time and said I've gotta put something on the poster and I purely just said do what you want, just let your imagination run wild, so obviously she let her imagination run wild and just took the Dan off the front and it stuck, I mean its got an X in it, thats always fun. That is it really, somebody else came up with it for us and it stuck. And I can't think of anything that somes up the music better for it. (Dan)
You can find out all you need to know about Duveaux at:
www.dvxmusic.com
And you can find out where Duveaux will be playing next hear:
www.dvxmusic.com/shows.html
We'd like to thank Dan Aaron and Nathan for taking the time to speak to us for this interview and which them luck for their Isle of Wight festival performances and in all their future endeavours.
