The Chuck Dukowski Sextet, May 5, 2007. This interview was recorded outside of the very glamorous rock-and-roll Big Lots next to Suzy's in Redondo Beach, where the live footage was recorded.
The Chuck Dukowski Sextet is made up of Chuck, his wife Lora Norton, guitarist Milo Gonzalez, and drummer Tony Tornay. Chuck and Nora founded Nice & Friendly Records. Chuck was a founding member and driving force behind Black Flag, SWA, and Fishcamp. In addition to being a musician, Lora is a visual artist and creator of Lord Carrot.
Tony Tornay is a talented photographer. He also plays drums in Fatso Jetsom. Milo is an acrobatic circus performer who will be performing at the Lightning in a Bottle Fest next weekend in Santa Barbara.
Although they started out as an experimental band, the Chuck Dukowski Sextet is much more straightforward these days. Tony's intense, steady backbeat gives Chuck something solid to riff freely off of. Milo keeps the energy up, and takes it to a slightly more psychedelic, Hendrix-inspired plane. Lora is probably still the most experimental member of the group. Her voice moves freely between low, throaty torch singing, Yoko-like ululations and screaming punk rock.
This clip starts out with the band's version of My War, one of the Black Flag songs that Chuck wrote. It ends with Chuck commenting that although he still has the same agenda that he had in the days of Black Flag, he is taking a positive approach. Then my photo chip, which is still a hard-core nihilist, cut him off and refused to record any more.
