She Makes War
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Laura Kidd is a record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist releasing music and podcast episodes as Penfriend, and formerly known as She Makes War. After releasing four full length albums between 2010 and 2018, She Makes War was formally disbanded in December 2019, and she launched new music project Penfriend in May 2020, with accompanying weekly podcast series ''Attention Engineer''. Her collaboration project with Rat (
Ned's Atomic Dustbin Ned's Atomic Dustbin are an English rock band formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in November 1987. The band took their name from an episode of radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show''. The band is unusual for using two bass-players in their ...
), Obey Robots, launched in December 2020.


Penfriend

Multi-disciplinary solo project Penfriend launched on 1 May 2020 with an invitation to join ''The Correspondent's Club'', Kidd's handmade member's club set up to provide an online space for music fans. In May 2021, Kidd released her first record as Penfriend. Exotic Monsters reached #24 in Official UK album chart and #5 in the independent chart.


''Attention Engineer'' podcast

Kidd's podcast series on creativity, grit and determination launched on 3 June 2020, featuring conversations with other artists, musical and otherwise. Described as "a lovely listen...As a musician herself, Kidd...talks with insight and warmth...but these are not the back-slapping all-slebs-together podcasts that we’ve become used to" (The Observer). Guests include Tanya Donelly (Belly / The Breeders) and Mark Chadwick (Levellers), who appeared as guest vocalists on Kidd's third She Makes War album, "Direction Of Travel", plus Ayse Hassan ( Savages), Frank Turner, Charlotte Hatherley, Bernard Butler, Corin Tucker,
Robin Ince Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English comedian, actor and writer, known for presenting the BBC radio show ''The Infinite Monkey Cage'' with physicist Brian Cox (physicist), Brian Cox, and his stand-up comedy career. Education After ...
,
Lou Barlow Louis Knox Barlow (born July 17, 1966) is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion, Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock mus ...
, Shingai and more.


She Makes War

Launched in 2009 with the release of EP "Three...Two...One", She Makes War was Kidd's first solo project. Her fourth album, ''Brace For Impact'', was released in October 2018 and secured a no. 15 UK Independent Albums Chart placement on 12 October 2018. She has released three previous albums ''Disarm'' (2010), ''Little Battles'' (2012) and ''Direction Of Travel'' (2016). The project finished with the release of ''And Peace'' in 2019, intimate re-recordings of eight tracks spanning all four albums. She Makes War's indie rock sound combined
grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
riffs with orchestral soundscapes. John Robb described Kidd in 2011 as "a modern musical Boudica", and Will Butler wrote in 2015 that she possessed "The emotional resonance of Elliott Smith colliding with the barbed vigour of Sleater-Kinney" (Gigwise). In 2015, She Makes War released ''Disarm: 15'' an EP of "tender reworking of songs" from the first album. She Makes War's first two albums ''Disarm'' (2010) and ''Little Battles'' (2012), share stories from the personal to the political, dealing with matters of love, loss, birth, therapy, murder, abandonment, and hope. In 2016, She Makes War's third album ''Direction of Travel'' featured guest appearances from Tanya Donelly and Mark Chadwick. Kidd played most of the instruments herself, with guests including Clive Deamer and Andy Sutor on drums,
The McCarricks The McCarricks are the husband and wife band of Martin McCarrick on cello and Kimberlee McCarrick on violin. they have collaborated widely, including Kristin Hersh, Sinéad O'Connor, Gary Numan, Marianne Faithfull and Patti Smith's ''Meltdown'' c ...
and Nicole Robson on strings, and Cajita on piano. The album was produced by Kidd and mixed by Dan Austin ( Doves/ Pixies). Tanya Donelly's (
Breeders A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, ...
, Throwing Muses,
Belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, cent ...
), guest appearance on the song 'Paper Thin' was described as "the perfect augmentation to Laura’s beautiful lyrics". Tanya Donelly also features in the music video for the song. Kidd ended the She Makes War project in 2019, citing a desire to “keep putting out the most honest, thoughtful and brave music I have inside me long into the future”


