Duchess

Who is Duchess Cat? How did you come to have that stage name?

Well it was given to me, I think, by a crazy friend named Cherry who runs the Rock n Roll Cabaret, originally at the troubadour in Earls Court. I honestly cant remember how it came about but he left a voicemail for me after we met.. “I don’t want LOUISE I want the DUCHESS!”…obviously my answer message was a bog standard “hi its Louise’s phone” etc and he deeply disapproved of such banality!

How different is Louise from Duchess

I don’t claim any weird bi polar disorders like Beyonce! Its all me I’m still a total geek in between songs when trying to talk to the audience…awkward and not really sure what to say. I pranced about during the HellCat songs when I had no guitar but still in my head I’m always thinking “oh god…is this working??”  Obviously we all feel different in a cool outfit as well and being on stage singing the songs you wrote with an amazing band behind you in a themed outfit  makes your sassy side shine but the second you’re off stage it needs to end!

Where are you based?

Well with HellCat all the boys were in Norwich but now it’s just me I’m in the country…in the middle of nowhere in Norfolk somewhere. There’s Sheep and horses…my very old boxer dog…and my pet ferrets. They smell but they’re beautiful.

How old are you?

I knew this question would be here, I’m going to have to join Alison Goldfrapp’s fraternity of not telling I’m afraid! Because when I DO get old I don’t want people to know!! I’ve had lovers that haven’t known. I’d like to float about the world being ageless. I hate it when you read articles and it reads…” so and so aged 32...”  Its totally irrelevant.

At what age you first realise you wanted to sing and perform?

I was in the choir at my first school and I did so much singing, I loved it. Then I went onto a new school and it wasn’t cool to be good at anything especially music and I was so desperate not to be lonely so I let it all slide. Then I went back to my first school a few years later for a visit and my old music teacher asked me if I was still singing and I said no…she replied “oh what a shame, you were so very good. You should think about starting again. Please don’t give it up.”  So I did and I started playing guitar aswell after my uncle sat me in front of Led Zeppelin’s “The song remains the same” film. I loved Jimmy Page a bit too much. Then the writing came and it went from there really.

How long have you been playing the guitar?  Did you find it easy or was it a chore?

I find everything easy when its still got that novelty factor…I get obsessions about things but they burn incredibly bright for not very long and that’s when the chore sets in….hence why I’m SHIT at guitar. I don’t practice, I use it for writing and chord playing that’s it. I frustrate myself sometimes but I’m just so bloody impatient! I think I first started at 14/15. I LOVE my guitar though its been everywhere with me. I took it on 3 connecting flights to Montana and when I opened the case and tried to tune it up I realized that the headstock had completely snapped  and was hanging on by a shard of wood. I was destroyed! Luckily my beloved one was fixed.

Do you remember your 1^st performance? Where you were? And what it was like?

Just me, Cambridge folk club open mic, can’t remember when but I wanted to die basically. I HATED it. I felt good afterwards and I think its that that makes you do it again. I never really lost that pre performance kill me right now feeling. Although,  HellCat and working with Lance (the  lead guitarist) has made me much more confident. I feel that I can do it on my own now. I owe a lot to him.

How would you describe your music?

I’m still at the development stage with the solo stuff so I’m struggling with genres the song I’m essentially building the album around is called Green Fires and its quite weird to place. Its heavy on the vocals and I suppose I’ve supplemented instruments for vocals. It’s a beautiful song written for a beautiful person. Basically I’m using what I have…guitar, vocals lots of vocals and all the fun stuff you can do with garageband! Drums, beats, effects, synths you can play for hours and found you’ve just created a load of bollocks but then sometimes you hit the nail on the head. I’d really like to be working with a producer but I’m going to have to create my own demo version first…chore!

Your now working on your solo career, how different is it from the days of ‘Hell Cat’? Do you prefer it?

With HellCat I felt like 90% of my energy went on trying to keep everyone happy and keep it together, I thought that if it fell apart my life would end but when it did I felt a massive sense of relief and it made me realize how unhappy I’d been for so long. We had different levels of commitment and intelligence and the politics became bigger than the music. I never want to go back to being responsible for anyone but myself. I trust, love and respect Lance and I’d work with him but I know he wants to be in a band and I don’t ever want to go back to that. I’d love to collaborate with bands or work with session musicians that I have a mutual respect with but I never want to struggle to make it within a band environment. I put everything into that band and it drained me to the point of no return! I am pretty angry with certain people still, even though I’m happy to be on my own again. So yes I prefer being alone but only now I’ve come out the other side! I’m still trying to work out whether I actually enjoy gigging though.

Who are the people that have influenced you throughout your music?

Everything I listen to and like has an effect on me, too many to list but…Led Zep and Free are two of my favorite bands everything they do just works like a magic… Fleetwood mac, Nick Cave, Alison Krauss…After my first visit to Nashville I came back with a huge appreciation for country but not the cheesy ballad country I like the dirty slide guitar/bluegrass/blues kinda country> Union station “the boy who wouldn’t hoe corn” is a perfect example. I actually love music that takes your mind to a place so that’s kind of how I write. I’m influenced by places and moods more than other music but I think you pick up tips on how to evoke certain places from other music…for example we all think of a long dusty road when we hear a bit of rich slide guitar….well I do anyway!

Do you write all your own songs?

