Sci-Fi Lullabies: The Duloks

With trepidation, Gigwise heads into the hostile territory of London’s Shoreditch, diving between grotty venues packed with Nathan Barley-types,  tonight’s mission is to track down The Duloks, a Star Wars inspired three piece Canadian-British electro combo whose unashamedly goofy songs are technicolour symphonies wrapped in stripy tube socks and hot pants. Their heroic devotion to geek chic allows them to commit any fashion faux pas since The Return of The Jedi. As singer Mira tells Gigwise, “We are the uncool.”

The three Duloks, Mar Dulok (drums), Mira Dulok (singing) and Mina Dulok (keyboards), have invited Gigwise to Duloks Towers. As the self-appointed queens of Comedy Electro Indie Rock, a situationist-inspired scene currently consisting of them and nobody else, the girls swerve between total confidence in their musical ability, to wondering if they will get signed.

The Duloks story began last February, when Mar, a Vancouver native living in London, wanted to form a new band after her previous act, The Ewoks, split. Mar, who was living with the original keyboardist Alice, needed to find a singer. “I posted a link on MySpace saying ‘wanted: female with balls’”, Mar explains. Mira quickly replied. “Our first band practice consisted mainly of Mira asking me lots of questions about boyfriends and sex. I think we played one song.”

“The main discussion that brought us together was foreskins,” adds Mira. “I wanted some tips on boys without foreskins; how to give the perfect hand job to my American boyfriend.” Mar, perched on the settee in The Duloks living room, explains: “I’m from North America where every boy is circumcised, like 90%. It’s a cultural thing, and she’s British…”

With anatomy class over, the founding Duloks members started gigging in the east end. With only two weeks to rehearse until their first show, the trio wrote five songs, including ‘Help I’m Turning Into Mick Jagger’, ‘Bad Vegetarian’ and ‘Frogger’. Their first gig, on Mar’s birthday, was a drunken affair in her living room that terrified the Bangladeshi neighbours. “My most memorable gig was the one I don’t remember,” Mira explains. Subsequent gigs have involved Mira dance in sequin underwear on top of parked cars, dressing up as The Rolling Stones, and heckling dour scenesters.

The Duloks’ say they can’t be pigeonholed because they’re out their on their own. “We’ve been rejected by every single scene so we’ve no risk of that happening,” Mira explains. Mar chips in: “We ended up in some magazine where they put us as their number one band for Comedy Electro Indie Rock. They asked who our contemporaries were, and we were like, er, no one it’s just us.”