"You're in for a wild Western psychedelic sonic ride thru the streets of Detroit when DUENDE! takes the stage. This Motor City five have been taking their show on the
road and introducing others to their brand of dark Americana rock"
- Detroit's CITYFEST performers guide 2008
DUENDE! made their cowboy shirted live debut in November of 2006 and have wrote and gigged steadily since originally assembling for a recording session after a fateful Summer Solstice jam when a thunderstorm blacked out the neighborhood and the band played on.
"No matter how you cut 'em, this slightly psychedelic, boot-stomp, hip-shake, Pabst slammer band bleeds Detroit. When I think of DUENDE!, I think of a Tarantino soundtrack for a film he hasn't yet made. Dark at times but with a groovy garage savvy."
- REAL DETROIT WEEKLY 3/28-4/3/07
The ensemble -though loose at first- has maintained it's core of Jeffery "Odidlee" Howitt whose vocal touches pre-Slider Bolan and post motorcycle accident Dylan; Laura "the Boom" Willem drumming like Mo Tucker twisting Charlie Watts wrist; and bassist Jason "Bludgie" Worden who has united an ethos of rhythm and discordance. Guitarist "Jelly Roll" Joel McCune a finger picking purveyor of Sonic-Americana joined the band just in time to mark their first year performing live by releasing their self titled debut November 3rd 2007 on LocoGnosis/LGP-023.
Xiao Dong Wei plays erhu (Chinese fiddle) and Original White Panther Gary Rasmussen guests on bass and twelve string guitar.
DUENDE! also recorded a version of Rasmussen’s first band the UP’s Just Like An Aborigine for a tribute to Detroit/Ann Arbor music from the late 1960’s with Dark Greene Entertainment.
The recording was book-ended with a live event that was held at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac, MI on October 30, 2008:
“The long and loud night of rock'n'roll proved to be as eclectic as it was electric. MC5's influence was affably apparent, from the stripped-down sound of DUENDE!..”
– SPIN October 31, 2008
On November 1st, 2008 they released ON THE STEPS.. on LocoGnosis/LGP-030:
"Partly B-sides, partly retrospective, Steps is also a "stacked" re-release of local literate-goth-rock, Duende's '07 debut, complete with new material. It's a percolation of Bo Diddley's rhythm, Chuck Berry's swagger, Hendrix's astronomic devastations and the grit of the Stones, all refracted through beat trips through the desert's grainy romance and back through to Detroit's grimy melancholic inspiration. Think White Light/White Heat recorded in the '50s at Sun Studios with plenty of bud, Zen and R.L. Burnside hovering near the boards." — REAL DETROIT WEEKLY ****(four stars).
From January 31st-February 2nd, 2009 the band recorded and mixed with Matt Verta-Ray at his subterranean NY HED studio in Manhattan the entirety of what would be called REMNANT OF A REMNANT.
They planned a two week east coast tour to start on July 30th, 2009 and released it that day on LocoGnosis/LGP-032/LGR-002:
"Somewhere between Detroit and Phoenix, between the soul and outer space, between the city and the desert, exists the exploded, non-linear, wobbly and wild psychedelic world of Duende — a cross of roots Americana, hard-driving blues rock, and psychedelic-folk (both of the swooning, lava-lamp Brit-pop variety and of the coarse/haunting noise-experimentation variety). Flavorful and blunt, Remnant of a Remnant is the local quartet’s second full-length and certainly their most crisp (in sound) and palatable (in recording); singer/guitarist Jeff Howitt’s yowls and blurts boom right up front over Laura Willem’s hollow pounding rhythms (both find a nice balance of that gruff and tumbly garage style mixed with a freewheeling jazz sensibility); meanwhile bassist Jason Worden brings in a darker groove, a bit smokier and growling, and the fervent noodling of Joel McCune pivot and spiral upward, with pedal jitters and psychedelic howls sliding into bristling hard-rocking riffage. It may take a few listens to get acclimated to what Duende’s laying down — though thick with modesty and charisma, they’re still unapologetically avant-garde in their noisy, ramshackle charge, asking the listener to dig on the twangy vibe right alongside the moan of a theremin." - REAL DETROIT WEEKLY ***1/2(three & a half stars)
It was mastered by Dave Feeny at Tempermill Studios in Ferndale, MI. The vinyl was produced at Archer Record Pressing in Detroit, MI. Dustin Leslie guests on keyboard, organ, upright piano and guitar. Ray Thompson on Baritone Saxophone.
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