Duck Thieves' Tenth Birthday gig
Review
Only a few weeks after seeing Duck Thieves help celebrate FarGo's tenth birthday, it's their turn to reach a similar milestone. Given that tin is the emblem for anniversaries of that duration, how appropriate it is that they had a party at The Tin their "spiritual home". Given the immense care & effort they put into stage props etc, you'd not be in the least surprised at the profusion of decorations they'd festooned the venue with: and they had provided a vegan buffet too and party hats for all.
Support came from Live On Stage band Luminae: appropriate given that the project is based there & appreciated given that they are very much on my radar for following (it's worth noting at this point that another band from the project whom I'm also keen on reporting on, What About Eric? are also getting more and more gig opportunities & have their debut release on the horizon).
You would not have known that this was the debut gig for their new bass player Robin (one issue for Live On Stage bands is that members leave for university & other career paths which is what happened here), so assured was she & her melodic bass lines brought interesting aspects to the arrangements. In fact the band (as Live On Stage bands seem to do) had evolved since I saw them a few months ago: despite the line-up issue, they've built up a most impressive groove in their playing: a difficult aspect to rigidly define yet alone play & something which bands of far greater time together do not necessarily demonstrate.
Luminae are part of the future of Coventry & Warwickshire music: it's all terribly exciting: keep an eye open for their future gigs & I believe releases are being planned to, having been working with Mason Le Long (who oversaw the excellent sound last night with the assistance of Lucas Male of Project Overload & Loophole).
Well Duck Thieves have been around a while & they certainly groove: which must be doubly difficult given the theatrical cavorting so many members pull off while playing: beats don't get missed. However for all younger musicians reading, I'd better add a note of caution at this point: totally uninhibited exuberance in the joy of performance may add to the excitement of the gig, but if you choose to leave the stage for the audience space mid-song by jumping off it & over the monitors, you may land awkwardly & hurt your leg as most unfortunately Michelle discovered. She most gamely carried on perched on a stool, her enthusiasm barely dimmed, but she certainly looked in pain….
It was a special gig & so the set you may have witnessed recently was tweaked not merely to include a new song but to mark the ten years of making music, old favourites like set closer "Nowa Huta" (from 2016) were welcomed back with appropriately enough founder member Cait joining the band onstage.
My issue with covering this band is to do with visuals: every song seems to involve different props or costume changes or both: which offers far more photo opportunities than your average band. Unfortunately actually capturing much of this is another thing altogether: the movement is ceaseless. As noted, members seem to regard the stage merely as a departure point & they are rarely all present upon it. Even when they are, they dash about & gambol without pause. Justin's use of an exercise bike helps anchor him briefly: except they didn't deploy it on this occasion nor did they perform "The Birds": I was hoping to get another shot at trying to capture at least some of the glories of Michelle & Diana's ballet in glittering capes off & onstage to a higher standard than I'd ever managed before: it'll have to be next time I suppose.
The set reminded us how Duck Thieves have always blended/balanced really quite serious song themes with a party performance…. It is perhaps an example of applying the yin yang concept of achieving harmony through balancing: but it clearly works given the longevity of their appeal & the prestige of the gigs offered them: and given that they include supporting The Specials, Extinction Rebellion & Love Music, Hate Racism etc, no-one should doubt how this band stands up for its principles as much in concert as on record.
I attempted to pin members of the band down on the significance of the milestone and after some characteristic understatement ("the important thing is that no-one died"), Justin, who has been there for the whole journey, told me "I don't feel that I've done it for ten years" and emphasised the effect of the COVID19 enforced break & the efforts of regrouping afterwards (he was not clear in his own mind that the band would or could resume: the Cathedral gigs with The Specials and supporting Zarah Sultana played a significant part in reinforcing morale).
In terms of pinning down their appeal, they offered me: "I think that they like the fact that we are entertaining and our songs have impact….they have emotional content.. the songs have to mean something to me otherwise I wouldn't get on stage" and "they seem authentic because they are about things which happened to us".
Don't worry though: this is not a wrap on the Duck Thieves, merely a pause for acknowledging their first decade. They have more gigs lined up,(next one is at the LTB Showrooms on November 9th for the relaunch of "Love Music, Hate Racism" in Coventry) a new single ("Hydroquinone Queen" which sneaked out on the ‘20 Years of Joy: Volume 3' compilation but is now a single in its own right: hence its inclusion on the setlist tonight presumably) and another forthcoming release in the form of a remix of one of their most potent songs.
