Words with: The Paddingtons

When you meet a band who are nearing the end of an extensive tour and are also the current personal favourites of a Mr Pete Doherty, you would expect wild behaviour bordering on pandemonium. However, as Festivalwise is waiting to meet and interview Hull's band of the moment The Paddingtons, things don’t exactly live up to such expectations.

Observing the band sound check, they roar through an array of their own songs and cover the Sex Pistols' 'Anarchy In The UK'. So far so good, then. Watching the five members wander around Lincoln’s Quayside venue wearing the very finest in tramp-chic and shouting southern Yorkshire type rants at each other. All seems ok. Then, a two-hour wait begins as various members fall asleep, get changed, eat their fare of chicken and chips and yell such rock-worthy demands at waiting staff such as “Can we ‘ave some more condiments, please mate? English mustard, we need English mustard”. Ahem. 

After an incredibly drawn-out two hours waiting round for the band, when Festivalwise finally sits down with the three members of the group who could be bothered to do the interview we encounter a problem as we realise that all of their distinctive Hull brogues sound pretty much the same once recorded. They have a solution. Bassist Lloyd will adopt a cockney tone, singer Tom can be Irish and guitarist Josh will contrive an Egyptian accent. “What the fookin’ ’ell is Egyptian?” questions Lloyd, the most charming and talkative of the bunch. At this point we’re pretty damn pleased drummer Grant isn’t taking part as he’s wearing a foul green shirt adorned with horses - we honestly wouldn’t be able to take our eyes off it. 

Just three dates away from completing a mammoth 30-date tour of Britain, partly alongside Babyshambles and The Towers of London, they look tired and sound croaky but at least Lloyd is enthusiastic: “The tour has been splendid so far, we have had a really good time, most of the venues have sold out. It’s been the best tour we have done to date. Next week we have got a week off, our first in ages. I might spend it in Lincoln, depending on how mashed I get, I might get lost here”. We definitely wouldn’t recommend that. The ancient and steep streets of the city are not somewhere you would want to get lost or be in any state of intoxication.

The highlight for them so far, of both the tour and their career, has been playing the Brixton Academy in front of 4000 people. Recording their debut album with Owen Morris (producer of Oasis’ ‘Definitely Maybe’ and The Verve’s ‘A Northern Soul’ among many others) has been another: “When you are in a band all your life and that’s all you wanna do, and you get to actually do your first album properly in a good studio with a bit of money behind you, it’s amazing” says Lloyd.

The album, 'First Come First', is due out in August and has just been mastered after being recorded in Hastings. Lloyd enthuses: “People are probably expecting a shambolic, Libertines, indie-pindie sort of record, but it’s not. It is a heavy and hard rock n’ roll album. Owen pushes you to the fuckin’ darkest corners you can go to and works until five in the morning. We didn’t know where he was trying to take us but he is a fuckin’ genius.”

Being signed by Alan McGee to his Poptones label has been the making of them, a fact the band don’t shy away from: “Alan doesn’t fuck around with us, he saw what he liked and he only gets involved when we are doing something really wrong. He comes to our gigs and stuff and he likes what we are doing so he lets us get on with it” says Lloyd.

So has touring with Babyshambles been as debauched as we would all expect? “No comment” says Lloyd, wisely. We’ll take that as a yes then. “When people think of Babyshambles, they associate it with getting fooked but it’s not really about getting fooked, it’s about being with the people you are around. Obviously, any rock n’ roll band are gonna do that stuff but it strays from the point of what we are actually doing. We do have a knees-up though” he says with a cheeky grin.

As for Mr Doherty himself: “Pete is like a big brother to us, if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be sat here in front of you. Tom is really close to him” says Lloyd. Josh chips in saying “When we were asked to tour with him, it wasn’t really a big deal, he is just a mate. But what a band to tour with!” Tom, rake-thin and vagrant of hair and dress, brings a realistic view of his relationship with Pete “At the end of the day, he likes the band, he likes us as people and he has given us a chance”.

Incredibly, The Paddingtons have even managed to win over the “Pete fanatics” who aren’t usually bothered about support bands: “Most Babyshambles fans now know who we are ‘cos of Pete and ‘cos of touring with him” says a chuffed Lloyd. According to the band this is a fair analogy. As for their live shows, a notably excited Lloud proclaims: “When we play, it is an intense thing, we don’t pull any moves or owt. We are The Paddington’s, we play our songs loud and fast and when you watch us it is intense. It is like we have been force-fed amphetamines and forced inside a shoebox. After the show tonight you will feel like you have got a fookin’ Doc Martin boot inside your head”. He testifies he’s had punks who were around in the late 70’s tell him that they haven’t seen a gig as good as that since 1977. If this is the case, they must be doing something right.

As the music scene appears to be moving away from being London centric, The Paddington’s feel that this is a great chance for bands in other cities to get a chance: “Leeds is banging out at the moment, it never was, it was a rave town. We bypassed Leeds and went to London then got signed, but it’s great that other cities are getting noticed. Hull has got a scene now and A&R men are finally coming up to Hull“ says Lloyd. By now, Tom has wandered off and Josh is on the phone, presumably to another string-vested fan.

As a band, The Paddington’s are listening to The Cribs, Tom’s favourite band, The Rakes and Turismo another Hull band who happen to be supporting them later that evening. As for bands they hate, Kaiser Chiefs make Lloyd “a bit sick but they make good pop songs”, Oasis are “fookin not relevant” and The Bravery “piss me off”. He fails to elaborate why so we leave it at that.

The Paddington’s will be making their festival debut over the summer at Glastonbury, Leeds & Reading, T In The Park and Wireless. Lloyd has never been to a festival before “The rest of the band have all been but I was always skint so I am a festival virgin but I get to play there this year” says the ever amiable Lloyd, who then goes to find his snazzy red jacket and "get pissed". Really, we can hardly wait.