“Elephant” – Obey Robots

“Elephant” – Obey Robots

Creativity Letterbox Music News Releases Singles

Taut and propulsive, “Elephant” marries the pop nouse of XTC with the stop-start dynamics of 00’s post-hardcore mainstays Hundred Reasons before opening up into the kind of shimmering chorus that would have shot Obey Robots to MTV stardom had it been the 90’s.



Pre-order the Obey Robots album “One In A Thousand” now and receive this track PLUS four more immediately.

Shop limited edition vinyl, signed CDs, cassettes, tees, hoodies, lyric books and guitar pick tins.


SONG CREDITS
Produced by Laura Kidd.
Mixed by Chris Sheldon. Mastered by Katie Tavini.

All music by Laura Kidd and Rat, all lyrics and arrangements by Laura Kidd. All vocals and bass by Laura, all guitars by Rat. Drums by Max Saidi.

Rat’s guitars recorded by Dan Austin. All other instruments recorded by Laura in The Launchpad, Bristol.

Single artwork by Laura Kidd, robot illustration by Alex Tillbrook.


LYRICS

Newspaper shouts that we’ve had enough
The radio says we’re all out of love
Don’t let them take what you worked hard for
Slaving away for your family
There’s nothing left for the strangers who bleed
Hold tight to the things that you value

Thank your lucky stars
Look to the future
There’s freedom in guitars

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Count the seconds as they crystallise
It’s just a little further

The government says we’re overrun
They get a break while you soldier on
Cos you don’t have the life that you deserve
You’re working hard for your family
There’s nothing else, you believe what you read
This wasn’t given to you on a plate

Don’t politicise
Stick to the music
Dance for a little while
Always scraping the barrel
Parroting lines
I’ve never felt so angry

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Count the seconds as they crystallise
It’s just a little further

We’re wasting time
Don’t want to feel so bad
We’re wasting time
And it was all we had

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Count the seconds as they crystallise
It’s just a little further

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Losing hours as they hypnotise
It’s always a little further than we can


NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Look what we made! Obey Robots unboxing video + Top 20 WTF?

Look what we made! Obey Robots unboxing video + Top 20 WTF?

Letterbox Music News Process

It’s been an exciting few days in album release land. Packages of colourful merch have been arriving, books, CDs and guitar and bass picks have been signed with metallic Sharpie, and on Tuesday Rat and I spent some time oohing and ahhing at the beautiful things.


UK Top 20 WTF?

It’s really happening. Thanks to generous, supportive music fans our album is now gunning for the UK Top 20. Even writing that makes me feel…funny. Based on sales to date, “One In A Thousand” is possibly headed for the dizzy heights of the Official UK Albums Chart, a real pie in the eye for all people who have ever told Rat and I we couldn’t/shouldn’t.

The music manager who told me “I don’t see people lining up to work with you”…the teacher who said I should focus on the violin, because playing bass was a waste of time…the ex-boyfriend who told me I couldn’t – and shouldn’t – sing.

There will always be someone around to rain on your parade, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t spend time on the things that make you happy.

Our labour of love is having an effect on the people listening and watching – and sharing the music we’re so proud of is all that really matters…but I can’t deny it would be very exciting to see this independent release jostling with the big labels purely down to people power!

Whatever happens to “One In A Thousand”, its success is down to you! If you’d like to share something of ours with a friend, the “Porcupine” video is making people smile.

➡️ Order limited edition vinyl, CDs, hardback books, cassettes, pick tins, tees, hoodies and badges here.

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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The story of the record the shops didn’t want.

The story of the record the shops didn’t want.

Letterbox Music News Process

The story of the record the shops didn’t want.

On Wednesday I received the news from my distributor that they only need 150 copies of my new album “One In A Thousand” on vinyl and 200 copies on CD to go into record shops.

Because we’ve chosen (couldn’t afford) not to pay (waste?!) upwards of £10,000 on PR and radio plugging to try and get glowing reviews and quotes (that don’t sell records), most shops are unwilling to take the risk – even on sale or return.

They don’t have the space, they don’t know (or care) who we are, and it doesn’t matter how good (we think) our album is. (It’s excellent, by the way…)

I get it. It’s tough times for everyone – and I’m thankful for the shops who have decided to take a chance on us.

Unfortunately, I was asked to print 500 copies on an exclusive colour just for record shops…so I had a decision to make:

– cross fingers they might change their mind and want to stock more copies (um)

OR

add the snow white vinyl to my own shop and make it available directly to you.

When we created the music and merch bundles for OIAT, I chose to make everything available at the same time. No sneaky marketing shenanigans to give the illusion of scarcity, no extra products or colours added in later under the pretence of a “quick repress” (there’s really no such thing at the moment!).

Honesty is important to me in all things. Music fans are VIPs and shouldn’t ever be messed about. The end.

