You are welcome here.

I’m Penfriend aka music producer and solo artist Laura Kidd. Half of Obey Robots, ex- She Makes War.

I make heartfelt indie rock, synth pop and sad songs to make you feel better, sharing stories, photos and artwork as part of my ongoing creative practice.

Through my videos, essays and weekly forum posts I seek to support and encourage others along their own creative journeys. We’re all in this together!

Thank you for visiting this page – you clearly have great taste x

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In 2019, my fingers burned by crowdfunding platform Pledge Music disappearing with £6000 i.e. ALL THE PROFITS from my 2018 album “Brace For Impact”, I decided to try my own thing.

I set up a subscription club I called Supersub Club. 100 analogue memberships sold out within a week, and I created CDs packed with demos, rarities, cover songs and voicemail recordings PLUS zines of stories, photos and artwork throughout the year to send to generous music fans around the world.

In 2020 I launched my new solo project Penfriend on the same day as opening up The Correspondent’s Club: a new and improved membership offering with analogue and digital, monthly and annual options plus a community space. It worked, and it was magical.

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Over the past four years my members have received 18 analogue / digital bundles of music, stories, photos and artwork, made up of:

• 101 songs, demos, exclusive live tracks and podcast stories
• 18 zines packed with stories, photos and artwork
• plus postcards, bookmarks and stickers

So far, Correspondents have supported the making of:
• 2 studio albums
• 233 YouTube videos, including 9 official music videos
• 50 podcast episodes

Would you like to join us?

Earlier this year I knew it was time for a change. We’d outgrown the cobbled together WordPress plugins I’d assembled in spring 2020. I researched all the other options, comparing fees and features with a far longer view than anything I’d ever set up before.

Would this work for us for the next 5 years? If not, it was a no.

I chose not to use Patreon in 2020 because it didn’t have the capacity for people to pay in their local currency, and I didn’t want my majority UK-based fans to have to pay conversion fees. When Patreon came out on top of all my research, I was surprised and delighted to find out they’ve spent the past four years making their excellent platform even better.

While it was frankly nauseating sitting in my kitchen and clicking “cancel” on 235 recurring payments on Thursday morning, I knew I had to operate from a mindset of abundance rather than poverty. I don’t want people to subscribe to The Correspondent’s Club because they forgot to cancel a recurring payment. I want them to actively want the things they get from it.

On Thursday lunchtime I launched the new home of The Correspondent’s Club to existing members.

On Friday lunchtime I launched to the rest of my mailing list.
Fifteen minutes ago I launched to YouTube and social media.

At the time of typing, I have welcomed 152 paid members on Patreon.

For the past five years I’ve been building The Correspondent’s Club into a community that reaches far beyond the songs I make and the videos I share.

People are amazing.
Music fans want to support the artists who provide the soundtrack to their lives.

If you’re interested in being a part of what I make and do on a daily basis, you’re always welcome in The Correspondent’s Club.

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You get immediate access to:

• downloads of my entire back catalogue (7 albums + 1 EP)

PLUS

• the entire Correspondent’s Club digital archive (101 tracks + 18 zines)

Then, whichever membership tier you choose, you will receive:

• weekly Airmail messages
• monthly Voicemail / Facemail recordings
• complimentary downloads of all official Penfriend album releases
• VIP invitations to bi-monthly private online events
• previews of my regular videos and personal essays before they go public

PLUS extra member perks detailed in each tier.

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My last two albums went into the Official UK Albums Chart at #14 (#1 Independent) and #24 (#5 Independent) – completely powered by music fans. No labels / agents / managers / pluggers / middlepersons. No games.

I’m independent on purpose – so that I never have to compromise my artistic vision. I’ve never pandered to fashion, and I never will. I’ve never waited for permission from anyone to do this.

I’m not interested in where my music might take me, I’m interested in where I am right now.

Right here, talking to you. Hi!

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The Correspondent’s Club has not only changed my life as an artist, but has become a joyful space for my members to connect with each other over their shared passions.

After 5 years of DIY-ing this I’m moving to Patreon in Spring 2024 because I love this platform and wanted to find a friendly home for me and my beloved Correspondents for the next 5 years.

Will you join us?

Thank you for reading.

Love,
Laura xxx

It’s been a while…I moved city, painted some furniture bright pink and have been auditioning local Post Offices for the lofty honour of handling packages of music and merch for generous music supporters.

I’m delighted that the PO closest to me has easy parking, lots of space inside for piling up bags and boxes and, most importantly, a super friendly and positive man running the place.

His joyful hello perked me right up yesterday when I dropped off several bags of CDs and zine bundles for my Correspondent’s Club members – a friendly welcome and a smile makes such a difference, doesn’t it!

Speaking of which, this is your friendly invitation to beam into my new home next Wednesday 27th September for my first online gig of 2023. What with releasing an album, moving house and LIFE OH LIFE the months have slipped by, so I’m delighted to be getting back to these regular performances.

I’ll be playing songs from my Penfriend album “Exotic Monsters” as well as from my She Makes War back catalogue.

Entry is FREE*, the gig starts at 8pm UK time and you can set a reminder for yourself here.

Subscribe to my channel while you’re there – it all helps spread the word to other music lovers.

* For the kind people who always ask how they can pay to attend, there are several ways of supporting me: joining The Correspondent’s Club, buying some music/merch from my shop and/or sending me a contribution via Paypal.

Hope to see you next Wednesday!

Laura xoxo

My debut album “Disarm” is 13 today, so I’m running a flash sale to celebrate!

Get 25% off:

+ “Disarm” on CD
+ “Disarm” on vinyl
+ “Disarm” demos and rarities collection on CD (25 tracks WTF?!!!!)
+ “Disarm:15” 5-track CD (reworked versions of songs from “Disarm”
+ “Disarm” bundle – 1 x vinyl, 2 x CD
+ “Disarm” / “Little Battles” double vinyl deal

GO GO GO!

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I always find it interesting looking back at blog posts from around album releases, and it’s especially pleasing to compare Past Laura’s opinions with Current Laura. I think the two of us would still get on very well!

Shared on 2nd September 2010:

“As artists, musicians and videomakers we have all the tools at our disposal now and absolutely no excuses not to use them. Gone are the days when bands could get away with saying “That’s not my job, I just make music” and expect to be handed opportunities.

I prefer it this way, having been stuck in a stingy record deal in the past with all rights removed, no say over the spending of money and told off by the label boss for asking too many questions (thankfully I hadn’t written the entire album of songs that got lost in the ensuing band / label split…), but hey, since I was a little girl I always wanted to be in charge.

The late nights and early mornings in front of the computer and the money spent on printing, videos, ribbon, glitter and suchlike is all time and cash well spent, in my opinion, in the quest to create my funny little world of art and music, and feels even more worth it when the reaction from the world is this warm.”

Social media shifted my focus from longer form written pieces for a good while, but with the launch of Penfriend in 2020 I signalled my forever return – so do have a browse of the Letterbox some time 🙂

Here’s another smoke signal from the “Disarm” times:

A humble aside: I remember sitting down in front of the camera to film the quiet performance of “Eye Spy” in this video and feeling SO awkward and silly and embarrassed, even though I was in a recording studio I was paying to record my album in. Isn’t that funny?! Next time I feel silly sitting down in front of a camera to film something in my own home (probably next week), I’ll try and remember that – and, as always, will just try and get on with it.

Photo by Laura Ward taken at The Apollo Project, Herne Hill in June 2009.