Biography by Andrew Leahey Although Skint & Demoralised is technically the pseudonym of Matt Abbott, a former standup poet turned indie rock/rapper, it also references the contributions of David Gledhill (aka MiNI dOG), the British songwriter/producer who first turned Abbott's prose into music. Matt Abbott launched the project as a teenager in Wakefield, England. Inspired by such performance-oriented poets as John Cooper Clarke and Linton Kwesi Johnson, he began giving local standup performances and recording the results on his phone, the contents of which later found their way onto MySpace. By mid-2007, MiNI dOG had begun adding musical accompaniment to Abbott's recorded poetry, bolstering the teenager's rhymes with electronic beats and Northern Soul-inspired orchestration. A contract with Mercury Records followed in March 2008, and the pair decamped to New York City's Daptone Studios, where they recorded a debut album with help from legendary soul band the Dap-Kings.