Penfriend's Letterbox

View the show notes at http://penfriend.rocks/tom

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Born in Cambridge in 1950, Tom Robinson first became known in the late 1970s as a musician and LGBT activist with the Tom Robinson Band (TRB) who were early supporters of Rock Against Racism and Amnesty International. In 1977 their Top 5 debut release “2-4-6-8 Motorway” became one of the landmark singles of the UK punk era.

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Other hits included “Glad To Be Gay”, “Up Against The Wall” and the band’s debut album “Power In The Darkness” which went gold in the UK and Japan. As a solo artist Tom had further solo hits in 1983 with “War Baby” and “Atmospherics: Listen To The Radio”, and co-wrote songs with Peter Gabriel, Elton John and Dan Hartman.

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As a radio broadcaster, over the last 30 years Tom has hosted programmes on all eight of the BBC‘s national radio stations and won two Gold Sony Academy Radio Awards. He currently hosts three shows a week on BBC Radio 6 Music, was a member of the Ivor Novello Awards committee for ten years and in 2016 was awarded a fellowship of LIPA in recognition of his support for new music artists through BBC Introducing. His music blog at Fresh On The Net currently offers an open door to new tunes and free insider advice for independent and emerging musicians.

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This podcast is supported by Arts Council England and The National Lottery and powered by my Correspondent’s Club http://penfriend.rocks

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Thank you for listening!

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View the show notes at http://penfriend.rocks/charlotte

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Charlotte Hatherley is a composer, solo artist, and guitarist who initially came to prominence as guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Ash. After leaving Ash in 2006, she recorded and performed extensively with artists including Bryan Ferry, Bat For Lashes, KT Tunstall and Birdy. Most recently Charlotte has toured as musical director for critically acclaimed South African artist, Nakhane. A truly versatile artist, she has written for film and stage and inspired by her love of science fiction, her fourth solo album, True Love, was released in 2018. Her soundtrack for the powerful film ‘Imogen' was released in May 2020. 

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This podcast is supported by Arts Council England and The National Lottery and powered by my Correspondent’s Club http://penfriend.rocks

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Thank you for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Read the lovingly collated show notes, see the Post-it message Frank' wrote for you and get all his lockdown news at http://penfriend.rocks/frank

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Frank Turner is an English punk folk songwriter from Hampshire. Starting his career in post-hardcore band Million Dead, he went solo in 2005 and has built an extensive and incredibly loyal fanbase through brilliant songwriting and sheer hard work. This conversation was recorded backstage at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre on Saturday 14th March, in the uncertain days leading up to the government's unprecedented closure of venues, theatres, pubs and restaurants on 20th March.

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This podcast is supported by Arts Council England and The National Lottery and powered by my Correspondent’s Club http://penfriend.rocks

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Thank you for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ayşe Hassan is a multi-instrumentalist who first came to prominence as the bassist in rock band Savages. She has since made music in duos Kitebase and 180DB. She’s currently focusing on her solo project EŞYA – www.esya.bandcamp.com

View the deluxe show notes and human-edited transcript at http://penfriend.rocks/ayse

In this episode, we discuss how a HMV combo deal and a terrible audition kicked off an exciting career as a bassist, how to write a book on a tour bus, and what to do when touring for 7 years means coming home to nothing.

I'm Laura Kidd, an independent music producer, songwriter and visual artist based in Nottingham, UK, making music as Penfriend (formerly She Makes War and Obey Robots).

Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page zine from http://penfriend.rocks

View the lovingly collated show notes on this special page and listen to Mark and I singing together http://penfriend.rocks/mark

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Mark Chadwick is a singer, songwriter and guitarist in British folk rock band The Levellers. Formed in 1988, they take their name from The Levellers political movement, and have released 11 studio albums. Mark has also released two excellent solo albums.

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This podcast is supported by Arts Council England and The National Lottery and powered by my Correspondent’s Club http://penfriend.rocks

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Thank you for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tanya Donelly is a two time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, founding member of three influential bands of the post-punk era (Belly, Throwing Muses, Breeders), and solo artist.

This conversation was published on 3rd June 2020.

We discuss what it was like being in a wildly successful band as a teenager, supporting REM and The Velvet Underground; how she got “that future feeling” when Radiohead supported Belly; how her relationship with fans has deepened in recent years (shoutout to the Shimmer community!; and practical self education for artists, and the power of DIY.

I'm Laura Kidd, an independent music producer, songwriter and visual artist based in Nottingham, UK, making music as Penfriend (formerly She Makes War and Obey Robots). Get my FREE 12-track album + 31-page zine http://penfriend.rocks/hello

WTF is an attention engineer, and what does that have to do with this podcast, anyway?