Over its first six years, Duende steadily morphed into a band built for anything/everything and some kinda other thing. Sensibilities for stately, suited up country rock got splashed with the tie-dyed hallucinogens of psychedelia’s surreal glee, but that’s just a coating atop their penchants for Delta and juke-joint blues, theatrical murder-ballad inclined folk and grimy psychobilly.

With Duende, you’re at a different kind of Crossroads – playing ring-around-the-rosy with R.L. Burnside, The Cramps, Link Wray and maybe even Screaming Jay Hawkins. And the Devil might be there, too, keeping time with his hoof stomps. Zesty, no? Just wait, their next jam might be a classically clangorous ol’ garage rock anthem.

This Detroit-based band formed out of a sublime and stormy jam session between longtime players and temporarily servied as the flagship for a modest music collective before endearingly taking on the role of bridge-builder and clique-clipper by curating ongoing monthly music showcases featuring bands of myriad genres and from all corners of town, howling and rocking inside a Pool Hall just north of Detroit that’s since blossomed into the veritable nerve-center and go-to performing spot for the entire scene. They’ve seen a lot and played a lot, to be sure, and that sound, the sound of those who are indeed on a journey (…or, trip, if you will), shines through.

Jeff Howitt (vocals/guitar)
Laura Willem (drums)
Joel “Jelly-Roll” McCune (guitar/vocals)
Scott Sanford (bass)

http://duendetroit.bandcamp.com/