THE PADDINGTONS

To Hull And Back

Cast your mind back six years and you will recall a time of excitement and hyperbole in the music industry. The Libertines were wowing all with self-destructive gigs and were on the verge of releasing 'Up The Bracket' – which remains a heart fillingly fun and fine debut. Yet, we weren't even in the eye of the storm. Give it another year, as the youth and the like-minded got swept up; giving rise to a music scene full of fresh faces, hope and optimism.

With the barriers down and the 'DIY' ethic swirling it seemed everybody was in a band. Amid the chaos and disorder slowly a Hull five-piece clawed their way through. Then suddenly The Paddingtons were everywhere. The Others 'guerilla gig' on the London Underground saw Tom interviewed by NME; followed by the music magazine giving them an 'Under The Radar' tip (although Tom was cut out of the photo) and the iconic London's Burning photo alongside Doherty; Alan McGee signing them; a few Top 40 singles (back when they meant something); not to mention tour after tour, from Cornwall to Inverness.

Tom, Josh, Lloyd, Marv and Grant lived the life as it was meant to be lived but five years down the line they may be carrying some battle scars but they are still alive and kicking. It seems only fitting then that in this the last print version of Sandman, that we come back to one of the Hull bands, who featured in this city's second ever issue, and catch up with them on the day of the release of their first single in three years to be reminded just why they stand out from all the rest.

The Paddingtons are a bit of an enigma, or at least their place within the music industry has been. They've had a roller coaster ride that has seen them experience pretty much all the highs and a lot of the lows, which the so called music biz has to offer. From playing live to crazed fans all over the world to the gut wrenching reality check of being dropped by your label. They have inspired high fashion without ever being fashionable. They have earned themselves a huge loyal fan-base all over the world, yet always flown under the recognition radar. Opinion is polarised from pithy indie hanger-on to the last bastions of honest rock and roll – scoffed at by musos yet loved by many of the great and the good. The band themselves have always thrived on one thing and one thing alone: playing music together.

The last five years have seen them grow from tear away teenagers to driven young men but remain the band of brothers that they always have been; inspired by the passion of their heroes as they sit before me, carrying the war wounds but having learnt many an important lesson. Or as guitarist Marv puts it: 'We're a lot more cynical bastards now – well, everyone's reached my level. I haven't got a 'thing' in the band any more, I'm not the 'cynical one', we all are'.

After the release and hardcore touring of the first album, it felt for many that they kind of disappeared, perhaps another victim of the vicious 'build 'em up and knock 'em down' ethos of much of the music scene but au contraire my friends. The band were still frantically recording, starting to record their second album in the Charlatans' studio. As Lloyd explains:

'For a start we haven't really been missing, we've been doing stuff all the time like setting-up a studio, recording stuff, and playing gigs. That's the stuff that makes you still want to do it. If we really went missing and didn't do anything for a year, you wouldn't really be a band - would you?' But there were things that were not all so good in Paddingtons' world. Continual disappointments and missed opportunities led to frustrations both internal and external as Lloyd continues: 'We had our pants pulled down basically and we were badly managed. We were young and we went for the Nathan Barley-type management'. Josh takes up: '... it's why we ended up being dropped. We could have had the second album recorded and out ages ago.'

As your Grandma always said, everything happens for a reason and the band's enforced break from release seem to have actually done them a favour. As Josh puts its: 'When we found out we'd been dropped it was bad for about a day but then we started thinking about it and what it actually meant and realised it meant freedom. We'd been in this contract since we were teenagers and two weeks after signing it we realised it wasn't what we thought it was. You do get places but no where that you couldn't get yourself.' 'You did get mollycoddled by the label and when I found out we had been dropped it was like a safety net removed but you basically step up or sit down don't you' adds Grant before Marv further reiterates: 'We got to the point that we had to do it on our own but at no point did anybody say 'you can't be a band any more', so we just carried on under our on steam'.

The break has allowed them to grow and take control of the situation themselves. 'Living in Hull you are always some what out of the picture somewhat when it comes to management and labels. There was always stuff going on that you weren't being told about. Or it was they other way round and nothing was happening but you didn't know that either' says Josh. So the band have set up their own record label, Mama Bear Records, on which they plan to release their next album 'No Mundane Options'. Grant: asserts 'We're a lot closer as a band and working together for our own label. We're talking to each other and making decisions.'

