Four brand new Penfriend demos, written as part of the recent Laura Veirs x School Of Song workshop series, plus a 24 page zine of thoughts, feelings and photos.
The only way to get access to future Correspondent’s Club releases is to become a member – browse member perks here.
Track listing:
1. The Dust And The Dark (demo)
2. Survival Information (demo)
3. Hold Tight (demo)
4. In The Light Sometimes (demo)
Welcome to episode 2 of my Creative Spaces series!
I met Ryan Hamilton online recently after his album release plan went very wrong…and I thought to balance out the industry kerfuffle we should have a deep chat about creativity, music recording and how your space can affect your work. So we did!
We talk about how easy it is to record your own music, which three things Ryan considers essential for recording, where songs come from and the magic word to use in your lyrics to bump up your streaming numbers š¤£.
Ryan also talks about Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, and the story behind “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”…and there’s even a cameo from Justin Hawkins!
Watch more “Creative Spaces” videos here, and subscribe to my channel for more xo
So, how do you get a completely independently made, released and marketed album into the Official UK Top 20? I could keep it all to myself, but that’s not very me now, is it?!
There’s a lot of lying in the music industry, so Joe Sparrow from Music Ally wanted to know if it was all too good to be true. I shared the reasons I do things my way, and the unsexy secrets behind the recent chart success of my new album “One In A Thousand” (a collaboration with Rat from Ned’s Atomic Dustbin).
ā”ļø Listen to my full conversation with Joe for Music:Ally here
ā”ļø Get your copy of the album direct from http://shop.penfriend.rocks
In September 2021 I was burned out and feeling super sad – so I decided I had to do something completely different. A one-off surf lesson led to my first outdoor swim…and in October 2022 I found myself in Marseille!
Subscribe to see future videos x
ā”ļø Places I mention in this video:
The Wave, Bristol – aka āman-made waveā¦placeā
Swimming locations shown:
Clevedon Marine Lake
Cromhall Quarry (Gloucestershire)
Dosthill Quarry (Tamworth)
Lake 32 (Cotswold Water Park, Wiltshire)
Praia da Rainha, Cascais, Portugal
(I also swam in Estorilā¦more on that in a future video)
Vivienne Rickman runs regular wild swimming experiences in Snowdonia – I highly recommend!
In Marseille I swam at:
Calanque de Podestat
Calanque de Sormiou
Plage du Prado
And I stayed at LāAppartement in Sormiou which is where I met my gorgeous guard dog friend Oknit.
I’ve never understood why artists shy away from setting up an email list. Musicians, photographers, visual artists, writers – if you’re serious about sharing your work online, it’s WAY more effective to set up a website and an email list than posting on social media.
And if you’re a fan of people who do those things – please sign up to their lists!
If I hadn’t set up my mailing list in 2009 and invited people onto it regularly ever since, I simply wouldn’t have a full-time job making my own music. It’s that life-changing.
Seth Werkheiser and I met online a while ago, and I immediately knew we were on the same page with this stuff. His HEAVY METAL EMAIL is always useful and fun to read, so I invited him to nerd out / share exasperated facial expressions about email marketing with me.
Enjoy – and please ask any questions in the comments section. I’d be very happy to go deeper into how I do things in future videos so let me know what you’d like to see xo
My new album is OUT NOW – so I thought it was time for a chat about what happens in the weeks after a big success at work, plus what’s next for this channel and for my music-making.
I went to Rough Trade Nottingham in search of our Obey Robots album and found this instead!
Art by Niaski.
With hat tips to ace records by Sleaford Mods, Public Service Broadcasting and Self Esteem – click the links for podcast episodes with the last two š
Obey Robots is a creative collaboration between myself – Laura Kidd (Penfriend / She Makes War) – and Rat (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin).
Our album “One In A Thousand” was released on 24th February 2023 and went into the Official UK Albums Chart at #14 and the Official Independent Chart at #1 the following week.
–> BUY YOUR COPY DIRECT and support independent music making!
This is fan power in action: we shared the album through emails, videos and social media. No press, no pluggers, no manager, label or agent.
Thank you for being part of this very exciting time!
āAlbert Camus believed that the individual could change society.
Kafka believed that society was too strong for that.
The problem is, Kafka never listened to Obey Robots.ā
This is the absolute pinnacle of album releasing for me – Jimmy Watkins is a poet. I’ve never felt my work so well understood as when he runs along shouting into the camera, bursting with love and enthusiasm.
