When it comes to writing song lyrics, Wayne Petti likes to
keep things at a distance. “I don’t often get too personal in music,”
the Cuff the Duke singer admits over the phone from Toronto. “Usually I
try to write stuff we all can relate to.” A perfunctory appraisal of
the Cuff the Duke catalogue would show him to be right. A song like
“Belgium or Peru”—off the band’s self-titled second album—is
certainly heartfelt, but eschews strong, specific images for the sake
of rhyming, structure and those gloriously brassy Cuff the Duke guitar
explosions.
But after Petti’s grandmother passed away while the band was on tour
last year, he began writing songs for Cuff’s fourth album, Way Down
Here, that deal directly with her life and memory. “Like the
Morning” ruminates on his grandmother’s struggle with arthritis and her
strong Catholic faith. “Like the morning, you’ll rise again,” Petti
sings quietly, and the band surges behind him, led by a moaning pedal
steel.
“The songs were a little bit stream-of-consciousness, but they had a
lot of meaning,” Petti says. “My grandmother, she was a widow for a
long time. She was a strong woman and I always admired her. She was
quite brittle with arthritis at the end, but when I was growing up, she
was a total go-getter. It’s nice when you’re a songwriter and you can
deal with that stuff sometimes.”
Way Down Here marks another big change in the band’s life:
they’ve released it under their own imprint, Noble Recording Co., after
former label Hardwood Records shut down operations for the time being.
(It’s owned and operated by former tourmate Hayden.) The band managed
to secure distribution for the record in the United States and Europe,
based more or less on word of mouth. Petti says all this is flattering,
but also a little intense.
“It’s a lot of work and financial commitment,” he says. “It
certainly makes you appreciate anyone who’s put out a record in the
past. It’s really liberating but scary too—you’re steering the ship
fully now.”
For a musician whose band has endured a few lineup changes and
dabbled in a number of styles, Petti is confident about Cuff the Duke’s
future. When the band’s not releasing its own albums, they have
developed a reputation as a solid backing band, built on their shows
with Hayden over the past year and recently with Christina Martin.
(Cuff the Duke’s guitarist happens to be Halifax music dynamo Dale
Murray, who produced Martin’s album Two Hearts.) Petti says the
experiences have made him a better musician.
“Christina is really smart and works really hard to reach as many
people as possible,” Petti says. “We like that we have fans who have
grown with us, but it’s always nice to be a new discovery for people.
It keeps us interested too.” –Alison Lang
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This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2009.