Overview

Hello world! My name is Neil Van Dorn, and I'm a singer-songwriter here in the beautiful city of Rochester, NY.

I began as a solo/acoustic artist, writing songs and performing around the City, where I quickly linked up with other talented and like-minded local musicians. Coming from very different musical backgrounds, we saw an opportunity early on to create something stylistically unique and from the outset, have been more than comfortable wading in the “in-between” of our various preferred genres and personal influences.  Shortly after joining forces, we began writing, recording and playing shows as a full band all over Greater Rochester, neighboring cities and the surrounding Finger Lakes region, where we’ve found audiences to be extremely receptive to the unique blend of upbeat grooves, honest lyrics, catchy hooks and complex instrumental sections that have come to define us as band.

Prior to March 2020, we’d been very active in the Rochester music scene, self-producing and releasing 3 EP’s and playing all sorts of really cool venues, festivals and events. As the pandemic emerged and ensuing lockdowns put an end to our busy gigging schedules, we decided to embrace the changing landscape around us and enter a new era of virtual collaboration, where we began writing and fine-tuning our most honest, timely and introspective group of songs to date. For us, writing is circumstantial, and the circumstances we found ourselves in allowed us to adapt and create some really cool music in a new way. 

We are extremely excited to show you what we’ve been working on and are so ready to take this next step, but first, we need your help!

The material is ready, and the musicians are waiting -- this Plaid Dog campaign is the final step toward creating my first ever, professionally produced studio album.

This campaign is raising funds for my professionally recorded album with Carter Sanders in Boston, MA. Carter is a Boston-based producer and engineer with experience working with both established and up-and-coming musicians. Together, Carter and I are digging into my original material, writing arrangements, and reaching out to local musicians to bring the songs to life. 

We’ve been able to cover the costs of recording and producing one song, which is ready for you to check out right here on this page. This first song is called “After All,” and you can check it out below!

While I’ve been able to fund the recording process for "After All" on my own, to create an album of songs of this quality, studio costs add up quickly. With that said, this campaign can give us a unique opportunity to collaborate and make great art together. Your donation will cover the following costs of my project:

1. Pre-Production: This is where everything starts. Carter and I will start crafting the arrangements for each song slated for the album. We’ll hold rehearsals to fine-tune the songs and arrangements and talk through new and exciting ideas for how to approach the recording process.

2. Recording: This is when we enter the studio and start capturing the music and where the songs become what you'll hear on this album. This campaign will play a huge role in making sure we have enough time to capture great performances for every member of the band.

3. Mixing & Mastering: Each track will get mixed to create the right balance between instruments, texture and color that make up a track. As a final step, the album will be mastered from beginning to end so that the listening experience is cohesive and carefully choreographed from start to finish.

And what will you get for your generosity and support? So many awesome things!

I am so appreciative and grateful for any support you can lend to this campaign. In exchange for your generosity, I've put together a really exciting group of gifts that are available exclusively through your participation in this campaign.

Check out some examples below and a full list to the right!

It's hard to express how much this project would change my life.

Music has had such an immeasurable impact on me personally because it provides an outlet through which we can acknowledge struggles and emotion and gain perspective on the world around us.  Rather than internalizing those feelings and observations, music has allowed me to pair them with an upbeat groove, or a hopeful tone, or an interesting message. Being able to share that with you all, in such a professional and high quality manner, would be an opportunity that we would be incredibly grateful to have. 

Music is, for me, fundamentally a collective process – from my incredible bandmates, musician friends and mentors that have pushed me to be better, my friends from childhood that spent countless late nights listening to me butcher the bon-fire classics, my family for giving me such a wide perspective on different types of music when I was young, my amazing and wonderful wife for being my musical sounding board all these years. Music is about community and connection, and we’ve shared musical experiences with so many people throughout our lives. One of our hopes is that this project helps us to expand those connections and opens new doors to continue that collective process.

If you're ready to contribute, just click the "Back This Project" button on the top right of this page! Every little bit counts, and I’m so grateful for all your support.

If you have folks in your network that would be interested in supporting me, please feel free to share this page with them.

Thank you so much for checking out my campaign page. I can't wait to share this music with you.