Artist Overview: Tuppenny Bunters

The idea of hearing groups composed of a duo – drums and another instrument(or two), is something that I felt would soon fade into the horizon. Having heard Garage Rock revivalists The White Stripes and then simplistic rhythmic Indie Poppers The Ting Tings, giving their stripped down space to breath deliveries, made me look to where this type of presentation would go. Yet there may be many others of late whose material has not passed my ears to be fair. Through a search via Facebook suggestions, I got winded by an odd shaped meteorite, an act that quite literally grabbed my lugholes and eyeballs to task. Tuppenny Bunters aka husband and wife combo, often splendidly clad in 60s/70s vintage garb, Dave Dulake and Fi Nancy Dulake, from Southend-on-Sea, were formerly in 00’s beat band The Virgo Intacta – check out ‘New Friends Better‘ via Youtube, and evidently they supported The White Stripes.

They then purchased an old property – The Railway Hotel, purchased some vintage instruments, and then both equally prepped on drums and a Hohner Pianet, birthed a time defying sonic spectacle, they coined Tuppenny Bunters.

Here with having an intriguing mix of ancient and future, an ever swirling bubbling cauldron comprised of Musical Theatre, Blues, Jazz, and 60’s beat music. A listen to some of their material via Youtube, gives you a fair span of their dynamics and eclecticism on offer.

A fiery blast through a cover of ‘Somethings Gotta Hold Of Me’ by Etta James, showcases Fi‘s high-end vocals that are quite authentic in a raw, and impish manner. Her blues phrasing and comping work are sublime as they are rough and greatly underpinned by Dave‘s ever present skipping drum torrent. Though when Dave does take the mic he has a organic story telling style similar to Ray Davies/Damon Albarn. The energy continues on expressed on instrumentals such as the nailed note and beat perfect thundering on ‘Wind It Back’ and not to mention the frantic moody and purely absorbing instrumental rendition of ‘I Want You She’s So Heavy’ by The Beatles. Another interesting venture is their avant-garde one-take ‘Smashing Plates’, which was three years ago, but sounds as though it was a psych film soundtrack vinyl Lp feature. It is an understatement to say that Fi and Dave can play drums, they zip around the kit like tempestuous rebel offspring after the manner of Keith Moon and Mitch Mitchell. While seemingly merry pranksters, in essence, they could have quite easily been a featured band at one of Ken Kesey‘s Acid Tests.

Dave and Fi possess a symbiosis that seems to make playing their instruments look easy. The way they fly through beats, notes and melodies, evidently shows their music has all the passion and drama of a tense ballroom dancing final. They seem to enjoy what they do, and it is an encouragement to hear artists playing out of real deep connection with the music they love. It also warming to discover that the Dulakes have revived and restored an iconic venue, keeping the tradition of live music, very much fruitful.

By M Steele

Contact Tuppenny Bunters via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tuppenny-Bunters-164737056880929/

Email: railwaysouthend@hotmail.com

The Railway Hotel: http://www.railwayhotelsouthend.co.uk/

#ArtistOverviewTuppennyBunters6thJanuary2017