Rock in Detroit’s
February 2025
Band of the Month:
DUENDE!
DUENDE! Who are they? What are they? Well, if you don’t know, Duende! Is one of Detroit’s longest continually active bands in performance, recordings, and collaboration. Formed nearly two decades ago, Duende! has carried high the banner of Detroit rock touring throughout the United States and Canada and have released internationally Oracle of the Horizontal, with David J. of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, through their UK label Glass Modern. In addition, Duende! has curated festivals with the late revolutionary activist and poet John Sinclair and shared stages with everyone from punk icon Greg Ginn of Black Flag to Americana legends Magnolia Electric Co. Today, Rock in Detroit spoke to Jeff Howitt of Duende! Three miles out, let’s hear what he has to say.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Duende. Let’s start with your name. There aren’t a lot of exclamation point rock bands. (Wham! Thunderbirds Are Go! Panic! at the Disco, Ultravox!) How did you come up with it? What does it mean (for those of us who failed Spanish)?
DUENDE!: I first came across the term “duende” while reading a book called, Gypsy Cante: Deep Songs of the Caves. It had terms for vocal or instrumental only or vocal and instrumental compositions, and I came across the fever dream of “duende”, where it was the point in the song where musician and audience merged into something beyond listening. It was only when we started performing live that we learned it also meant goblin in Latin America.
The exclamation point, and bold font, years back when I was traveling around the U.S. I saw an Utah license plate spelled as UTAH! and every time I saw it, I would pronounce with enunciation. Also when you start a band you never know how far it will go, and we soon found out during the MySpace days that there was a Latino rapper in Vegas, and a European EDM group functioning about as long as we have, so it’s also to differentiate, visually our take on the namesake.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Can you give us a brief description of your current line-up?
DUENDE!: On lead guitar we have “Jelly Roll” Joel McCune who has been in the band since late 2007. I met Joel while living out West when he was in The Hypno-Twists.
Scott Sanford “slapping the bass”, and also does some guitar work. He joined in 2010, and had a band called Pewter Cub that is revamping itself into something new.
Laura “The Boom” Willem has been behind the drums since the first recordings in the Summer of 2006. Her Grandfather was a drummer, and played piano. Just like her.
ROCK IN DETROIT: And you?
DUENDE!: Jeff Howitt. “…you know I play a bad guitar”. I am also the chatterbox, and lyricist in the band.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Was it always like this?
DUENDE!: The original line up was Laura on drums. Myself on guitar, vocals, and theremin. Ryan Milligan from The Hotwalls on bass. Jorge Krautner of the Brothers Cortez (cousin of John Krautner of The Go) on guitar, and Lance Sanders of Bored Housewives on third guitar.
I used to do yearly recordings with impromptu bands with Turtle Jon Langlois. I made a case for him to visit the first couple summers I was back in Michigan, and we recorded a bunch of songs with different line ups that summer of 2006 and again in 2007. Jams with Lo-Fi Bri of Carjack, Red China, but it was the set of songs with Laura, Ryan, Lance and Jorge that stood out.
ROCK IN DETROIT: So how did you get to where you are today?
We did over a dozen shows behind those songs with various line ups before Joel joined in late 2007. When he did we immediately picked up Joel’s tour trail on the East coast. New York as the anchor. If we played a Detroit show we would do a show in the Ohio or in Ypsilanti the same weekend. We started going to Memphis. Tuscaloosa. Baltimore. Austin. Wherever we could play coming and going.
Rolling it back though, in 2005 I had started putting together multi stage shows as a collective I instigated, that operated under the banner, Loco Gnosis thru 2012, when we started working with other labels like Bellyache Records and Holdfast.
ROCK IN DETROIT: How would you describe DUENDE!’s sound? Has it evolved?
DUENDE!: I almost always think it’s more interesting to have other people figure that out. I used to call it Sonic-Americana, as we are as many parts Woody Guthrie as we are Sonic Youth. Laura loves Lucinda Williams and Fu Manchu, equally. Scott is down with director and composer John Carpenter as he is with Sparks. Joel can go from The Wipers to Santo & Johnny to Hasil Adkins in a blink. Myself, I can tip toe through the tulips with Bill Haley & The Comets, Thelonious Monk, Black Oak Arkansas and Hanoi Rocks while wearing a bolo tie. We began a little more straight forward, Ray Thompson (of ECK!) called it Country-Stooges, and have only scoured the wilds and whims, more and more as we have gone on.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Could you provide links to some representative tracks and say a few words about them?
