The weekend just past, the band and I were booked for Secret Cinema. As the name suggests, it was supposed to be all very hush hush regarding the details of the event. Now it’s all over I can reveal what actually happened.

Secret Cinema puts on classic films in unconventional venues, then themes the night around the film. The audience does not know what the film is until they arrive at the venue. The film that was screened last weekend was Wings of Desire, directed by Wim Wenders, set in Berlin in 1987, it follows a couple of angels that watch over some troubled characters. It’s all rather dreamy, and not a lot happens, but it’s a very beautiful film to watch.

The venue was a disused theatre on Shepherds Bush Green, right beside the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Inside the main hall where the film was being screened, there were some circus acts and a trapeze artist, which fitted in well with the contents of the film. They also had Fyfe Dangerfield playing a few deliciously romantic numbers before the film began, swamped in natural reverb and backed by a viola and fiddle player, “faster than a setting sun…”, the soundtrack to the weekend, I melt in recollection.

Outside of the main hall, Secret Cinema created a small Berlin night club called the Metropole, with a few rooms mocked up in 1980s German decor. I was to host this area, as the owner of the club, play with my house band, and introduce a few other acts. The other main act was This Is Laura, which were possibly the most appropriate act to put on, other than Nick Cave himself.

Well with 4 screenings, that meant music either side, making it a very intense 48 hours. Matinees and evening shows on Saturday and Sunday. The crowd would walk past us to get to the main theatre, or leave the venue. Thankfully, many would stay for a drink and watch and listen to me spitting about throbbing tumours and the like, and by the end of it they were screaming and hollering and dancing and leaping around.

Certainly a weekend to remember, plenty of camaraderie between my own band and This Is Laura. I now feel very toned, like a musical equivalent of Dolph Lundgren.

There will be plenty of post promotion of this event, which I’ll post up as I receive the links to it. Though you can see a slideshow of the event here to get an idea.

Come dance the antic hay with me this Friday evening, at The George Tavern for Blackchapel: A Masked Ball. More details below. It’s proving to be quite popular and there are only 20 tickets left, so i’m told. Book them here and guarantee your entrance. We’ll be on about 11pm. The band and I have a little surprise for you, think Bowie, big collars, raining glitter, caustic laughter, and…a baby.

Paying homage to Guiseppe Verdi’s opera, Un Ballo In Maschera (A Masked Ball), we welcome you to our very own masked ball. The opera’s first production was at the Teatro Apollo, Rome on 17th February 1859 and 151 years later, we bring in the old and the new to give you a unique, unforgettable evening!

Expect to hear the likes of: Fever Ray/Antonín Dvo?ák/Klaus Nomi/Alboth/Dead Can Dance/Richard Wagner/Goblin/Cocteau Twins/Danny Elfman/Mikhail Glinka/Air/Mediaeval Baebes/Algebra Suicide/Manisch Depressiv/Silver Abuse/OMD/Lydia Lunch/The Knife/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Squarepusher/Edith Piaf/Hubert Kah/Jonny Greenwood/Under Byen/Suicide/Q Lazzarus/The Pixies/Mew/
The Birthday Party/Nina Hagen/Mazzy Star/Bjork/The Organ/Nilsson

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5TH 2010
8PM-2AM
THE GEORGE TAVERN
373 COMMERCIAL ROAD
E1 0LA

ENTRY £5 IN ADV/£7 ON THE DOOR

****ALL GUESTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO WEAR MASKS****

My dear friends,

It is with great sadness and much irritation that I bring you news that the Islington Arts Factory, Power Down’s birth place and home, may be forced to closed. The fire brigade dropped in on them before Christmas and told them that unless they upgrade their fire safety stuff, doors, alarms, who knows what, then they’ll shut them down. The work comes to a staggering £12k, which has brought the Factory to their knees as I’m sure you can imagine.

So of course, there will be a special Power Down organised to help raise as much as possible. The date will be Saturday, February 20^th, 2010, and so far the line-up under candlelight will be:

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun

http://www.myspace.com/theboywhotrappedthesun

Wry, alt-folkish singer-songwriter from the Isle of Lewis with new EP out on Rough Trade now.

Monooka

http://www.myspace.com/monooka

Romanian folk singer that swallowed an aviary.

Chancery Blame

http://www.myspace.com/thegadjoclub

The virtuoso gypsy violinist from the Gadjo Club.

Marmaduke Dando

www.myspace.com/marmadukedando

Shameless, I know, but why the hell not? I’ve not played one of my own nights in years now.

These fantastic musicians are playing entirely for free, so all money from the door and bar will go directly to the Islington Arts Factory. If you’ve been to a Power Down before, then I hope you’ll agree the night is worth much more than the meagre sum of £5 that it’s usually priced at. With this in mind, I’ve set up a two tiered pricing system for the tickets this time. For those of you that can afford it and want to help keep the Arts Factory open, I urge you to purchase a ticket for £10 here:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/71075

And if you’re lacking in funds for whatever reason, of course, we’d still love you to come, you can buy a ticket for £5 here:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/71076

I leave it entirely to your discretion. If you’re not able to make the concert on February 20^th, but would like to donate some money to the Islington Arts Factory, you can do so here:

http://www.islingtonartsfactory.org/about/donate/

And now onto some other news for this weekend. My band and I are playing Radio Gagarin at Passing Clouds in Dalston this Friday, Jan 29^th. It’s £5 with a flyer that you can get from me, or £7 before 11pm, and £10 after. I believe we’re on about 10pm, and the brilliant Chancery Blame and the Gadjo club are also playing. Here are the details:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=263743769499&ref=ts

Have a grand weekend all, and hope to see you soon,

Marmaduke

My dear frost nipped fanatics,

Happy new year to you, what potential lies ahead!

