Mr Rascal

Mr Rascal was invented as a pseudonym for the bleeding soul of Christian Duell. Having moaned the loss of past bands, past acquaintances and past loves, a long and lonely winter ensued during the year of 2006 where emotions subsided into memories and memories into songs.

In May of 2006 Mr Duell emerged from the slumber of bedroom musing as Mr Rascal, armed with a handful of melodies and some stories to tell. Dressed as the Pied Piper, Mr Rascal gathered friends for a memorable evening of wine and candles in his treehouse and from here the seeds were sown to begin making musical sense of the madness in his head.

Eighteen months on and Mr Rascal has defied his bedroom tendencies to evolve into somewhat of a social meeting place for a vagrant select. Having built a steady repertoire that combines "confessionary gospel" with a "ramshackle barnyard grumble" Mr Rascal has put the strength of a tour down south and the spirit of a pool of creative minds to good use. Mr Rascal is now a fully-fledged six-piece live band and has been earnestly forging a strong live reputation across Brisbane’s most reputed live venues.

Over the last 6 months however, Mr Rascal has in one form or another been pre-occupied with the recording of their debut album ‘A Pocket Full of Smoke’, due for release in late March 2008. Drawing on the strength of ideas and layering that comes through collaboration, A Pocket Full of Smoke features a horde of instruments and layers ranging from bagpipes, to trombone, pedal steel guitar to opera singing.

The first taste of the album is the single ‘Let It Roll’. Let it Roll is quite simply a song about getting on with life. From rumbling percussion, haunting mandolins and moaning vocals to the punch of an outtro chorus that features an army of ‘wohs’ that subsides into a delicate bluegrass string ensemble, Let it Roll is as much a form of therapy to play as it is to hear.

The debut Mr Rascal album 'A Pocket Full of Smoke' will be released in April 2008.