DUENDE!: https://duendetroit.bandcamp.com/track/monsta – Putting on the Ritz https://duendetroit.bandcamp.com/track/head-and-how-to-get-it-2 – Somewhere between the mail and the Holy Grailhttps://duendetroit.bandcamp.com/track/mezcal-ft-mckinley-jackson – For all things bad, and for all things good, as well.
ROCK IN DETROIT: You have over a dozen full albums. Do you ever feel that your creative well is running dry? Do you push yourself to be productive or do song flow forth easily? Do you have a song-writing strategy?
DUENDE!: Technically it is eight LPs, two EPs, and four singles. It isn’t really a singer/songwriter situation with us. Initially it might have been driven by me bringing in the words and a guitar part, but we all contribute pretty equally at this point, and pull a lot of bits and pieces from when we are warming up and messing around, and not worrying about if this is the next song or not. Trying to match that spontaneous moment. That way the music becomes the “fifth” member. It leaves a little more mystery or “duende” in the process. To any band reading this, record everything.
ROCK IN DETROIT: How about shows. How many do you play a year. Would you like to play more? Do any gigs stand out in your mind as either high points or low points?
DUENDE!: Touring, we averaged in the upwards of forty to sixty shows a year. These days it’s between six and twelve performances locally. Post pandemic we haven’t picked up on the tour trail heavily again, just yet. We have been the house band at Planet Ant in Hamtramck for four years now for their year end variety show. At Bowlero Lanes & Lounge we do two sets. We are playing Mike Kelly’s art show on 333 Midland on February 28th. So we aren’t completely beholden to the bars so much these days. Once you make your name in Metro Detroit and the City proper, it’s good to be a bit more of a rare bird unless you are playing the restaurant scene or doing covers. We’ve missed plenty of cool gigs by already having too much on the books.
Highs? There are plenty, and they feel similar as the same amount of preparation goes into any performance. I mean, opening for Gang of Four or Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Kid Congo Powers of The Cramps, GunClub, a FUCKING Bad Seed. The Sadies at Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on New Years Eve. Sonic sacraments.
Lows? Joel has always invoked the three mile rule. The sound person may be psychotic. The bartender stiff. Other bands on the bill stand off. But you keep on the good foot for the night. Hold up your end. Be more professional than anyone there, and wait until we are three miles out then . . . let it loose if necessary.
ROCK IN DETROIT: DUENDE! is one of the most established Detroit rock bands. But aside from the White Stripes, and maybe the Cobras, I don’t think any rock bands from the Detroit scene have gone on to national prominence in quite a while. Any theory about that?
DUENDE!: With Detroit, we’re always compounding that essence in so many genres. Even the spearheads like The White Stripes came out of a scene of bands. Cobras. Gore Gore Girls. Dollrods, Dirtbombs, Hentchmen and Jack White has acknowledged that.
Detroit has always been an underdog town. MC5 and The Stooges weren’t always as mythologized like they are now. They were deemed dangerous. There aren’t very many musicians that experience enough prosperity purely from playing music. Even Jack White has other businesses like the label and pressing plant. I think most musicians who stay in it realize, if you can to do poster art, do it. Become a sound engineer. Run the door. Build that website. Economically and culturally there are many ways to be part of any music scene.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Ok. Parting question. In some alternative universe, DUENDE! has just been announced as winner of the Grammy award for Best Original Rock Artist of the Year. Amidst thundering applause, you ascend to the stage to accept the award from Mick Jagger. He hands you the mic. You have your one chance to speak to the world about the DUENDE! vision, Detroit rock, your hopes and dreams, rock’n’roll, whatever. You take a deep breath, and with your bandmates around you, you say . . . .
DUENDE!: Thank You very much . . . SEXUAL CHOCOLATE. [Mic drop.]
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