Despite not taking themselves very seriously, I Am Duckeye are extremely earnest about their fans.
“Our fan base is either very deaf or very reliant. They seem to love us, and we love them for it. They look at what we do, and they keep supporting us via crowdfunding,” says guitarist, Sam Haycroft. “We're so happy to be playing our loud, atrocious music, and to have people come along who want to listen, or want to play, or want to wear their high vis-vest or want to be silly and jump up on stage, it's utter joy. You can't compare that to anything else. Good fun at its finest.”
The punk-comedy band – known for their single ‘Punching Dicks’ – are thrilled to be returning to Queensland in October. “Super keen! We love getting back to Queensland,” Sam exclaims. “We've toured up there four or five times now, and every time, it's just gotten better and better. We can't wait to be back. It gets really loose: the shows are notoriously loose in Queensland. They're the best, the crowds especially.”
I Am Duckeye released their third album, ‘Songs From The Gunt’, in March, and have since laid low on the live-music scene. “At the moment we're kind of on a hiatus. We've done the tour and now we're all very busy. I do kids music as well, so I'm working on an album with that. It's weirdly fun, having a toddler and being a stay-at-home dad, I kind of fell into it,” Sam reveals.
“Matt's been studying at uni, and he wants to start a new job as well. We don't force anything. If we need time off, we just take it off. It's not like we go: 'Oh no, it's the end of the world.' And that's the beauty of it, we just do what we need to do, and let life happen, and then if we get to tour, then awesome.”
Although their music has maintained its familiar comedic nature over the past five years, Sam insists, their sound has developed significantly. “It's still the same idiocy, but I think if anything, our writing style matured. In the last album especially, all three of the guitarists are a lot more like individual outfits, we all seem to have had more of a balanced input,” he says.
According to Sam, each song stems from a simplistic riff, and grows from a gag that makes them laugh. “And then when we play it live, we sort of trial it out, see if it works. Sometimes they bomb, but other times we're like: 'Oh, people LIKE that? Wow, okay.' Like 'Punching Dicks', that almost didn't happen. We did that as a joke!” he chuckles.
I Am Duckeye are currently working on their fourth album, ‘Live From Frankston’, which is expected to be released this summer. Sam believes live gigs is where the band truly shines, showcasing their talent as entertainers, as opposed to musicians. “It's the freedom of punk rock. There's no pretence, it is what it is, you can be whatever you want to be, whether that be silly or rough as guts. It’s not like there's any precision in the drumming, and sometimes we're barely even playing guitar, because we're crowd-surfing,” Sam says.
“It’s loose and fun, but still heavy, because we love our heavy metal and rock. That's what we're trying to reproduce, as opposed to standing there and staring at our feet and playing. If we bring other stuff to the stage, it attracts weird and wonderful people. It's not a huge fan base, but they're all passionate, and they’re all legends.”
I Am Duckeye perform The V Room (Sunshine Coast) 21 October and New Globe Theatre (Brisbane) 22 October.
