Short Summary

Good day to you,

My name is Marmaduke Dando and I am a London based singer songwriter, specialising in morose ballads and frisky drunken jigs. I hail originally from Portsmouth, England and have been bred from genuine pirate ancestry. I tend mostly to write about the horrors and beauties of a world in decay, such as ours.

My debut record, 'Heathcliffian Surly', was released back in the summer of 2010, to relative critical acclaim, with Artrocker giving it 8/10, The Music Critic giving it 4/5, and Steve Lamacq commenting that it was "...distinctively haunting". The video above is of the song 'Odessa' that features on that last album.

The last record was put together from recordings spread over 5 years. It was recorded in bedrooms, basements and boats, and whilst it has a certain amount of rustic home-made charm, this time round, I'd like to do things in a different way.

I intend to go into the studio, the old fashioned way, completely live with little to no overdubs. I want to create a similar atmosphere that Chet Baker managed in those 1950s recordings, the voice up close and personal, the band live in the background, and all mixed to mono. We'll be using tape naturally, and plenty of analogue mics and gear that would have been used in such situations. There will also be two or three songs that will have some orchestration on them.

What I Need

As you can imagine, what I've outlined above will cost money. However, getting things together beforehand will hopefully mean an efficient process with fruits to bare before summer 2013.

It will cost approximately £5,000 to get to the CDs held-in-the-palm-of-your-hand stage. For reasons of transparency, I offer this short breakdown of costs that need to be covered:

£1000 - main recording session, 2 days
£500 - string arrangements
£500 - strings recording session, 1 day
£500 - mixing engineer
£500 - mastering
£1000 - CDs pressed with colour cardboard wallets
£300 - third-party cut (paypal, indiegogo)
£700 - contingency costs
---
£5000 - total

What You Get

There are a range of contributing options, or perks, that you can select to help me reach my target, which include the following:

- an exclusive download of a non-album track. This song will not feature on the album, and has not featured on the last album either. It is however a live favourite of mine that you may have heard

- a digital download of the album once it is ready and released

- a CD version of the album

- a signed copy of the album on CD with your name in the liner notes

- guestlist to the album launch party, which will take place on Saturday, July 13th, 2013, at Servants Jazz Quarters in Dalston, London

- a large poster of the album artwork, painted by Kerry Brewer and put together by graphic designer Alex Reece at Rollmo Design. See the main image for an idea of what the artwork will look like

- a private drink with me in a carpeted London pub of your choice, where I will get a round in and you can grill me on any subject of your choice for an hour or two

- a solo private concert, where I will come round to your home and perform the album acoustically in its entirety to you and/or your friends and family

- a full band private concert, where the band and I will come round to your home and perform the album acoustically in its entirety to you and/or your friends and family

The Impact

By making a pledge, you will help ensure this record gets made without any regrettable compromises. For whatever reason you choose to do so, I would be over-the-moon grateful to you, and if you intend on buying my next record anyway, think of this as a pre-order.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t make a pledge but would like to help in some other way, sharing this campaign page on your Facebook profile, on Twitter, or any other social media sites, not to mention good old fashioned email, would make all the difference.

The album, by the way, will be called ‘Sweet Dregs’.

Much love and respect in advance,

Marmaduke
www.marmadukedando.com

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