Firstly I must say a quick thank you to those of you who came to any shows last year, it is always much appreciated, and I do hope you continue to enjoy this gloomy cabaret I put on. Should you wish to read a short review of last year, I have written one up on my site.

The last performance of 2009 proved to be quite a belter, the band on staggering form considering it was their debut in this incarnation. If you’d like to see what we look like now, have a look at this video of Give Me Detumescence.

You may have heard me muttering something about album launches in the last few weeks. It’s true, there will be one, in late March, that’s the aim. I’m currently looking for an appropriate venue, if anyone has any suggestions, I’d be most grateful.

Before all that comes along though, I’ve two shows to tell you about. The first is for Radio Gagarin at Passing Clouds in Dalston, on Friday, January 29^th. The brilliant Chancery Blame and the Gadjo Club will be headlining too, so certainly more than one reason to come. Doors at 10pm, £7 before 11, £10 after.

The second will be at a masked ball at The George Tavern in Whitechapel, Friday, February 5^th. The night is called Blackchapel and organised by the Decasia people. Masks not obligatory, but certainly encouraged. For inspiration, watch the masked ball scene from Labyrinth, where Bowie overwhelms Jennifer Connelly. You can buy tickets in advance for just £5. There will be a limited number of £7 tickets on the door.

I do hope to see you soon.

Yours slushily,

Marmaduke

Good god, another year over. What a predictable exclamation, but no less earth shattering each time. Last Christmas I drew up a list of all the venues I’d played at in London and gave them a short review from a performer’s perspective. I suppose I could do the same again for this year, but I’m not quite in the mood for such detail right now.

I will however point out a few highlights and low-lights of the year. Probably towards the start of the year, there was one weekend where we played 3 gigs: Passing Clouds, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, and Nottinghill Arts Club. All paid, and we were all laughing over the luck of it. If only we could be paid to do it every night, it would be financially viable, alas…Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club was for me a fantastic show, as the audience were looking wide eyed up at me and practically rubbing my erogenous zones. That’s really all there is to me.

Then followed a rather depressing period throughout the summer where the term “residency” was bandied about as if it were a ticket to Shangri-La. I hate Camden at the best of times, and this spate of empty rooms did nothing to help it’s cause. My poor band, the trials I put them through that summer. I can’t apologise to them profusely enough.

As Autumn crept up, a blizzard of change was brewing. I had to part ways with two sterling chaps, much to my dismay. The idea was to step up a gear in terms of musicianship. I had no idea if it was the right thing to do, perhaps I was getting above myself etc. I wasn’t particularly relishing the coming months of bandlessness, as periods of inactivity always get me down. Nevertheless the break was made.

This grand network of musicians I’ve been unconsciously cultivating helped me out of that hole rather quicker than I’d anticipated. Two new sterling chaps joined my band in the last month. They learned the whole Marmaduke repertoire off their own back mostly within two months. I was astounded, and pleased that I had indeed made the right decision.

This new line-up proved their mite at probably the best gig of the year, just the weekend past, at The Victoria. Professional to a tee but not irritatingly so. Just as it should be. What a grand pub that is too. I’d recommend anyone stopping in for a session.

So what on earth do I have to show for the past year? Materialistically speaking: not a lot. We did a few recordings this year, I hated them instantly. Now i’ve given them 9 months to fester, there’s a certain charm to them that I quite like. Next year, I promise, they will be in the public domain on download, stream, and vinyl. It will be an album of 10 songs from the last few years. It will be out at the end of March.

Alongside a great deal of soldering jack leads back together, that’s the general plan. See you at the launch party. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Marmaduke

My dear friend Lemond and I had a short writing session together a couple of days ago. Just 3 hours with a basic hook, stolen from Willie Wonka, Lemond laid it down on piano, one mic in a room, and lyrics made up on the fly.

I never work this way alone, as I don’t have the discipline. I’ve always got several songs on the go which are slowly added to and completed as and when I feel they’re ready, so it was quite a thrill to work this  fast.

I’ve no idea if this song is any good, perhaps it’s all over the place, disjointed, laboured? I would appreciate an honest opinion though, ruthless is always respected. Up on www.myspace.com/marmadukedando take a listen, it’s called Great Expectations.

Read more…

This is just a quick note to ask you to keep Saturday, December 19th free if possible, as I shall be playing my last show of the year, and one for quite a while, at The Victoria in Mile End. I have just put together a brand spanking new band, and they are really quite wonderful already. We’re going to be playing for one whole hour, and I promise to be entertaining. Also on the line-up will be This Is Laura, who raised the roof at the last Power Down.

My dear candle lit concert revelers,

Power Down is upon us again, at it’s old haunt, the old converted church hall in the Islington Arts Factory, on Saturday, October 17th, 2009. The full line-up is now confirmed as below:

Read more…

My dear fanatics,

A wonderful time was had by all that came to the Treehouse Gallery Sunday past. Read a review I wrote about it here, with plenty of visual stimuli to boot.

Next week I’ll be playing a couple of solo gigs, just myself and the guitar at the following events:

Read more…

With the aim of consolidating my internet activities, I am building this website. I’m hoping that it will save me time by importing information from other sources automatically. When it’s in a reasonable state, I shall let the world know that they are free to roam over the multimedia that will be on offer.

Read more…