DIESEL

The music industry at times seems to adhere to a kind of creationist thinking - so obsessed with pubescent bands barely out of their Tweenies pyjamas and the notion that if the debut album isn't a massive hit, then an act's career is over before it's even begun. If a band or artist doesn't emerge fully-formed and packaged exactly right, then the industry's not interested. It's a short-sighted attitude which totally ignores the history of modern rock and pop music. It's great then to see an act such as the Filthy Dukes, who in five short years have charted the full course of musical evolution. The first phase - the homo habilis stage if you will - was as barmen at Camden's trendy Lock Tavern pub. From there they entered the homo erectus stage, as DJs at the Lock Tavern and neighbouring Barfly eventually taking on the Queenz Of Noize's mantle as indie's resident DJs of choice, before entering the neanderthal period as promoters of their club night <Kill 'Em All, Let God Sort It Out (which at its current Fabric residency has showcased pretty much any indie-electro crossover act you care to name) and Adventures In The Beetroot Field, responsible for the London-based Field Day and Underage festivals. Thereafter followed the cro-magnon era, as the duo Oli and Tim entered into production, producing remixes for The Rakes, Cagedbaby and Trabant. Now as 2009 approaches, the Dukes finally emerge as homo sapiens, as a fully live band. Musically you can chart the evolution of indie audiences' tastes through the Dukes output too. Where once there were wall-to-wall Libertines wannabes, now you cannot move for synthesisers - a trend which the Dukes have been at the forefront of and now results in their live persona being a big exhuberant, laddish electro-rock outfit. Don't rule out the Filthy Dukes evolving further before the decade's out, into fully-fledged Rock Star superbeings. Catch them before at xXx London ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp26j-TQvNM