The Martlet

Technology has made making and sharing music increasingly easy for aspiring artists in recent years, flooding sites like Myspace with both raw talent and the musical equivalent of raw sewage.

Today, musicians need to prove that they have something special to catch attention and create a following.

When it comes to local hip-hop group Raoul Duke, you can tell they’re going to be something special before they even hit the stage. Unlike many hip hop acts, their set up is more than just mics and tables; Raoul Duke is a live band, complete with keyboards, drums and a recently added bass.

“It’s kind of the way hip hop’s going, developing from the past where it would just be DJs and MCs,” said Trefor Digby, Raoul Duke’s producer.

The band combines Digby’s beats with drums by Scott Williams and keyboards by John Hayte, all topped off with Derry Hunley’s rap rhymes and Lily Hayte’s vocals. The name Raoul Duke is a reference to the character Hunter S. Thompson often used to stand in for himself in his writings.

“We wanted some sort of literary reference, but to something we like,” said Hayte.

Though Hunely, Williams and Hayte formed Raoul Duke in 2003, the friends were all collaborating on projects and making noise in the Vancouver Island music scene for years before. When Lily — John’s sister — was asked to sing on a couple of songs over a year ago, the group realized that she fit right in.

“It adds an element,” said Williams. “You see hip-hop groups, and it’s a lot of guys and a lot of rah, rah, rah, so it’s kind of nice to have that counterpoint.”

Lily has her own perspective.

“I bring the T and A,” she added, with her melodic laugh.

Being a woman in a predominatly-male scene doesn’t phase Lily at all.

“We’re living in Victoria so I don’t really deal with that many assholes,” she says.

Hunely explaines the group’s music is not really for “hard dudes,” anyway.

People have told Raoul Duke that their music sounds like a few different groups, specifically Atmosphere and The Roots. Hunely says that the group doesn’t really fall into any classification, but that their sound is varied because the band members all listen to such different music themselves. It’s those different influences that have melded into their own unique product.

“I love the three-and-a-half-minute rock song format,” Hunley said. “So we kind of have Strokes song format, but rap songs.”

And their sound is constantly evolving. When the band isn’t writing new music, they’re constantly re-writing their old songs, making for a giant catalogue to choose from when playing shows.

“We’ve never played the same set twice. Ever,” said Williams.

Their music has been changing so rapidly lately, that Raoul Duke are reluctant to work on putting out a record at the moment.

“I think that our live shows speak much better of us,” explained Lily. “It’s hard to harness it into a CD form.”

Williams says that their sound doesn’t appeal to everyone, however.

“The hardcore hip hop fan who listens to a lot of rap but doesn’t really do their own rap — not really into us,” he said. “But other rappers and music acts around town seem to flock to it.”

All the band members agree that Victoria’s hip-hop community has blossomed recently, becoming much more welcoming than they’ve seen in the past.

“The guys are younger and they’re all trying to help each other,” said Hunely. “It’s way more of a community, in the last year more than ever.”

But whether or not the scene is sustainable remains to be seen.

“There’s always going to be a certain degree of attrition in Victoria, just because of the nature of the city,” said Hayte. “It’s a transient city. People grow up and eventually leave.”

Digby notes that he’s seen a lot of people move to Vancouver specifically for the music.

“To have a scene that stays in Victoria is a little tougher,” he said.

Raoul Duke aren’t planning on moving anytime soon, but they are looking to tour. Hunely wants to get the band on some festival bills next summer.

“You almost have to tour to get more popular in town,” he said.

The only problem is funding. The group isn’t signed, so as of now a tour would have to pay for itself — plus each band member would have to take time off from their day job. Digby, who owns a small label called Unauthorized Records, notes that even if they were signed, labels don’t usually have the money to finance things like tours.

“It’s more likely that we’d have to tour with a rock band,” said Hunely. “But in some ways it’s hard to do, because we’re a rap-fucking-band.”

Not that the members aren’t up to the challenge.

“One thing our band is not afraid to do is different things,” said Williams. “I think if we were offered to do something really weird and outside of the box, I’m pretty sure we’d take it because that just seems to be our theme.”

For now though Raoul Duke are concentrating on playing local shows and building a local following. On Sept. 22, they’ll play Covers for a Cause at Lucky Bar, with all proceeds going towards the B.C. Cancer Foundation. Covers for a Cause goes every Tuesday in September, with each band choosing a different musical artist who’s songs to remake on the stage. Raoul Duke chose Dr. Dre.

Hunely says he’s excited about their choice, partially because of Dr. Dre’s influence over his own music and partially because choosing someone who’s done so much work with so many other artists gives the group a lot material to chose from. More material means more creative freedom.

“What’s going to make our set different from other people’s cover sets is that we’re not going to be doing all the lyrics,” said Williams.

Hayte agrees.

“We’ll have the great hooks and some memorable lines but we’re changing it up,” he said. “We’ll be doing our interpretations instrumentally with the songs.”

Raoul Duke also play SUBculture on Oct. 3.

To find out more about Raoul Duke or to hear their music, check out myspace.com/raouldukesucks. -With files from Karolina Karas