Duncun Rufus Plan Second Album

Mumbai pop rock band Duncun Rufus released their 10-track debut album, Carte Blanche, on iTunes this month and have already a second album in the works. Titled The Folds Galore, the second album will be recorded live. “With the second album, we’re going for an old school style of recording – with a small audience present, we’ll have all band members in the same room, and try and record each song in one take,” says the band’s frontman Lima Yanger adding, “By default, the songs on the second album are a bit more energetic.” The Folds Galore has been planned as a double album and the band will begin recording in December.

In November 2011, the band decided to put their debut album on SoundClound. Now with the release of Carte Blanche, Duncun Rufus has also inked a deal with Checkpoint Charlie Audio Productions, a record label based in Norway. The signing came about due to the band’s drummer Gaute Johannesen, who is also part of an indie rock band named Popface back home in Norway. Says Johannesen, who came down to India four years ago and decided to collaborate with Yanger, “They (CCAP) are transparent with billing and royalties. Lima had previously faced some bad experiences in that regard in this scene.”

Yanger, who has fronted bands such as Bliss Logic [ambient rock] and Sleeping Buddha [pop rock] since 2002, put Duncun Rufus together in 2009 with Vinay Lobo of the Hindi rock band Airport on lead guitar, Hitesh Dhutia on rhythm guitar and John Jaideep Thirumalai on bass. Says Yanger, “The scene is not healthy enough, it’s not even underground. Back then, though, it was sad. There was only Razzberry Rhinoceros for gigs and few crappy studios.” He’s a bit more optimistic today, and it has a lot to do with bedroom studios and the fact that his band has signed on to CCAP. Yanger says by getting an international release on platforms such as iTunes, his band “will see royalties and exist within a system where revenue is earned by law and not by goodwill and shit.”

Will there be any plans to tour Norway? “We’re tapping into the Indian audience first. We’ll target the Norway scene next summer, when the festivals come around,” says Johannesen. More immediately, the band wants to continue to promote Carte Blanche with a few shows outside Mumbai in the coming months, according to Yanger.

Carte Blanche will be released later this year on Times Music.

Watch the music video for “Mary’s Song”, shot entirely on an iPhone: