News

Duke Special: Free Download and Tour Dates

1st May 2012

Duke Special is an artist aptly named. Dynamic, musically ambitious & bracingly eccentric, with his inimitable style and lush musicality. Hailing from Belfast with a sound that is self-confessed “hobo-chic”, Duke Special – AKA the endlessly inventive Peter Wilson – is once heard, never forgotten. Blissfully at home in his own alluring genre of beautifully bruised romanticism, Duke Special inhabits a world unlike any other – a world filled with vaudeville-esque sensibility, sing-a-longs and addictive melodies.

On June 18th, Duke Special will be releasing his first new “commercial” music album ‘Oh Pioneer’. As a prelude to this new chapter in his musical journey, Duke Special has released ‘Punch Of A Friend’ on April 27th as a free digital download.

Carrying all the hallmarks of a classic Duke Special song, ‘Punch Of A Friend’ elegantly swoons through a melancholic daydream of soft harmonies, and tender orchestrated percussion. About the track, Duke says, “Sometimes only a true friend can jolt us back to life when we're down or on a destructive path. And only a friend has the ability to speak the truth to us and at the same time help us up again. The punch of a friend.”

In support of his single and the release of ‘Oh Pioneer’ Duke will be heading out on an extensive tour this May across the UK. ‘Oh Pioneer’ is available for pre-order now and you can watch a behind the scenes video of recording the album here – link

May Tour

Support will be from Foreign Slippers on dates marked with a *.

May 1st – Carrick on Shannon Dock *
May 2nd – Bray Mermaid Arts *
May 3rd – Tullamore Thatch *
May 4th – Galway Roisin Dubh
May 5th – Limavady Roe Valley Arts
May 6th – Killarney INEC *
May 8th – Limerick Dolans *
May 9th – Cork Cypress Avenue *
May 10th – Wexford Arts Centre *
May 12th – Belfast Waterfront with Ulster Orchestra *
May 13th – Kilkenny Set Theatre *
May 15th – Glee, Birmingham *
May 16th – Glee, Nottingham *
May 17th – Arc, Stockton
May 18th – Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh
May 19th – Oran Mor, Glasgow
May 20th – Wardrobe, Leeds
May 21st – Glee, Cardiff *
May 22nd – Colchester Arts Centre *
May 24th – Union Chapel, London *
May 25th – Deaf Institute, Manchester
May 26th – St Peters Church, Ely
May 27th – The Open, Norwich *
May 28th – Phoenix, Exeter *
May 29th – Komedia, Brighton *