s part of our Handmade month, we caught up with suave, Brighton DIY music enthusiast Francis Field AKA The Duke of Burgundy.

For those not in the know, what is the Duke of Burgundy?

It”s meeself, The Duke of Burgundy and also my band the Duke of Burgundy & Casual Friends. Until a couple of years ago I wrote songs and played guitar in Speedway 5, which was a bit more synthy and funky. Our drummer when we started was Ian Parton, who went on to create the excellent Go Team.

What makes the Duke tick?

I’ve always tried to keep a positive outlook on life, which I know isn’t always possible. Through my songs I try and deal with some situations that aren’t always what you want but with an element of humour. Perhaps not going as far as The Pythons or Flight of the Conchords, I find the po faced “feel my pain” style a bit much and sometimes I just have top politely say “no thanks”.

How would you describe your sound?

It’s a bit of a mix of all the music I love, from Psychedelia, reggae, funk and acoustic folk and rock, though this album has less electronics and synths than our first one and I reckon there’s more of a live band feel. We were lucky to have David Marks from Athens, Georgia join us on lead guitar, he used to play in Azures Ray’s previous band Little Red Rocket and he plays some fine bluesey style guitar.

You record your own albums independently, do you think that this is possibly the way of the future?

I think it’s very hard to get a deal at the moment and the big labels are mainly wanting copies of the acts that are big and also you’ve got to have an amazingly shining album ready to put out. That’s beyond most musicians bank accounts and also who wants to be second choice, even to great bands like Florence and the Machine if their albums sold out.

It’s a shame that there’s not more Alan McGee’s of Creation records or Chris Blackwell of Island Records out there, they had a wide taste in music and could see the potential in bands to develop and stuck with them.

Where can folk get hold of your albums?

It’s on iTunes and will be on Amazon and other on-line shops either now or very soon.

If you could remake any classic TV show and cast yourself in it, which would you go for?

I love Magnum P.I, well maybe not Tom Selleck’s tash, but the music, the silliness and the humorous mystery adventures are great, even the odd back in “Nam” flashback which looks rather like it was filmed in Hawaii. In one episode Higgins disreputable cousin turns up, I think I could be him for a few shows and mildly wind up”Higgy baby”, as TC calls him!

Check out the Duke’s My Space page here