āVocals shoot overhead like fighter jets – itās like the Red Arrows turning up to your birthday party!ā
āThis is music rich in the confidence of their own skillā¦itās fearlessā¦itās great for running to!”
“Itās kind of like having a rainbow in your spare bedroom.”
āThis album really feels like optimism in the face of oblivion.ā
Read on to find out why we have a few more copies of “One In A Thousand” available on vinyl now – including 20 copies of the “clear with black smoke” variant!
ā”ļø OR head to the shop to grab yours now.
I wrote a few weeks ago about how poorly “One In A Thousand” fared with being stocked in record shops. After printing 500 special (let it) snow white vinyl copies for shops, only 150 were required by my distributor.
As I don’t participate in the trend of introducing new vinyl variants late in a pre-order, effectively asking collectors to buy again, I had a moral quandary on my hands: hope the white vinyl would be in demand from shops later on, or offer it to fans?
I opted for the latter, wrote this piece to explain, and offered all existing vinyl customers money off if they did choose to add white vinyl to their order.
After all the release week hubbub, I asked my distributor which record shops did stock “One In A Thousand”, and wanted to take this opportunity to send heartfelt thanks to those who took a chance on our album:
Record Culture, Stourbridge
Longwell Records, Keynsham
Banquet Records, Kingston
Norman Records, Leeds
Juno Records
Rough Trade
Diverse Records, Newport
Thank you for championing new music!
WHERE SHOULD I BUY YOUR ALBUM?
Record shops are havens – I have such fond memories of browsing Andy’s Records in Bury St Edmunds as a teenager, picking up life-changing Feline singles from the bargain bin, nervously asking for the new “Skunk And Nancy” album at the counter and not being laughed at… I know many music supporters have their own such stories, and these bastions of culture are doing their best to cling on just like the rest of us.
However, in the interests of showing a bit of what goes on under the hood: “One In A Thousand” is released on my own label My Big Sister Recordings, and distributed by SRD. This means that when it’s sold anywhere other than direct to fan through my shop or Bandcamp, I get paid a chunk less. The record shop needs to be paid for their work, and my distributor needs to be paid for their work.
This works out fine if the shop attracts new people to the music, those who haven’t heard about it through my mailing list, videos or social media…but if you have heard about my music from me I would love it if you’d buy direct.
When I wrote my piece a few weeks ago I was disappointed with the stocking situation, but was very careful not to point fingers. The system doesn’t work, in my opinion, but I don’t “hate the player”, and I only work with people I respect and trust.
So it was quite a shock to discover that someone from a certain Glasgow based record shop, upon reading my post, decided to call up my distributor and accuse me of slagging off them *and* record shops, when I did neither.
If that’s the price of being honest on the internet, bring it on – I’m not playing any games, and I won’t shut up to keep the peace with people who behave in this fashion.
Here’s what I actually said:
Because weāve chosen (couldnāt afford) not to pay (waste?!) upwards of Ā£10,000 on PR and radio plugging to try and get glowing reviews and quotes (that donāt sell records), most shops are unwilling to take the risk ā even on sale or return.
They donāt have the space, they donāt know (or care) who we are, and it doesnāt matter how good (we think) our album is. (Itās excellent, by the wayā¦)
I get it. Itās tough times for everyone ā and Iām thankful for the shops who have decided to take a chance on us.
In the days since our chart success, it’s been interesting to note the plethora of record shops who suddenly have “One In A Thousand” in stock (well, “dispatched when received from distributor”). Again, shops can’t stock everything, but it’s eye-opening to see how these things work.
I’ve also been alerted to some shops selling vinyl for way over the odds – Ā£30-Ā£45. This is not cool!
In my shop I sell records for Ā£22, with 100% of the profits going to us, the people who made the music (after manufacturing costs, transaction fees, warehouse packing fees, Shopify fees etc).
Shops pay Ā£12.99 per unit for vinyl, so these shysters are potentially earning more than we are for a direct sale.
No thank you!
Today I’ve requested all remaining vinyl copies back from my distributor to sell in my own shop. Running my own label is a major faff, but one of the benefits is choosing which music industry nonsense to participate in. I choose none of it!
ā”ļø We have fewer than 100 snow white records left, along with 20 x clear with black smoke records and 1 x classic black.
Thank you for supporting Obey Robots, Penfriend and independent artists everywhere. You’re the best.
“One In A Thousand” is available here.
