It goes without saying that Si and Tyber Cranston of THE DUALERS take the notion of musical heritage to the extreme. Sons of William Cranston, the musical guru who is pretty much responsible for bringing Ska music over from Jamaica to swinging London in the 1960’s, The Dualers are still carrying the musical, ska-shaped torch forward into the Twenty-first century.
Way back when, William Cranston, on returning back to the UK, went about setting up Ska club nights, and along with his brother, Johnny Cranston, started to import albums directly from the Caribbean, and gave us Brits a proper taste for Ska. Beautiful. Needless to say, The Dualers have kept true to their roots, with their music sounding about as authentic as you can get.
The brothers spent most of their earlier career building a substantial and solid fan base busking around Croydon, something which despite their success they continue to do to this day. These boys can clearly wing it without corporate sponsorship to imitate authenticty. Sandi Thom eat your heart out.
It must have been quite amazing being born into a family with such a rich musical history. As Si Cranson explained, “It was kind of bizarre when we kids in the 80s and early 90s, we’d save our pocket money and buy singles, then there was our Dad’s music. He’d always remind us what went on in the 60’s, how it was a direct influence on the sound that went on in Ska. He was always telling us stories of how the music developed, and really impressed
on us the music he was part of, and is still passionate about.”
Given that their upbringing seemed to be one glorious lesson in the annals of musical history of Ska, it is clear listening to their music that they have kept true to the style of their genre.
“We learnt that it’s [the style] about the whole melody. Kids talk about how something can be a wicked ‘Tune’, and originally that whole phrasing came from back in the day. Also, it was totally about the delivery of the melody and the words, and obviously the singer’s performance, it wasn’t really beat-driven. If you basically have a good song, you enjoy playing and performing, then you’ll cut it. Music should always be about the music.”
So they’re passionate, they’re clued up, and they have more credentials than you could shake a stick at. It’s not surprising that they’ve already have some degree of success. Back in 2003, their first single, “Kiss on the Lips” entered the charts at number 21, despite them not having a record contract, manager, or the general entourage associated with such things. This was mainly due to their talent, charisma, a strong DIY ethic, and the fact that they had built up a large fan base through prolific busking in and around Croydon.
“In terms of how we cultivated ourselves as artists, we were, and still are buskers, and we got our audience by collecting peoples' emails over five or six years. This fan base helped us achieve a top 25 debut single, and as a result the cavalry arrived! So it’s quite a unique situation – it’s actual people, and actual sales, so we’re more the traditional ‘If you like us, then buy our single’.”
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This leads onto the logical question: Do The Dualers have some top tips for any potential buskers out there?
“Well, I’d just get out there and play your music, have the confidence to try it and see what it’s like,” Si explained. “There’s no finer way of testing your abilities than playing to the public. Busking was something we did as a hobby on a Saturday. Our Dad went into greengrocery and market trade, which involved a lot of standing on stalls and hollering at the public.” That figures.
They seem well equipped for performing - Tylor Cranstoun had attended the Guildhall Drama School, along with Orlando Bloom. This W&H writer couldn’t resist digging for dirt here. So, what was Mr Bloom he like before he became famous?
“I can’t really speak for my brother,” said Si, “But I think he’s a really down to earth, quiet guy. He’s not very loud. In fact he could be in a room but you wouldn’t know he was there. He wasn’t even quiet, like ‘clever’, he was just quiet like ‘in the background'.” With diplomacy flung far out of the window, Si went on, “It’s absolutely typical that the most non-descript, least contributing member ends up one of the most famous Hollywood actors.” Ah well, such is life. They seem happier making fabulous music anyway.
Given their honest and authentic approach, not to mention an infectious sense of fun, it seems interesting that they have been compared to ska-influenced indie bands such as The Dead 60s and The Ordinary Boys, who don’t really have too much authenticity. “Well, if people want to associate us with bands that play Ska music then that’s fine with us, but personally, I don’t really feel that there’s too much Ska / Reggae in there, I mean
they’re good bands, but there’s not too much of a similarity, we're
Old-School in that we Sing Out.”
“Sing-In bands come fully equipped with keyboards and guitars, so you they don’t belt out the vocals. We pride ourselves on belting vocals out, we’re very much about vocal harmonies. But at the moment indie bands are playing the whole Motown Shuffle, it's an interesting and exciting time.” Indeed.
(The Dualers new album, “The Melting Pot’ is released on Galley Music on September 19th.)
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