Touring

As She Makes War, Kidd toured extensively in the UK and Europe both as a solo act and with a full band. She also supported Suede,
The Levellers The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its popul ...
, British Sea Power,
Ginger Wildheart Ginger Wildheart (born David Leslie Walls; 17 December 1964 in South Shields, England), sometimes known simply as Ginger, is an English rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career as a guitarist in The Quireboys, bu ...
, Tune-Yards,
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, The Magic Numbers,
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,
Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...
,
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, Glen Matlock and Earl Slick, Nadine Shah, Erica Nockalls and
Miles Hunt Miles Stephen Hunt (born 29 July 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He fronts the alternative rock band The Wonder Stuff. Early life His father was a union official for the TGWU. In the 1970s, his father was based at Derby, an ...
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Chris Helme Christopher Alan Helme (born 22 July 1971 in Howden, Yorkshire) is an English singer-songwriter, formerly the frontman of John Squire's post-Stone Roses band The Seahorses. History Early days (1990–1996) Helme began singing and performing a ...
, Drugstore and The Posies. Kidd has also toured, providing bass and vocals, for artists including Tricky,
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Lil' Chris Christopher James Hardman (26 August 1990 – 23 March 2015), known by the stage name Lil' Chris, was a British singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality from Lowestoft, England. He came to prominence in 2006 after appearing on the ...
,
The Penelopes The Penelopes (or ) are a French indie pop/Electronic music, electronic band from Paris, consisting of Axel Basquiat and Vincent T. They have recently relocated to London. Though the band is a duo (Axel being the composer, singer and bass player ...
, The Young Punx and
Alex Parks Alexandra Rebecca Parks (born 26 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter. Parks was entered into the BBC Television programme, ''Fame Academy'' by her father. It was a show that she went on to win. Soon after winning ''Fame Academy'', she re ...
.


Other projects

In 2015, Kidd wrote and performed one-woman show ''Shit Girlfriend'' at Edinburgh Fringe, combining humorous spoken word and melancholy music performance, sharing tales of real life on the road and Kidd's ill-fated attempts at finding love along the way. Her show was described by '' The List'' as 'a charming hour of biographical storytelling and music…perfectly executed acoustic gems'


Discography


Albums

;Obey Robots * ''One In A Thousand'', 2023 (#14 Official UK Chart) ;Penfriend * ''Exotic Monsters'', 2021 (#24 Official UK Chart) ;She Makes War * ''Disarm'', 2010 * ''Little Battles'', 2012 * ''Direction of Travel'', 2016 * ''Brace for Impact'', 2018 * ''And Peace'', 2019


EPs

* ''Three...Two...One..'', 2009 * ''Disarm: The Live EP'', 2010 * ''The Butterflies Audiovisual EP'', 2013 * ''Disarm: 15 EP'', 2015


Singles

;She Makes War *"Let This Be", 2010 *"I Am", 2010 *"In This Boat", 2012 *"Minefields", 2012 *"Never Was", 2013 *"Drown Me Out", 2016 *"Paper Thin", 2016 *"Cold Shoulder", 2016 *"Stargazing", 2016 *"I Want My Country Back", 2017 *"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", 2018 *"Devastate Me", 2018 *"Undone \ London Bites", 2018 ;Penfriend *"Everything Looks Normal In The Sunshine", 2020 *”The Only Way Out Is Through”, 2020 *”Exotic Monsters”, 2021 *”Cancel Your Hopes”, 2021 *”Black Car”, 2021 ;Obey Robots *"Let It Snow", 2020


References


External links


Penfriend HQ

She Makes War
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kidd, Laura British indie rock musicians English pop musicians English house musicians English women songwriters English record producers Musicians from London Musicians from Bristol