About

Welcome to the confluence of Marmedia^TM that is MarmadukeDando.com. Here you will find every bit of my online activity in one place, from the latest news and concerts, to photographs and videos. Eventually you will also be able to purchase some  Marmedia^TM of your own and hang it in the great Marmaduke shaped voids in your lives.

Who is this Marmaduke fellow?

My name is Marmaduke Dando Hutchings and I am a singer of morose ballads and frisky jigs. I write about all the horrors and beauties of the modern world, and bark them back at it with my dear band on the cold and regimented performance stages of London.

I am originally from Portsmouth on the south coast of England, born and raised there (as was Joe Jackson 3 decade before me), until the dull glare of the capital became so unbearable that I fled towards it.

What constitutes your band?

My fine pack of hounds is made up of a double bass player, drummer, fiddle player, guitarist, and pianist.

Why do you sound like you do?

I am quite taken with the old crooners from decades ago, Scott Walker, Johnny Hartman, any big voice with the capacity for exquisite tenderness. Those old standards they sung with simple lyrics, but subtle and often grammatical twists are the blueprint I follow.

The content of my songs tends to fall into two categories at present, the romantic love songs, and the tales of the dispossessed. The latter of which is me muddling through a philosophy on life, the conclusion of which continues to elude me.  Both of these however can be attributed to the influence of the novels and actions of  DH Lawrence, George Orwell, and Aldous Huxley.

Is that your real name?

It seems to be something people can’t quite comprehend, that a parent would call their child Marmaduke. And that is certainly the way I thought for most of my life, until I found the stage and a voice.

The furthest you can trace my family tree back is some time in the 1500s to a pirate called Marmaduke Dando, who left Sussex for the Caribbean on a ship of some description. As far as we can tell, he settled in Bermuda and spread his seed there. My father in his wisdom decided to name me after this great pillager, with Marmaduke as my forename, Dando as my middle name, and Hutchings as my surname.