Laura Kidd 💌 Penfriend

A very cute grey and black puppy wearing a green knitted jumper

What is your inner gremlin shouting RIGHT NOW?

penfriend.rocks/what-is-your...

YouTube video by Penfriend Not a wage: what YouTube actually pays me for 5000 subs

Are you nursing regrets over not starting your YouTube channel yet?

I talked through what I made in 5 years on the platform as a full-time music producer and solo artist, sharing all the numbers and talking about the creative side: youtu.be/CblLzEP7uCw?...

YouTube video by Penfriend Not a wage: what YouTube actually pays me for 5000 subs

Are you nursing regrets over not starting your YouTube channel yet?

I talked through what I made in 5 years on the platform as a full-time music producer and solo artist, sharing all the numbers and talking about the creative side: youtu.be/CblLzEP7uCw?...

It didn't feel simple or normal at that time, hence the lyrics!

YouTube video by Penfriend A week in my life as an independent artist / creator / record label owner VLOG

Just re-watching this cute and hopefully still helpful video from three years ago about how I run my online music making business: youtu.be/AgcWb5KEGaQ?...

I live in a different city, I have a fringe and my black dog is now grey but most of this is how I operate to this day.

YouTube video by Penfriend Obey Robots - Porcupine

I'm a porcupine youtu.be/U_jgPXdXKOs?...

It actually really was! I'm glad I pressed on and did it after it sat on my To Do Next list for about 3 years

I'm so glad you like it too! I filmed everything as well (to be edited later) and really dazzled myself with the beauty of that one!

Photo of fire vinyl

Photo of a KiTalbum

Photo of an album cover featuring a robot army

Photo of a vinyl effect CD

I finished something big just now!

I recently photographed all my vinyl, CDs and other merch to pretty up my online shop, and I just finished uploading everything and reorganising it.

It feels very nice to have this all looking sharp: shop.penfriend.rocks

I'm sorry for your loss, Robin x

Exporting a brand new song to share with my subscribers this weekend feels VERY GOOD!

I've been mostly offline since Christmas working on much-needed infrastructure stuff for my cottage industry music-making biz, but am still sharing a secret song on the first of every month.

Love to you x

I got the UGreen DXP4800. It's taking forever to transfer everything but that's because there's a lot of stuff!

Mine is backing up the aforementioned stack of hard drives, and is set to RAID 5 so everything feels a lot more secure now!

Eek! I'm hoping to reduce the amount of TB used over the next few months of working out how many duplicate files I've stashed away and deleting absolutely useless video files 🤣

22 years of creating videos, music and photos = approximately 30 TB of data dumped onto my new NAS from a pile of external drives.

The next phase of reorganising and paring down will take a while, but it feels SO MUCH better to have it in a safe(r) place.

Backup your important files today, friend!

This makes me SO happy, thank you xxx

Love every day x

Oo lovely! I wrote 1000 words before 11am and am now far less confused about what to do with the rest of my week :)

Haha, happily they are all available for you whenever you like :)

Thank you xxx

May We Be Loved / Disco Loadout (FREE Valentine's Song Pack), by Penfriend 6 track album

To celebrate this day of love from a different angle than the one we're so sick of used to, I've put together a special 6-song pack for you.

​🌹 Download it FREE / pay what you can here: penfriendrocks.bandcamp.com/album/may-we...

When we can't sleep
When the horror cuts deep
May we be loved
May we loved
❤️

YAYYYY thank you xo

Bundled with the double-A side singles are an instrumental version of "The Argonauts", a "Disco Loadout" demo and two commentary tracks from my "House Of Stories" Podumentary.

Whatever your day holds, I'm sending you my love.

Thank you for being here. I appreciate you.

LOVE,
Laura xxx

I wanted to make a song to play at the end of my imaginary set, to share my appreciation for the audience and send them off into the night with hope in their hearts. In 2025 I was fortunate enough to play it 12 times!

Were you there?

For this special Valentine's Day release I've also included the album closer "Disco Loadout".

I wrote this song on the Omnichord OM-108 in summer 2024, when I didn't know if I'd ever perform live in a room with people again.

The song addresses the misunderstood idea that “blood is thicker than water”: did you know the full quote is “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”?

"May We Be Loved" appears on my 2025 album "House Of Stories".

It's a love song for humanity, an offer of hope and a reminder that friendship and chosen family is just as – or more – valuable than blood ties.

May We Be Loved / Disco Loadout (FREE Valentine's Song Pack), by Penfriend 6 track album

To celebrate this day of love from a different angle than the one we're so sick of used to, I've put together a special 6-song pack for you.

​🌹 Download it FREE / pay what you can here: penfriendrocks.bandcamp.com/album/may-we...

In late 2019 I met up with Ayşe Hassan (Savages bassist) for a deep chat about touring the world, coming home to nothing and starting again with integrity.

The second EŞYA album is out next month and I’m v.excited about it!

Listen / read our chat at penfriend.rocks/ayse