Tell us about yourself.

Simon Collison: I’m Simon Collison, and I live in Nottingham. I’m Lead Web Developer at Agenzia Ltd. I launched my blog Colly Logic (built with ExpressionEngine!) in May 2004.

Aside from all the XHTML, CSS and CMS stuff I earn a living doing, I also write about such matters for Friends Of ED and I sometimes review CSS-based websites for Stylegala. I do a bit of public speaking here and there, and will generally do anything for a biscuit and cup of tea.

I’m 32, have adopted a cat called Ziggy, have been adopted by a wonderfully tolerant girl called Emma.

Recent high-profile work includes the official Dirty Pretty Things website, Poptones, Jon Burgerman’s new site, Black Convoy’s site and the comprehensive Project Facade. Other clients include Creation Management, Vertigo, Universal Music, East Midlands Development Agency, Nottingham City Council and many, many community/voluntary sector organisations.

Tell us about about the site.

Simon Collison: Dirty Pretty Things were formed in late 2005 by Carl Barat, one half of that great British rock n’ roll band The Libertines (whose site we also built with ExpressionEngine v1.1 ages ago). The band sold out their UK tour in twenty minutes, and are all over UK radio right now. Their album is out in early May, and is expected to be Number One. many are saying they are better than The Libertines ever were.

The site features news, discography, downloads, diaries, forums and much more - all powered by ExpressionEngine weblogs. The members section allows fans to upload artwork, photos, reviews and wallpaper.

In the UK, there is a growing belief that the internet is re-shaping how the public think about music, interact with bands, and this informs their buying. Our Libertines site from 2004 was credited by some as the start of a new way of representing bands on the internet, with forums and band/fan/administrator dialogue encouraged and nurtured to make fans feel more welcome - all of this leading up to the incredible role the internet played in launching the Arctic Monkeys in the UK in 2005.

Why did you go with ExpressionEngine?

Simon Collison: I almost always use ExpressionEngine as for us there is no sensible reason to use anything else. I have used ExpressionEngine for perhaps twenty major websites over the last two years, and trust it completely. The number one features has to be the flexible data modeling, combining weblogs with custom fields, statuses and categories.

Other reasons include the wealth of member options that can be configured (perfect for establishing great rewards for a band’s fans), and in terms of a client budget, the commercial license is extremely affordable.

For us, we know that nothing is impossible with ExpressionEngine. It took a little getting used to at first, but with continued use, regular updates from the ExpressionEngine team, and patience, we suddenly “got it”! We now start every single job with optimism and excitement, knowing how many great methods we have to choose from to get the job done.

Are you using any ExpressionEngine Plugins or Modules?

Simon Collison: Despite the very ambitious functionality of this build, we aren’t using as many plugins as we usually do. The obvious thing to mention is that we are using the ExpressionEngine Discussion Forum module for Dirty Pretty Things. We have used the forum module a few times before, but I was nervous about using it for such a huge band. However, it currently has over 25,000 members hammering it every day, and it is coping admirably. It’s fast, does not drain the server, and has really impressed the record company who are used to insecure, poorly built PHP boards.

We are also making good use of the Gallery module of course, and have also utilized Stand Alone Entry Forms for all member uploads.

The only plugin in use on this site is the extract_url plugin, which is used to extract the image file location from member-submitted photos and wallpaper and place it inside a custom img element, as they almost always ignore the rules.