However, there’s no use in these beautiful records sitting in a box in the corner of a dusty warehouse, so I’ve added them into my shop alongside the remaining orange marble and splatter vinyl, CDs, hardback lyric and photo books, badge sets, pick tins with signed picks inside, tees and hoodies.

Beautiful things have been arriving this week at Penfriend HQ ready to be signed and dropped off at our fulfilment warehouse, who are readying themselves to package everything up and get it sent out to you in release week.

‼️And get this…because of the support of music fans this album is gunning for the UK Top 20…WTF?!!!

Thank you SO MUCH for getting on board the robot train. It’s a fun ride!

Roll on 24th February

Laura xo


NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Correspondent’s Club 010 – 7/2/23

Correspondent’s Club 010 – 7/2/23

Letterbox Music News Perks TCC

I found some treasure! My Zoom recorder died, and I nearly formatted the SD card before realising it *might* be pretty full of song ideas… It was, so I listened and talked through some of the snippets that might make it onto the second Penfriend album. Watch this space!

The only way to get access to future Correspondent’s Club releases is to become a member – browse member perks here.

Track listing:

1. Adventures in sound and songwriting
2. Taking small steps
3. I found some treasure

Preview track: “Adventures in sound and songwriting”

This job is SO WEIRD!

This job is SO WEIRD!

Letterbox Music News Process

Some thoughts about how SUPER WEIRD my job is, how grateful I am to do it full-time, how BLOODY EXPENSIVE it is to make records, and what it’s really like with three weeks to go before an independent album release.

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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I’d rather be one in a thousand

I’d rather be one in a thousand

Letterbox Music News


Are you trying to be one in a million?

I grew up with that phrase knocking around in my brain, instructing me to try and be so brilliant, so very special and so unusual that I would achieve the very highest possible level of success.

Or what – failure???

What if you don’t want to be the very best? What if, like me, you don’t believe that fame and luxury are concepts fitting of a world where there’s so much of a gap between rich and poor?

I’d rather be “one in a thousand”.

Over the past 15 years I’ve found a role for myself as a community artist, creating music for people who live outside the mainstream – like me. Music for underdogs.

And now I have a new album to share with you, a creative collaboration with my friend Rat from Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.

It’s been described as “21st Century 90’s Indie”, which I am delighted with!

If you know me already, you know that independence has always been at the core of everything I do – and this album is no exception. We made this whole thing ourselves: I produced the record from my home attic studio and I asked Chris Sheldon – yes, that Chris Sheldon! – to mix it for us.

It sounds incredible, and it’s coming out on 24th February 2023 on my own super indie label My Big Sister Recordings.

Order “One In A Thousand” directly from my shop and you’ll get access to the full range of limited edition music and merch, plus you’ll receive four songs in your inbox immediately, with another one sent to your email before the release date.

Instead of clawing our way up to a lonely pedestal to be one in a million, we can stand together and be one in a thousand.

Thank you for supporting independent music.

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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With 4 weeks to go…

With 4 weeks to go…

Letterbox Music News


It’s official: 2023 is the Year of the Robot. You heard it here first!

My Obey Robots collaboration album “One In A Thousand” will be released into the world in four weeks and one day, on Friday 24th February.

Oh my. That’s soon!

This is a super indie release on my own label, so the best way to support the album is to order direct from us. You’ll get access to the full range of music and merch – not available anywhere else! – PLUS immediate download links for four songs, with one more sent to you before 24th February.

Several items are running low: we have three limited edition vinyl colours left, signed and unsigned CDs, cassettes, signed lyric books, four tee designs, hoodies, badge packs and pick tins containing a signed bass pick from me and guitar pick from Rat!

This week in Robot land…

Miles Hunt (of The Wonder Stuff) was the first non-Robot to receive a copy of the album on vinyl. After inspiring teenage Laura to join her first band, befriending a young Rat and then introducing the two of us in 2019, it was the least we could do to say THANK YOU.

Have you heard his brilliant new solo album yet? (I sing on two songs – dreams can come true…)

What about record shops?

If you’re waiting til release day to pick up a copy of “One In A Thousand” from your local record shop, that’s very cool. Up the indies! However, as this is a super independent release it won’t be stocked unless it’s requested…by YOU. 

The record is distributed through SRD, so if you tell them you want a copy they can get in touch with them and sort it out – though they won’t have access to any of the limited edition colours in the shop.

What about Bandcamp?

I still love Bandcamp, I do – but they make pre-orders very difficult. No bundling options, no clear way of categorising music and merch, no accurate way of counting sales towards the charts… My label operates out of my home studio, and I don’t currently have bandwidth to juggle inventory across two platforms. I appreciate this makes ordering from the EU a VAT-shaped problem, so I will be adding some items to Bandcamp after the first week of release.

Thanks for your understanding, and if you order from my shop and would like a complimentary Bandcamp download code sent to you, just leave me a note at checkout.

