“In This Boat” performed live on the Lightship95 music studio boat on the River Thames, November 2011.

This song appears on my 2012 album “Little Battles”, released under the name She Makes War.

At the end of 2011 I assembled a temporary band of superstars in their own right to showcase four songs from my upcoming second album “Little Battles”. We spent a whole day filming on the Lightship95 music studio inside a pink boat moored on the River Thames, and this is one of the songs we played.

Band members:
Annie Gardiner – bass / vocals
Tom Gardiner – drums
Dana Jade aka Ms Mohammed – guitar
Milly McGregor – violin
Bass – backing vocals

Video shot so beautifully by Ed Christmas, edited by Laura Kidd.
Audio recorded and mixed by Jarrad Hearman, mastered by Ian Shepherd.

🎶 Browse my entire back catalogue – She Makes War and Penfriend – here.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

“Scared To Capsize” performed live on ukulele, vocals and loop pedal at Ort Cafe, Birmingham, 24th March 2015.

This song originally appeared on my 2010 album “Disarm”, released under the name She Makes War.

I dressed up as a unicorn in the music video and travelled in a paper boat across East London.

Recorded by Dan Hayward, mixed and mastered by Jay Chakravorty. Video by Blacklight Productions.

🎶 Browse my entire back catalogue – She Makes War and Penfriend – here.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

Sign up here to receive exclusive early access to the Obey Robots album pre-order on October 4th and also be the first to hear the new music (existing mailing list subscribers don’t need to sign up again).

In 2019, I received an exciting email from Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff, asking if I’d be interested in writing some music with Rat from Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. Having first heard “Kill Your Television” on a mixtape in 1997, I was over the moon to discover that Rat had stumbled across my work on a YouTube binge – and a new collaboration was born.

Various roadblocks soon cropped up, meaning the journey between that first email and this exciting day has not been easy – but we made it.

In this new video I talk about the importance of keeping going, even when you want to quit (and oh, did I want to quit!), and how proud I am that we finished this record. I can’t wait for you to hear it!

🎶 Fewer than 30 copies of the Obey Robots 7″ vinyl “Let It Snow / Inside Out” remain – get yours here.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

As I reach the end of the mixing process for my upcoming Obey Robots album, I compare the Flare Audio E-Prototype earphones with my trusty Shure SE21 and Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro.

As a bonus, I always enjoy an opportunity to mention my life’s dream of collaborating with Liam Howlett / The Prodigy. Liam, let’s talk!

Here’s my affiliate link for all Flare Audio products.

Links to the other equipment mentioned:
Shure SE215
Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro
Focusrite Clarett
Headphone extender

🎶 Browse my entire back catalogue – She Makes War and Penfriend – here.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

“Minefields” performed live on the Lightship95 music studio boat on the River Thames, November 2011.

This song appears on my 2012 album “Little Battles”, released under the name She Makes War.

At the end of 2011 I assembled a temporary band of superstars in their own right to showcase four songs from my upcoming second album “Little Battles”. We spent a whole day filming on the Lightship95 music studio inside a pink boat moored on the River Thames, and this is one of the songs we played.

What a dream – three fierce solo artists and a brilliant drummer sharing a stage. I’m so glad we captured these memories.

Band members:
Annie Gardiner – bass / vocals
Tom Gardiner – drums
Dana Jade aka Ms Mohammed – guitar

Video shot so beautifully by Ed Christmas, edited by Laura Kidd.
Audio recorded and mixed by Jarrad Hearman, mastered by Ian Shepherd.

🎶 Browse my entire back catalogue – She Makes War and Penfriend – here.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

“Paper Thin” performed live on ukulele, vocals, loop pedal and violin at Ort Cafe, Birmingham, 24th March 2015.

This song appears on my 2016 album “Direction Of Travel” released under the name She Makes War. The album version features the beautiful vocals of Tanya Donelly – watch the video here.

Violin by Simon Goff – check out his beautiful new album with Katie Melua!

Recorded by Dan Hayward, mixed and mastered by Jay Chakravorty. Video by Blacklight Productions.

🎶 Browse my entire back catalogue – She Makes War and Penfriend – here.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

Back to 2008 again for episode 2 of my ancient vlog, featuring:

– my great big pre-gig nerves
– a guitar amp transported to my gig in a plastic bag on a bus (glamorous *and* professional)
– snippets of “Getting Nowhere” and “ghostsandshadows” live
– and my first EVER radio interview (conducted during my office job lunch break!!) where I talk about being an extra in “Extras” (singing with David Bowie!)

I started vlogging in 2008 – way before Casey Neistat! – but made two big mistakes:

1) calling it a vblog instead of a vlog, because I was being nitpicky about how if it was a “video blog” it should be a vblog not a vlog. Um, ok Past Laura, cool pedantry – but imagine if you’d tagged it with the word EVERYONE ELSE WAS USING…perhaps people might have watched!

2) not being consistent. I did make a decent amount of episodes, but then stopped because I was busy with other things. If I hadn’t stopped, who knows what it would have developed into. I’m especially annoyed with myself for listening to my ex-boyfriend who asked me “is this a music project or are you making a reality TV show?” I’m glad I used that as a catalyst for making my debut album, but it’s not all or nothing (and it was never a reality TV show).

ANYWAY, I’m delighted to be doing the YouTube thing now, and it’s fun to go back and appreciate some of the good things I made. It’s way too easy to write off our past endeavours as rubbish because we are better at doing those things now (and might still, often, wonder if we’re any good). I’m glad I saved these snippets and I hope you enjoy these trips down memory lane with me.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

🎶 My debut album “Disarm” and my second album “Little Battles” are available on limited edition coloured vinyl – for the first time EVER – plus CD/download from my shop.

🎶 Browse my entire back catalogue – She Makes War and Penfriend – here.

Have a lovely day! xo

🎶 “Disarm” and my second album “Little Battles” are available on limited edition coloured vinyl – for the first time EVER – plus CD/download from my shop.

🎶 Browse my entire back catalogue – She Makes War and Penfriend – here.

This is a serious blast from the past, and I don’t even remember filming it, but I’m glad I did!

In 2008 I lived alone in a studio flat in Peckham (then I got my amazing dog Mister Benji and never lived alone again!), and was working hard to pull together songs for my debut album.

I recorded “Disarm” in winter 2009, so this is a very early performance of “A-Hole”, which is still one of my favourite songs from that album.

“Disarm” was released under the name She Makes War in September 2010. I made four and a bit albums under that name, putting music out from 2009-2019 before launching Penfriend in 2020.

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo