#the paddingtons

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The internet played a key role in making the UK indie scene sustainable, but this was pre-social media, if the NME wasn’t talking about it, you wouldn’t know about anything that was going on beyond your doorstep unless you went on the band forums which built communities of like-minded people. These weren’t exclusively for the London bands, but it was that scene that really benefited from them.

They were a space where bands could share their music to an audience who liked bands similar to theirs, for free. The Others, The Paddingtons and The Cribs used their own forums and each other bands’ forums to not only advertise gigs but book gigs too. Arctic Monkeys recognised this as part of their early success (despite not doing it themselves) but it only worked for them because of the quality of the music. Success requires both luck and skill, without the skill it just becomes a trend that won’t last, Arctic Monkeys outlasted everybody because they were better than everybody.

Ask anybody who was part of the 2000’s indie scene about .org (The Libertines fan forum), they were probably on it. It was legendary and it built a community amongst fans but it was more than just a fan club. 

The band themselves used the forum to engage with fans, often jumping in on conversations, uploading demos (people would burn them on CDs and sell on eBay) and announce last-minute gigs. The forum was also used by other bands in the scene to connect with like-minded people and build a fan base. If something exciting was happening in London, details would be on .org. 

Zac Stephenson (Special Needs) “We used to post our news on .org and some other fan forums. It was great because there was a pretty large gig-going community on there and it was easy to reach them quickly and at no cost to the bands. And there was a lot of exchange of fans, particularly as bands shared line-ups.” 

Tom Greatorex (Black Wire) “There is no way anyone can ever talk down the importance of online message boards from 2002 - 2006. Every website that had anything to do with music had one: club nights had one, bands had one, cities and towns had one and they were integral in constructing this amazing network of people. 

There's nothing new about any of it, fanzines and letters pages in music mags had been doing it for decades but this was instant. Two extremely important factors that fed into this came a couple of years beforehand: Napster and the roll-out and prevalence of what was then called Pay-As-You-Go mobile phones.  

All of a sudden young people had access to music and sounds which would have most likely passed them by previously, maybe through lack of funds or maybe due to a geographical remoteness, via Napster. You could take a punt on an artist without losing your pocket money. 

Pay-As-You-Go made it affordable to be in direct contact with your friends which made meeting up for gigs much easier. It also meant that if you organised events/gigs you could make last-minute bookings and alterations at the drop of a hat. 

What these two cultural changes cultivated was a sense of immediacy and so when the internet really became a household tool around 2001 (mainly thanks to AOL carpet-bombing the UK with free installation disks through the post allowing easy dial-up access to people who may previously have still thought the Information Superhighway was just for nerds. Once people found out how much porn they could access any other war was lost) these kids were already primed with the knowledge of how to use it and where it should go. 

In fact they were so on it that almost a quarter of a century later the music industry still doesn't know what its own role is. 

Black Wire booked our first tour using message boards. We didn't know any promoters outside of Leeds so we hit people up on forums. The brilliant thing was that all the promoters used the same message boards so they could all coordinate with each other directly, in real-time, what would be the best dates for the gigs to happen.  

'Playing a gig in Bath on the Friday? Ok, the promoter for the Cardiff gig is going to pick you up afterwards and drive you to their friend's flat where you can stay for the night so you're in town for your show on the Saturday' (This is just one example of something that actually happened because of forums). 

For that first tour we pooled together our dole money for train tickets to the first gig and then used the fees from each subsequent gig to pay for train tickets to the next. 

It's called DIY that is. Punk Rock. Make a note of it. LOLzzz.” 

Paul Melbourne “I don't actually know I discovered .org, I was just always on it from as soon as I'd first heard about The Libertines, and that was as much a part of it all as the actual band. It was where you would go to chat music, gigs and new bands with like-minded kids across the country. It just harboured that real sense of community amongst like minded folk. There was no bullshit or pretension, just people who liked the same music travelling the country meeting up for gigs and getting wasted! 

Pete was the only Libertine I remember contributing, I think Carl posted from time to time but after things got messy with Libs Pete would regularly be on there posting about all the tiny gigs we has doing, tenners on the door! 

That community spawned many lifelong friendships! At the time that was where I discovered The Others who were notorious on the scene at the time and they really carried on the whole community and made their own. All of the Poptones bands were part of .org and bands like Special Needs, 10,000 Things (one of the most underrated bands of that time), Ludes, Dustin's Bar Mitzvah and Les Incompetents. 

I have made so many lifelong friends through .org, and indirectly met my wife through there, we met through mutual friend Alan Jewels, who we both met through going to gigs with .org'ers. I went to uni in Notingham and we would regularly find out about gigs on .org and travel down to London and to other cities, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and meet up with .org'ers there. Also many gigs at Stoke Underground! An unlikely place to go but for Pete making it a bit of a second home for a time! I met one of my best mates Delaney (delaney girl) on there and all of her mates who are some of my best mates to this day!” 

Tom Atkin “.org was massive for The Paddingtons.” 

Each band had its own forum and online community too, The Others, The Cribs, Bloc Party and The Rakes were all pretty active, it was tribal and it brought fans from across the world, which was never so easy in pre-internet days but is normalised in the social media era.  

Bill Ryder-Jones “I was aware of The Coral forum and engaged with that a bit but ultimately we belonged to a time where fans had to go looking for info on their bands.” 

Whatever you had an interest in, however niche, it was now easily accessible to find others to connect with. Music blogs had started to build up a following, each had its own core group who went there for the latest news, reviews and opinions. We take this for granted these days.

The Paddingtons - 21/Some Old Girl

UK Single - 2005

The Paddingtons - Sorry

UK 7'' Vinyl 1 - 2005

01. Sorry [Stephen Street Edit] 02. Mr. Crackers

UK 7'' Vinyl 2 - 2005

01. Sorry [Stephen Street Edit] 02. Claire My Dear

UK Single - 2005

01. Sorry [Stephen Street Edit] 02. All Alone [Demo Version]

iTunes UK Single (King Biscuit Time Remix) - 2005

The Paddingtons - 50 To A £

UK 7'' Vinyl 1 - 2005

01. 50 To A £ 02. Kiss 'N' Let Go

UK 7'' Vinyl 2 - 2005

01. 50 To A £ 02. Against You Me

UK Single - 2005

01. 50 To A £ 02. No Time

iTunes UK Single - 2005

Tom Atkin - Honey Brain

iTunes UK Single - 2021