Yes, people have always said oh why don’t you play this or that and it’s always irritated me. I never set out to do covers I want my own career I want people to cover MY songs one day not the other way around! Obviously when I first started out I had to sing some covers because I only had like 2 songs that I’d done but after that initial phase covers were dropped.

Who comes up with the song arrangements? And how do you try to make each song stand out?

In HellCat I’d write a song or co write a song with Lance and we’d go to rehearsals and  play it to the band in its raw form, then everyone would join in and we’d go through it a few times like that,  then tweek it in places. I liked that it was fun and it would always turn up something unexpected I was always happy with how the songs ended up because they were all such good musicians and I never had any exact sounds in my head for how it should end up. Arrangement is not my strong point possibly because I’m lazy but its all down to me now…god this album is going to take forever!! I don’t ever think how can I make this stand out because its really unhealthy for creativity to think that way…either you’ve got it or you don’t…A good producer will obviously help as is the case with a lot of artists in the mainstream.

What is your ultimate goal within your music career?

It’s changed a lot. I’d like to be a successful professional writer and recording artist so that I can make a living from what I love to do and I can live a free life of choices and fluidity. I no longer think fame is for me but I would like to be known and respected within the industry and by fans of the music. Oh and the hookup of course! I want to be held in by the velvet ropes not kept out! Ha-ha! Shit.

Where would be your dream place to perform?

Actually I’d love to sing a heart wrenching Oratorio solo in a huge candlelit cathedral. All that REVERB! MEOW! Other than that anywhere that’s “well known” would be a huge excitement. I like big stages, being higher up than the audience helps me with my dreadful personality killing nerves!

If you could go on stage with anyone of your choice, who would that be?

Wow so many amazing people…dead or alive?? Alive I’d say Nick Cave, a lot of the time I listen to his stuff and I wish I was in it or I’d written it or it even feels like a dark part of me. I love that man and the music is like a wild animal or like nature when its pissed off…Working with him really would be a massive huge beyond words dream. I’d be fucking terrified though.

Dead I’d have to go with Mozart. I’ve been obsessed with him ever since I saw Amadeus on tv when I was small. The most beautiful and moving songs I’ve ever sang and heard belong to him.

So are you a single Gal or in a relationship?

If so how do you juggle the two?  If not are you looking for a relationship or content with being single?

Well I was very happy at singledom then I met the most wonderful human alive and fell completely and epically in love. It’s totally indescribable but I’m very happy. Juggling the two isn’t that hard at the moment because I’m on downtime with the writing but it shouldn’t ever be a huge problem because I’m not one of those tunnel vision people. I want music to be the job I love not my whole life. There are so many other things I’m passionate about too.

Is there anyone’s career you would like to emulate or surpass?

That’s pretty tough because I like to live by my own rules and go with the flow these days!

I like Tori Amos’s career very much free to do her own thing etc. I’m doing quite a bit of acting aswell so basically getting paid well for having a creative life would be awesome! I only mention getting paid because that’s an essential part of making a living from what you love doing. If it was all about money I’d have quit AGES ago!! It is however, the goal.

When you have time to yourself, how do you like to unwind?

I have soooo much time that belongs to me now HellCat has split but I’m far too young and healthy to be unwinding! I work , I write, I play, I run.

What’s a non working day for Duchess Like?

I feel that I should write something mysterious…keep up my mystique etc The truth can be so mundane and shattering. Like the first time you make it backstage and realize that really hot band you fancy the pants off are really fucking dull. Not mention any names….ahem the strokes.

No my non working days are quite fun in truth. I spend a lot of time in Nottingham where the beloved lives and we have many adventures together.

What three things must you have when you’re going to a gig/show?

My mic…it’s a sennheiser and totally essential for my strident vocals! Probably not as bad now I don’t have to screech to get heard over a band. My harmony box…totally essential now I’m solo. Harmonies are big part of my sound so obviously live on my own all I have is this wonderful little box. The harmonies change with the guitar chords and they sound very natural…what a perfect little invention. My Capo. A lot of my songs are written with the capo. Without it I have nothing!!! Utterly pathetic.

What projects do you have coming up?

I’m filming two videos over the rest of the summer months with a great guy I met named Kellen Playford, I met him on the set of a zombie movie I’m in. So we’ll be doing an older song called chains co written by Lance and myself and Green Fires from my new stuff.

Any singles or albums to be released? and when

I  would love to say but I’m really starting from scratch now HellCat has exploded into nothing so I guess just watch this space….for like a really long time!  No seriously,  I’m trying to limit myself to 6 months for the demo which I will release stuff from. Maybe… or I’ll hunt down a producer. I really want to kidnap Chase & Status and get them to do turn one of my songs into an epic dubstep anthem.

Where can people find out more information on you?

Well that’s something I need to get onto straight away. I have a personal myspace page and the HellCat one is still up but I need to create my solo music page. I hate myspace a little bit but it is really good for having your songs in the public domain. So at the moment its www.myspace.com/lycanduchess

I’ll soon be putting up a link to a solo page but that’s the place to go at the moment.

When you hit the big time, would you come back do to a follow on interview? A kind of a past and present review.

Absolutely! You can come round to my moated castle house and we’ll have tea, then I’ll take you outside to see the wild wolves that will roam about the grounds...we’ll wear jenny packham wedding dresses for the whole day…. It’s ok, I intend to be quite mad.