Music
Press
Sweat flyin, thighs showing, and fringe on the move, Her Grace The Duchess Soul Review is deeply and proudly indebted to the hot, thumping sounds of Ike and Tina Turner. The new band's nine-strong lineup is full of sweet horns, funky bass, and the synchronized dance moves of front women Heather Levroni, Sarah Reed (also of The Husbands) and Kelly Parrot. The pre-disco inferno this act intends to whip up should leave dance floor victims sore for a couple days; as Reed puts it, "Finally you can let it loose, let it all hang out, get uptight, AND do the Four Corners, the Buttered Popcorn, the Unwind and The Camel Walk, both euphemistically and literally." DJ Charlie gets it started with some vintage soul tracks, but there's no opening band. It's all Duchess, all night. -Hiya Swnahuyser - San Francisco Weekly
Sarah Reed played in the doom-rock band the Lies and still plays in the monster-fixated garage-rock band the Husbands, but her latest project is a lively, gritty soul band, complete with horn section and three female singers in matching dresses. Her Grace the Duchess takes its name from the Duchess, Bo Diddley's rhythm guitarist, a.k.a. Norma-Jean Wofford. "She's so cool, it wasn't enough to name the band after her," Reed says. "We had to tell you how we feel about her in the name, too."
Reed put the San Francisco Bay Area band together last year as a little side project with a piano, but they soon outgrew that concept. "Now we have this nine-piece electric band with horns and constant over-the-top choreography and a huge songbook," she says. "We're probably the only band in the world that plays Freddie King and Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown's 'East Texas Shuffle and Guitar Duel.' We had to learn it off a TV set."
Still, there are a lot of cornball soul bands playing corporate parties and weddings. When asked what sets her band apart from them, Reed is blunt: "We don't play 'Disco Inferno.' We try to get a good feeling when we play instead of just bashing our way through all the songs with the familiar choruses. Most bands who play old soul either wear rainbow afro wigs or sound like they wear rainbow afro wigs. It's a joke and it's insulting, exploitive, and stupid. Our wigs, on the other hand, are period-correct classic wigs from the '50s and '60s. But seriously, that shit is weak. This music isn't a joke. We're not playing games." - San Diego Reader
Want to capture soul music in one word? Well, here you go: authenticity. If you're looking for good, shirt-soaking, life-affirming soul music that you feel all the way down to your spine, stay clear of today's glossy, melisma-overloaded R&B charts - they'll just leave you hollow and queasy. A better bet would be local soul revolutionaries Her Grace the Duchess. Boasting four Etta James- and Tina Turner-inspired vocalists, a pulsing rhythm section, and three fireball horn players, this 10-piece sweat syndicate is the Bay Area's answer to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: faithful, genuine, electrifying soul revivalists eager to remind us why the Stax and Motown sounds remain as perfect as ever. (Todd Lavoie) - San Francisco Bay Guardian
Discography
4 song 7" Pink Vinyl EP on Inka Records UK.
Photos
Bio
From the San Diego Reader 8/06
Sarah Reed played in the doom-rock band the Lies and still plays in the monster-fixated garage-rock band the Husbands, but her latest project is a lively, gritty soul band, complete with horn section and three female singers in matching dresses. Her Grace the Duchess takes its name from the Duchess, Bo Diddley's rhythm guitarist, a.k.a. Norma-Jean Wofford. "She's so cool, it wasn't enough to name the band after her," Reed says. "We had to tell you how we feel about her in the name, too."
Reed put the San Francisco Bay Area band together last year as a little side project with a piano, but they soon outgrew that concept. "Now we have this nine-piece electric band with horns and constant over-the-top choreography and a huge songbook," she says. "We're probably the only band in the world that plays Freddie King and Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown's 'East Texas Shuffle and Guitar Duel.' We had to learn it off a TV set."
Still, there are a lot of cornball soul bands playing corporate parties and weddings. When asked what sets her band apart from them, Reed is blunt: "We don't play 'Disco Inferno.' We try to get a good feeling when we play instead of just bashing our way through all the songs with the familiar choruses. Most bands who play old soul either wear rainbow afro wigs or sound like they wear rainbow afro wigs. It's a joke and it's insulting, exploitive, and stupid. Our wigs, on the other hand, are period-correct classic wigs from the '50s and '60s. But seriously, that shit is weak. This music isn't a joke. We're not playing games."""
More info: The band now has an albums worth of originals it also performs. We are interested in touring and generally having the same fun making people dance as we have here in sounthern and central California.
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