Talking to Hot Press as to whether he’ll ever shave his head he says, “I don’t know, if I start to lose it I’ll probably reconsider! I guess it has become a little bit of a trademark, or something. It’s funny over here in England, often I get people come up to me and go, ‘Did I see you on Never Mind The Buzzcocks?’ They’re thinking of [comedian/musician] Tim Minchin, which is initially annoying, but then I found out that Tim Minchin sometimes gets asked, ‘Excuse me, are you Duke Special?’"
The Special One also opens up to Hot Press about his appearance in Bertolt Brecht’s anti-war play Mother Courage And Her Children. Duke’s music for the play is has been released on a triple CD set A Book, The Stage & The Silver Screen. Why a triple album, Duke? “It’s kind of just the way it turned out,” he enigmatically shrugs.
As for his influences, “(Brecht collaborator) Weill for me was a big influence,” he says. “You know the way there’s different points in your life where lights go on, and maybe suddenly you discover an author, and you go, ‘Why have I never heard of this person before?’ And Kurt Weill has been someone like that for me, because a lot of his tunes are really melodic and very accessible and tuneful, but he’s got all these other chords and interesting colours and textures going on underneath.”

Read the full interview with Duke Special in the latest Hot Press (Christy Moore cover), out now.