Thank you so much for supporting this album, you’re the absolute best.

FOUR WEEKS!

Love,
Laura xxx

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Why I shot a music video using Quicktime player and made it look like a Zoom call…

Why I shot a music video using Quicktime player and made it look like a Zoom call…

Creativity Letterbox Music News Process Releases Singles


Originally released in December 2020, “Let It Snow” wasn’t just the first Obey Robots single, it was the first song we completed (in December 2020!).

It was a test:

-> can we make music together?
-> do we love what we made?
-> does anyone want to hear it?

If the answer to the first two questions had been “no”, you would never have heard of Obey Robots. And if the answer to the second question was “yes”, the answer to the third question would never stop me anyway.

Happily, the answer to the second question was HELL YES! – and the overwhelmingly positive response from music fans was the icing on the cake. A cake full of riffs! 🎂🎸


For this new video, I decided to invite you in to get a sense of what the collaboration process was like for Rat and I.

By December 2020 we’d only met in person twice, so all communication was by email and occasional Zoom calls. We were always speaking from our individual creative spaces, which I think helped us both to feel more confident talking to someone we didn’t know that well.

I got so used to seeing Rat on my computer screen that it still surprises me when we meet up – he’s very tall!

Most of the video was shot using Quicktime player. We’ve all grown perhaps too familiar with the particular quality of footage you get on video calls, so I wanted to retain that to bring you right into the middle of things.

All the footage up to the instrumental was shot individually and separately: me in my home studio, Rat in his. And then – well, I don’t want to ruin the plot twist, you’ll just have to watch!

Being creative doesn’t require fancy equipment or a big team of people. You can achieve a lot with just an idea, some basic gear and the drive to complete something. That’s how our album was made, and how everything else we’re sharing is being made. That’s how I’ve always worked.

This is real people making real music about real things. I hope you enjoy it.

Love,
Laura xo

-> PRE-ORDER “One In A Thousand” by Obey Robots now – out on 24th February 2023! You’ll receive four songs immediately, with another beaming into your inbox before the album release.

Thank you for supporting independent music!

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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A fresh direction for 2023

A fresh direction for 2023

Creativity Letterbox Mindfulness Music News


A snoozy day, punctuated by washing piles of soft furnishings and spraying the entire house with Indorex. Surprise baths for reluctant pooches. Flea and worming tablets doled out a few days early. All just in case…but I had a feeling. Just writing about the thought of it makes my skin prickle. Ugh.

I’m still “off work”. I fell ill mid-November after going to see my first gig since 2019 (Gary Barlow’s one-man show – brilliant), so the end of year go-slow started early, but then, in early December – Covid. First-time Covid. Game over.

Unable to do much, I’m in rest and research mode: reading, writing, watching videos on topics that pique my interest. Today I watched videos about field recording and how to sample your own sounds, and made a list of the music production techniques I want to learn and practise in 2023.

Spurred into action, I bring my Zoom H6 recorder down from the studio for a cleanup. Since I paused my podcast this time last year I’ve rarely used it, and the machine has responded to its neglect by letting some batteries fizz and melt in their compartment. Cheers.

I bought a vat of white vinegar a while back for occasions such as these, but it’s probably in the shed, and it’s raining out, so I look for the next best thing. I waver between cider apple vinegar and white wine vinegar, and go for the latter to avoid staining. It works.

Rest is essential (I read that all the time), and I’m enjoying my cosy sofa duvet nest, but I’m starting to feel restless. I haven’t felt itching-to-get-started for months: overwhelmed, stuck and hopeless are three words that sum up much of my 2022. I’m finally starting to feel excited about making things again.

I think it’s because I’ve managed to stay away from external distractions long enough to hear the quiet voice inside urging me onto new and old topics of interest: field recording, sampling, cardboard art. Sculpting with air drying clay. Creating dioramas in boxes and box frames. Blogging! Twitter hasn’t been a satisfying place to write in YEARS and I still love reading (and writing) blog posts. Consider this one a statement of intent.

I’ve signed up for a Cartoons and Comics evening class in town. I’m thinking about creating sample packs using sounds from my solo albums so far. Instead of reminding myself of all the things I didn’t manage to do in 2022 and dragging them all along with me, I’m starting a fresh new list for 2023.

My break includes my YouTube channel: after successfully uploading videos for 52 weeks in a row I’ve stepped back to ponder my next move. I want everything I do to be part of a coherent world I create – I don’t want a hugely successful YouTube channel about cheese, delicious as that may be. It’s a fun challenge to make videos that fit with what I already make, packaging them with the right thumbnail and title to pique the interest of viewers who might not know me yet, as well as those who do.

A phrase pops into my mind, a fresh direction for the year ahead: “adventures in sound and songwriting”. That sounds like a fun year.

Will you join me? xx

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get a FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

🎹 Get exclusive member perks in The Correspondent’s Club.

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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