A British bird. A charismatic chap. Rough Duchess is a hot new duo that makes visceral, bouncing music so you can get your jive on. Its impossible not to get hooked on a band thats boasts "Magic Music, Fantastic Food, Scrumptious Sex," as their influences. Sam Vitez, the hot British lesbian with a voice like you've never heard, and Noah Ramsey Smith, the outlandishly fun, modern "duke," just released their debut album Naked Fasion. Check out this SheWired exclusive interview with Rough Duchess:
So first things first, you're debut album "Naked Fashion" just released in November. What made the name of the album?
Sam Vitez: We actually just pooled a bunch of names that rang with us, and then one night at a show and just did a vote, and "Naked Fashion" won. But I think it fits us perfectly. On stage, we do seem to be rather fashionably naked. Not that we're trying to, it just gets hot up there, especially when you're moving your arse off.
Noah Ramsey Smith: I think we all agree that one can still be fashionable whilst in the nude.
How did you guys find the process of putting together your first album?
SV: It was damn right top notch. I thoroughly had a wicked time, of course we worked incredibly hard and having full time jobs made it tricky at times, but I think I speak for both of us when I say we learned so much about what we could do, the boundaries we could go to (not that there are many...) and what we could do with each other. This is the first album I've done that I have been genuinely thoroughly proud of every track on there. I play it all the time. In the car, at the gym, getting ready to go out, it just pumps me up, and my stuff with other bands never did that to me.
NRS: It was a unique process because we didn't spend alot of time as a band before we started the album. We jumped right in and were writing and recording in a few weeks. So when you hear the songs, you are hearing us learning how to work with each other and what kind of stuff we like to write. At the beginning each song would go through as many as 15 different versions, but by the end we'd learned each others' styles and were banging them out pretty quickly.
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What's it like seeing yourself on iTunes?
SV: It's outrageously awesome. It's just a constant reminder of what we've worked so hard on, putting our sweat, heart and souls into for the past 9 months.
Do you have any stalkerish fans yet?
SV: Haha. Actually a few. But we love them. No one's got too weird yet, but definitely borderline. But seriously, we do love them.
NRS: Sam gets more stalkers than I do, but I think mine are crazier. They're just part of the lifestyle.
What's the craziest thing a fan has done?
SV: Actually, this nutter girl back in England, ran up onto this massive stage we were playing on - mid show - grabbed my mic and screamed for me to marry her. That was kind of bloody hysterical.
You guys seem to get on really well, is there ever any moments when you just want to scream at each other?
SV: Noah is a top chap and I genuinely love being in a band with him. Of course we have our moments, but I'd say we generally get on fab. For the most part.
NRS: I want to scream at her quite alot, but only good things, like "Oh my God!! Where the hell did you buy that jacket!!??"
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You're definitely a band that screams for attention. Is this a calculated intention?
SV: One thing we both make a point of agreeing on is to not try and be anything that we're not, so i guess the answer is no. Of course we dont just slap on any old thing, we have a clear distinction between daytime outfit and stage outfit, but really it's just whatever we like, we put on.
NRS: I think that's why we ended up in a band together: we both naturally attract attention.
On stage, you are both quite the spectacle. What's going through your minds when you're up there?
SV: I get incredibly nervous, so at the beginning i am concentrating on putting on jelly leg in front of the other. But once I'm half way through "Under My Skin" I'm having a blast, rocking out to the music and people watching...
NRS: I try to focus on playing as well as I can. I'll peek out and see where the hotties are and moon about for them a bit, but mostly I just concentrate on my guitar.
Whats you're fave GLBT spot to play?
SV: The girls at FUSE are awesome and playing Here Lounge in West Hollywood was great fun. Linda and Michelle were wicked. Cathleen, the promoter is a top chick and was really friendly and helpful. The sound was amazing and overall we just had a blast.
NRS: Truck Stop was nice. Any place with that many hot lesbians should be some kind of national landmark.
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Sam, what's it like being an openly gay as the lead singer of Rough Duchess?
SV: To be honest, I never really think about it. I just am. Of course, sometimes shit gets thrown your way, but the people throwing it, are people I couldn't care less about.
Noah, there is a lot of speculation about your persuasion... can you shed any light on that for us?
NRS: I bet guys give WAY better blowjobs than girls. Once I was with a girl who was so bad at it that I had to tell her to stop. More girls like that and you might just see me jumping that ship.
SV: He's totally gay.
So, Miss Duchess is there a "Duke" in your life at the moment?
SV: Hahahaha. Well that would be telling....
NRS: I'm her Temp Duke. Duke of Smellington.
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So whats your future looking like?
SV: More music, more shows. We have a few shows coming up... We're playing at Eleven this Thursday which is going to be off the hook! It's the new Panty Raid venue and it's going to be bombing! We're also going to stream it out live to all the SheWired readers who cant make it to the show! Amazing.
Also... The Airliner Feb 2nd, The Good Hurt Feb 24th, The Cat Club with good friends Shitting Glitter (awesome) March 13th.
Check out this music video of clips from our live shows:
We're also starting to come up with new material for our 2nd album... but mainly playing out. It's gonna be a good decade.
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