D&D 5E Advice on a bard/warlock build

just ended HOTDQ (total TPK sadly...)
played half elf criminal bardlock 5/2.
took 3 levels of bard, then 2 levels of fwy lock and continued as bard.
notes: Fey is da bomb... you get fey presence which is an awsome panic button for you since you're not a front liner.
plus if you have SCAG, hirsam is the classic fey for bards who love foolishness...
you don't need spell sniper, too far, no one is fighting that far ahead.
go lore 3 levels, 2 leves of hirsam the great, agonizing and repelling and knock yourself off...
you can take as an additional cantrip Green Flame Blade if you have the scag and can also use the variant drow for drow spells which are nice to have.

one more thing, hex will be nice for a couple of levels, later on you'll need your concentration for more important stuff, and remember that you can't change your spells past 2 levels of warlock. so keep in mind...

and remember, EB is an awesome cantrip, but pretty boring...

I'm currently playing a Warlock 5 (Chain pact/Great Old One) / Bard 1 / Rogue 3 (Arcane Trickster). It's ridiculously fun.

Started as Rogue 1 for sneak attack and Expertise (Deception and Persuasion). Then Warlock 5, then Bard 1, then two more Rogue. That was me; if you're not interested in Rogue you can can get Expertise via Bard.

Being able to cast Cure Wounds (via Bard) as third level spells twice per short rest really helps extend the adventuring day. Adventure for a couple hours, rest for a couple hours, then adventure some more--fully healed, and with full spell slots.

The telepathy from Great Old One combos ridiculously with Chain Pact. You can send in your (invisible) Imp, see through his eyes, and thereby telepathically communicate with the target. With the Actor feat to give Advantage to Deception checks when impersonating someone, and Expertise in Deception, I've successfully impersonated gods and ghosts, spoofed Sending spells, and caused all sorts of mayhem. The Invocation that gives you at-will Disguise Self is mandatory; you're a telepathic Ethan Hunt.

If you go Lore bard, the Additional Magical Secrets give you some scary options for use with your quick-refreshing Warlock slots. Especially if you consider spells that can be delivered via touch or "at a target you can see", since those can be channeled through your Improved Familiar.

Anyway: Bard/Warlock is a natural pairing, and a lot of fun.

I'm playing a lvl 5 Fiend pact Tomelock now and am most likely going to go Bard from here on out.

Some context, since I think it's important:
- Everybody else in the campaign is lvl 5
- Other PC's are Battlemaster Fighter, Life Cleric, and another Warlock (Great Old One Tomelock, who plans to go sorcerer)

With that party mix, my character fell into the role of (in this order)
a) Long-range striker, due to Agonizing blast + Hex
b) party face*
c) melee fighter (he has Shillelagh, Green-Flame Blade, Darkness, and Devil's Sight)

*Mechanically, the other warlock in the party could be a good party face, but it's not inline with his roleplay/backstory

Originally, I didn't think I'd bother multiclassing but found that I'm not able to cast as many spells as I'd like. I understand my-ahem-two spells recharge on a short rest but I don't want to wait until lvl 11 to be able to cast a third spell before resting.

I could've branched off earlier, but I wanted the third invocation and being so close to 3rd-level spellslots was pretty compelling.

If all you want to do with your warlock levels is get a solid ranged attack going, I think people are right you only need two levels. From experience, I didn't/don't mind playing a Warlock in levels 3-5. I was especially happy to play until lvl 3 when I got the Book of Shadows (e.g, Pact of the Tome boon) because that's when I picked up Shillelagh and Green-Flame Blade. There's a ton of good cantrips if you can wait the extra level.