Duchess Says Interview: SXSW 2010

One of Montreal's most-loved bands, moog rockers Duchess Says ended 2009 in style, supporting the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on a UK tour. While plans to follow up their debut, 'Anthologie de 3 Perchoirs,' are afoot, nothing's set in stone, though anyone needing their fix from the Québécois quartet would do well to pick up the split 7" they just did with Red Mass. Vocalist/guitarist Annie-Claude Deschênes recently spoke with Spinner ahead of their SXSW performance about truckers, Russian writers and vodka.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Rock 'n' roll with keyboards. We try to do different kinds of textures and colours.

How did your band form?

I met Ismaël [Tremblay, keyboards and guitar] at college and we formed our first band together. It was like, covers of the Velvet Underground and, like, Pixies. After we formed Radio Laundromat and we moved to Montréal and formed Duchess Says in 2003. At this time I was going to music school and I met Phil, the bassist, and at this time we were playing with a drum machine, and we met our actual drummer at one of our shows, in the bathroom. Phil [Clément] met Simon [Besre, drummer] in the bathroom. Simon asked Phil, "Are you sure you don't need a real drummer?" Phil said, "Yeah, we were thinking about it. What kind of music do you listen to?" Simon said "Chrome, Sonic Youth." And Phil said, "OK, I think we should try to play together."

What are your musical influences?

I really like Suicide. I don't know ... Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, the Germs, Chrome, the Smiths, Velvet Underground, etcetera. Maybe I'm more influenced by things [other than] music, like images or movies. I like Roman Polanski movies and I like Young Sherlock Holmes.

How did you come up with your band name?

In fact, Ismaël and me found it on the Internet, on a site. The Duchess is a trucker -- It's a real woman who is a trucker, and when she's talking, she says, "The Duchess says 'hey Mike, can you come to the restaurant at two o'clock,'" for example. It was always written "Duchess says" and then "Mike says," and then "Duchess says" and then "Mike says." We asked the girl if it's okay if we take her name and she said sure. But for us, now, the Duchess is the budgie [the band's individuals are members of the Church of Budgerigars].

What's in your festival survival kit?

Books and good food I like, like Jujubes. And beers.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

The first of my life? Oh my god. It's difficult. A crush? A real crush? I think Mayakovsky, the writer. Vladimir Mayakovsky.

What is your musical guilty pleasure?

Maybe Indochine.

Beatles or Stones?

It's equal for me. It's not the same. They're different, so I don't know. I'll put the Beatles.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

In Italy, Ismaël made a contest with the [bouncer] of the bar. Like, who can drink more. They were drinking vodka glasses. Full vodka glasses. And at the end, the [bouncer] just fell down. He was really, really big.