Should babyshambles of kept pat walden

[Mike roberts]

What do you think? should they have kept him if it was my choice he would of stayed he was a brilliant guitarist

[LewiMondal]

Unfortunately, Pat Walden, an extremely talented and unique guitarist, who i place up there with the best of British, was compelled to leave, not of his own accord but because the last place he wanted to be was around Babyshambles, more significantly because of his own quest to get off drugs.

If it was Babyshambles choice they would have kept him undoubtedly due to his unique style and diverse talent, being Jazz trained and all

Pat being one of my favourite guitarists, and my reckoning of Mik Whitnall being a total let down would urge me to say that YES! Babyshambles should have tried harder to keep Walden :D

[parfait amour]

Pat is part of a perfect line up-when they played on Jools Holland the band seemed 'right'.

Now....pfftt

[Coco Néon]

For the sake of his own health, no he was right to leave.

[the end]

From a purely musical point of view I'd love to see Pat back in the band but I think health wise he was definately right to leave. I'd rather see him clean and well and playing with Big Dave than smacked off his tits with Shambles. Hopefully one day Pat will feel he's able to work with Shambles again, but I don't see it being anytime soon tbh.

[annabelle]

Pat is an amazing guitarist. For babyshambles, it would be good to have him.Mik is a nice guy but not really a lead guitarist. Pat is now happy with Big Dave' projects and new album and also has bitter thoughts towards Babyshambles so it's certainly better for him to stay away and to do his own carrier.

[loveyoubutyouregreen]

I'm glad he left in a way, cos it certainly helped him get clean which i doubt he would have with shambles. I do think he was a better guitarist but all this Mik vs. Pat crap is just annoying really cos i dont think its really fair to Mik, constantly comparing him to a former member (though he probably doesnt give a shit, who knows)

[Steph]

When Babyshambles started out with Pat they were brilliant. Have a look at the first videos for Killimangiro - Pat is nearly centre stage all the time. As time goes on though he drifts stage left for performances and barely moves. That's cause he was completely drugged out most of the time, and was selling his favourite guitars to get money for crack and smack. When I set up the Pat Walden fan site I had a lot of correspondence from people who had played with Pat in one band or another and continued to be concerned for him. Although he's only a young guy, by the time he was 22 he'd already developed a reputation for his guitar brilliance and a huge appetite for crack and smack. He would invariably to one or two amazing recordings with these bands, then disappear because he couldn't handle his high.

He was brilliant with Babyshambles at the beginning and he's headed that way with Big Dave now. It was Mik who didn't want him back in the band. Adam and Drew say they'd love him with Shambles again.

But Pete's still tripping out on bottom feeder junk and that's just the kind of company Pat doesn't need to keep.

When Pete cleans up, maybe that will be time for Pat to work with him again.

It is really nice though that Pat is remembered with so much affection for his work with Babyshambles.

xx

[parfait amour]

Having watched Reading again, the answer is even more yes than ever.

[Steph]

Have to agree Babyshambles would be a whole lot better with Patrick, as straight as he is these days.

[parfait amour]

On your rec. before watched the early Killiamangiro vids with Pat.
Oh lordy, that was some incredible stuff right there ;)

[Steph]

Yeah, those early videos are fantastic. I love it when the band bows at the Radio One (I think) performance. And the first TV performance, with the rose in Pat's guitar neck, is fairly spectacular too, but I think it has been cut and edited, cause that rose appears and disappears and appears....lol.

Pat still makes great moves on stage these days...just somewhat of a larger figure on stage now!

[neeshambles]

I remember the last time I saw Pat in the band, he collasped on stage, it was rather sad but at least there was a happy ending.