Gerry Casey Interviews Soho Dukes

December 28, 2025

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Johnny Barracuda of the Soho Dukes

SOHO DUKES won’t admit it, but they’re having a very good time.

The band began in an unlikely way, not in a rehearsal room, but as a nineteenth-century–style drinking club roaming the pubs of London’s West End. On one of those legendary crawls, Bomber on bass and Johnny Barracuda on vocals crossed paths with Col “The Duke” Foster on rhythm guitar and Age Blackwell on drums. As the nights grew longer and the beer got more expensive, two more essential characters joined the group, Si Leach on lead guitar and the mysterious Swerve on keyboards. At that point, the cost of keeping the “club” alive became unsustainable, so they did the only sensible thing. Col picked up a guitar, and the band was born.

Since then, Soho Dukes have been impossible to slow down. Against better judgment and all common sense, they released their debut album Bar Fights & Tuppenny Uprights in 2021, followed quickly by Golden Age of the Barber’s Chair. A third album, Nighthawks, Acrobats and Everything Under the Moon, is set for release via Cargo Records in late November.

The band’s boisterous live shows and sharp, streetwise songwriting have earned them glowing reviews and comparisons to The Rolling Stones, Small Faces, Madness, Dr. Feelgood, Mott the Hoople, Ian Dury, and even the Sex Pistols. That mix of references hints at what makes Soho Dukes special. They sound familiar, but never predictable.

They’re loud, clever, and impossible to ignore. If you’re looking for something fun, rough around the edges, and full of character, Soho Dukes are ready and waiting. Just don’t say you weren’t warned.