Not only does it mean they're now in the driving seats but the break also benefited them musically, allowing them to become the musicians they want to be. 'The best thing that's come out of this time is the album, 'No Mundane Options', all the time that had gone by and the trials and tribulations, meant that we had all these new songs cropping up. It's a reflection of all that we've gone through and that's what made the album right.' Muses Josh.

The break has also meant that they have missed out on the fabled 'difficult second album' syndrome. Lloyd reflects: 'Really we haven't had that because in terms of song-writing and musicianship it is our third album because we wrote so many songs before we got here. We've thought about recording our second album and giving it away for the people who knew and liked the songs from live gigs and demos we recorded'. Grant adds: 'It would also be a bit of a justification to say 'look we haven't just been sitting on our arses''

In fact on reflection it seems like getting dropped was actually the best thing that could have happened to them. 'If the delay hadn't happened we wouldn't have been sat here at all. We would have released the second album, it would have bombed and then that would have been the end of us.' Says grant before Tom enters: 'I don't think our heads would have been able to take it then but we're a lot stronger now.' Marv echos the sentiment: 'At the end of the day all we lost was time. We have all our material back and we own everything ourselves – we are in control of ourselves'.

There is a notable change in the new material, not that it's carries any less vitriol or energy, just that it's a bit more grown up. Here they are with all the things they once rallied against with the vitality of youth: harmonies, key changes and even a 'woo woo' in there too, but the attitude is still the same.

They describe the first single from the new album, "Stand Down", released as a download only, 'warning shot'. Marv describes the reasons: 'It's aimed at our fans and to test the water. This album is quite a step forward and this is a test to see if the band are still into it. This is the closest thing to the last album as the second album's quite different. It's still us but this is the Paddingtons Mark II.'

Not that the plans end there as next single, "Hey You", set for release at the end of September is a searingly catchy dance-floor filler of a single, with a killer chorus for this seasons disaffected youth.

Maybe some of the differences come from the very different styles of producers they have worked with when recording. Debut album, 'First Comes First' was recorded with indomitable Owen Morris of Oasis and Verve fame but new album, 'No Mundane Options' was recorded with the subversive hero Tony Doogan whose produced Mogwai and Super Fury Animals.: 'We had absolute extreme experiences recording the two albums, one was completely sober and the other one... wasn't. In time scales too, the first one too 2 weeks and this one took 2 months' says Marv. He continues 'Not one drop of alcohol passed our lips in the studio this time. Recording with a cocktail might seem a great idea at the time but when you sober up you realise it might not be as good as you thought it was, in fact it definitely wasn't'.

All this was part of the maturing process, which is so evident in the 'Paddingtons Mark II'. However, that's not to say they have lost all of their havoc-wreaking ways or all of that disarming charm. Cynicism and enthusiasm in equal parts, polite but cheeky and when together they are like a ball of chaotic energy. A promoter once described them as 'a breath of fresh air' even as they were busily carting about all round his venue, and it is this endearing quality that has helped them thrive along the way.

Josh reflects: 'There are a lot of people who we worked with since who have stayed with us even out of the contract and helped us. We recently pulled together a video shoot for the second single 'Hey You', which would have cost about £25000 but we managed it on a budget of about £500'. The video was to be set on a gypsy camp site but when they couldn't film on a real one, they made one in a field with items successfully begged and borrowed from across the community. Friends came and played extras and the family set-up a full on backstage. Rodger Sergeant, well-known photographer even made it all the way up to Hull to do a shoot, just because he believes in them.

This I think is the point of The Paddingtons, they are so unbelievably honest and real, and all in a world where those qualities no longer seem to exist. Grant announces 'To be honest I don't care where it goes in the charts or what some people think of it. As long as the people who like it, buy and we get to go and play gigs for them. And then go and do it again.'

Looking at that four-year-old London's Burning photo, not many of those bands survived and even fewer lived up to their potential. Back in the present day the dust may have settled but against all odds (and the cynics expectations) The Paddingtons are still standing and growing. With a new album, fresh ideas and that collective spark, don't be too surprised at their up-coming renaissance.

Hanna Lutkin (and occasional scribbles from Mike Reynolds)
Photography by Roger Sargent

www.thepaddingtons.net