Patrick George Walden (b. Oct 5, 1978) is perhaps best known as the former guitarist for Babyshambles. Prior to joining Babyshambles, Walden belonged to a variety of London groups, among which were Fluid, with Manus Fraser on vocals, the Six Cold Thousand, and The White Sport. He played guitar for The White Sport alongside another future Babyshambles member, drummer Adam Ficek. Walden also worked as a live guitarist and as a session musician, playing bass and guitar for numerous recording artists. Among those acts were Whitey, James Blunt, 500 and Crave, Ed Laliq, and, very briefly, The Honeymoon.

Walden co-wrote a number of Babyshambles songs with Pete Doherty. One of them, "The Man Who Came To Stay," was released as the B-side to the Killamangiro single in November 2004. Other Doherty/Walden compositions include Top-10 single "Fuck Forever" and "Loyalty Song," "352 Days," "In Love With a Feeling," "Up the Morning," "Pipe Down," "32nd of December," and "8 Dead Boys." He co-wrote six of the sixteen tracks that made it onto Down In Albion, Babyshambles' debut album.

At Babyshambles' live shows, he usually performed using a Olympic White 1960 Fender Jazzmaster, with a 1985 Jazzmaster and a 90s American Stratocaster as backups. Often citing experimental guitarists like J Mascis, Thurston Moore and Jimi Hendrix as early influences, Patrick Walden's unusual playing style set Babyshambles apart from other bands in the East London music scene. It is reported that the foot pedals he used whilst in Babyshambles were; Boss CE-5, Boss GE-7, Boss DD-3, Boss TU-2, a Marshall Footswitch, an AB Switch and a Korg Tuner.

In December 2005, Patrick Walden left Babyshambles. The band continued to perform under the same name, but did not replace Walden with a different guitarist immediately. In the January 10, 2006, issue of NME, Patrick Walden's departure was officially announced.[1]

However, on January 23, 2006, Patrick turned up to play guitar for the Babyshambles at a gig in the Junction, Cambridge.[2] He returned once more to the band in February and played several of the gigs on that tour, but has not appeared with them onstage since.

Patrick was rumoured to have been playing at The Cheltenham Jazz Festival (27 April-2 May) as a special guest with Seb Rochford's band Fulborn Teversham, but cancelled the appearance.

A message was posted on The Official Libertines Forum [3] that stated (as of 8 May 2007) he has been 'clean' of heroin for six months, 'even off the methadone', and on June 30th he appeared onstage, for the first time in London since leaving Babyshambles, with the Rebecas at the Vice Magazine run venue, The Old Blue Last.

Walden appeared at the Rock Against Racism 30th Anniversary Show at the Hackney Empire on the 19th of July 2007. He played Babyshambles' classics with his old band mates Drew Mcconnell and Adam Ficek. The set list included "The Man Who came To Stay", "Up the Morning", "8 Dead Boys", "Pipedown" and "Fuck Forever"

External links

• Official Baby Shambles website
• Official White Sport website