You may know James Duke as John Mark McMillan’s guitar player, but James has also recently released his own album under the band name All The Bright Lights. The self titled album is truly beautiful and unique. James was nice enough to take some time and talk with me about the album which I reviewed here. Enjoy.
Tell me about the band, it’s members and how you all came together on this project.
All The Bright Lights is James Duke, Jon Duke and Jacob Arnold. Two brothers and a good friend. I had been talking with Jon about making a record for a couple years. The Idea sort of lived in a “what if” world for a long time. We would talk about it and how it should sound and how we should make the music. It wasn’t until Jon called one day and said “let’s open our calendars and book dates right now” that it became a reality. Jacob and Jon both live in Atlanta and have played together for years. He was an obvious choice due to the musical chemistry they have together. He also recorded and engineered the album.
Where and when was the idea for a semi-instrumental album birthed?
From the very beginning Jon and I had talked about making a soundtrack style album. We didn’t really know what that meant as far as if it was going to have singing or not. As we got more into the process Jon started coming up with simple lyric lines for the songs. It all happened really spontaneously. We’d be tracking a part for a song and He would start singing something. It usually came as a response to the sounds we were creating. I think it captured the heart of the music really well.
What were your goals for this album as a band?
We wanted to get together without any rules or plans and play music. If it didn’t move us, we moved on. We didn’t spend that much time on tones. We didn’t make sure every part was perfect. Most of the tracks are first takes. If they felt good we carried on. We weren’t interested in making something perfect, we were interested in capturing something real. We wanted to make a soundtrack for people to live their lives with.
Have you been doing any live shows on this album?
We haven’t. Yet. We would like do some shows this year though. We are still working that part out.
This seems like an album you can’t play on shuffle, a story is unfolding throughout. Was that your intention?
We didn’t talk about it, but that is definitely what happened. There are endless stories in the music. Some are written for specific people. Some are written about specific thoughts but everyone can find something for themselves. I think a definite underlying theme would be hope. Hope for ourselves. Hope for others. The hope that comes from knowing we aren’t alone.
I know you guys play with John Mark McMillan and have him credited for “good vibes” on this album, where did you guys meet and what’s your collaborative relationship in each other’s bands?
I play guitar in John Mark’s band. We’ve known each other and played together for a long time. He came out and hung out with us when we were recording the album. He was really supportive through the entire process. We would have loved him to sing or play on a song, but it never ended up happening.
The textures and tones you were able to create on this album on the guitar were just incredible. Could you describe what kind of gear you were using in the studio?
Making this album was really fun for me. I just played what I felt. It was really liberating. For guitars I brought in a Stratocaster, a Telecaster, a Gretsch Hollowbody, a Danelectro, an old Gibson lap steel, and a couple of acoustics. I was using my old Matchless Chieftain amplifier, along with a Goodsell Super 17. I brought in my normal pedal board and a bag full of extra pedals. The consistant pedals used for the majority of the record would include a Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, a Boss DD-20 delay, Boss RV-5 reverb, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Paul Cochrane Timmy, Divided by 13 Joyride, MXR Dyna Comp, and a volume pedal. I used a ZVEX Fuzz Factory here and there. I used a Digitech Expression Factory. We used a pair of SM 57′s to mic the amps. On the song “Walls” I used an oscillating fan to blow on the strings on my guitar to create the drone in the beginning of the track. I think that made a really cool sound. It sort of happened by accident. I had my guitar sitting on a bench and the fan was blowing on it. I was hearing this sound and when I realized what was going on we stopped everything and started playing with it. Making pads from a fan. You can hear the fan motor through the pickups. It is a great sound. Most of the guitar sounds just happened. I don’t think I could ever do it exactly the same again. Partly because I can’t remember what I was using. That’s the story of my life though. I always say that I’m gonna make notes of my settings but I never will, because I think I’ll remember them which I never do.
What/who are some of the major influences in your life that have shaped your music?
Musically, some major influences for us would be The Killers, Daniel Lanois, Ryan Adams, Buddy Miller, Sunbears! and U2. I’m really influenced by writers like Dave Eggers and Cormac McCarthy. I’m a huge Wes Anderson fan. I could watch The Royal Tenenbaums every day.
What’s next for All the Bright Lights?
We will play shows this year. We will make more music.
Anything else you’d like to say about yourselves or the record? Sports predictions perhaps…
We support all athletics. We just don’t watch it. Thanks for taking the time on this little southern ambi-rock band. We really appreciate it.
You can pickup All the Bright Lights on iTunes and Amazon. Also checkout their Myspace.
