Interview With The Paddingtons (1/7) By Joe Hakim Photos By Ray Ribeiro and The Paddingtons at The Adelphi By Darren Rogers

(1/7), (2/7), (3/7), (4/7), (5/7), (6/7), (7/7).

Photograph Gallery   The Paddingtons Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3,    Gallery 4,    Gallery 5.

I've had to bite the bullet and start working again. It has to be done, and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, starting any new job means starting at the bottom again, which is a good method for keeping the ego in check. Secondly, it brings cash back into your life, which after nearly two months of bumming off people is a welcome relief. You can only live on luck alone for so long; take the piss and you burn it all up. Despite everything, like a masochist returning for a repeat whipping, I've chosen to return to working with the public again. I'm pulling pints for a living now, something I've never done before. I've worked around piss heads many times before, but I've never been the one serving them drinks.

Being a piss head myself, the last couple of years have taught me a harsh lesson: no matter how charming, witty and handsome you may think you are, you're always an ugly twat with smelly breath anyone who's sober when you're pissed. No exceptions. Still, it hasn't put me off getting pissed - quite the opposite in fact - because the false sense of self also happens to be the reason why you get pissed. Anyway, this job keeps me ticking over, and as a bonus, I see a lot of people that I need to see in order to keep my other life going - this life, the one I spend in front of a keyboard typing crazy-arse shit ...

Some Kinda Intro ...

October is a massive month for The Paddingtons. Their album, First Comes First, gets released on October 31st, preceded by the single Sorry - an absolute fuckin' classic - on the 18th (More on that later, the review's coming next week). I became a fan earlier this year when I attended the signing for their single Panic Attack at HMV on Whitefriargate . I have to admit that I'm one cynical motherfucker, no doubt due in part to the fact that I'd spent the last three years of my life working nights, and the music scene in Hull - like nearly everything else other than the turn of a card or the bounce of a ball - had passed me by.

One of my flat-mates at the time was this guy from Leeds. We were into the same kinda music, and he kept asking me about The Paddingtons, and even though I'd heard of them. I'd never seen them play or heard their music. Anyway, I'd just quit my job around this time, and I wanted to check out all the stuff that was going on in Hull, especially the music, so me, my girlfriend, my mate from Leeds and his girlfriend decided to go and see The Paddingtons play at this signing. It was the beginning of the year - this took place before the events of July - and everyone seemed to be gearing up to enjoy the onset of summer.

We had a few beers at the Quayside and then we went to see The Paddingtons play their set. I turned up expecting them to be playing somewhere in the back of the store, so the articulated lorry backing up past Anne Summers came as a bit of a surprise. The indie kids were all out in force. All the young lasses, all the young lads and all the ones in between - all skinny jeans and raggy shirts, long fringes and all the beginnings of a scene, and then someone unhooked the cover at the side of the truck and The Paddingtons began to play.

Continued ...next page

Check the thisisUll.com Gallery Photographs courtsey and Copyright ©  Ray Ribeiro and Darren Rogers 2005

Photograph Gallery   The Paddingtons Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3,    Gallery 4,    Gallery 5.

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