13 Songs – 12

Medway Wheelers – The Buff Medways

To be fair if I was choosing my favourite tunes (and not just 13 songs to write about) I could have very easily chosen 13 songs just from the Medway towns. Any one of the following bands could have barged their way into this Baker’s Dozen (making it a Barker’s Dozen perhaps?): The Prisoners, The Solarflares, The Prime Movers, The Daggermen, Thee Headcoatees, Thee Headcoats, CTMF, Musicians of the British Empire, The Len Price3, The Galileo 7, The Milkshakes, JTQ, Theatre Royal, The Long Weekend, The Pop Rivets, The Masonics, The Wildebeests, The Chatham Singers, William Loveday Intention, Graham Day & The Gaolers, The Dentists, Planet, Thee Mighty Caesars, Holly Golightly, Billy Childish, Groovy Uncle, The Delmonas etc etc.

However, I settled on The Buff Medways and this track in particular because near the end of his life my Dad surprised me by saying, apropos of me mentioning this track, that he used to be in The Buff Medways. I was surprised, to say the least. I didn’t have him down as being a member of Billy Childish’s Mod/Punk combo. It was only when I repeated his claim that he stared at me with his black eyes smiling and said, “No, the Medway Wheelers”! He had indeed ridden with them after the war and when he passed on I even found a club pin badge to underline the point. 

Anyway, the thought of him thrashing away in the background in a Townsendesque fashion tickles me to this day. The song itself is a fantastic example of Childish’s innate ability to conjure up a time/place lyrically and musically juxtaposed but at the same time, so fundamentally right. His songs just fit! The notion of some sort of wilful amateurism is not borne out by the end result.

Medway Wheelers… Len Ganley… Clovelly… a cuppa tea…

Medway Man

The restless and relentless nature of the way Billy Childish seems to produce his work is something that inspires and challenges me at the same time. I'm a fan of his poetry, music & his painting. He is a compelling presence. 

He turns over different pebbles on the same beach as me. His life living in the Medway towns throws up some stark images (or more honestly dark memories) of similar experiences. 

He is neither innocent or guilty. He is Billy Childish (amongst other names). 

Today is his birthday. 

Best wishes.

Photo by Anna Huix/Contour by Getty Images

Hero of the British Art Resistance

Billy Childish formed the "non organisation" The British Art Resistance in 2008. An exhibition was held under the title Hero of The British Art Resistance at The Aquarium L-13 gallery in London. It featured a  collection of paintings, books, records, pamphlets, poems, prints, letters, film, photographs made that year.

The recent sad loss of Andrew Weatherall (Jan 2020) led me to seek out interviews featuring the 'reluctant superstar DJ' and all round top chap. I was delighted to see in one interview that he was wearing a 'Hero of The British Art Resistance' pin. A fact that reassured me of his credentials as a champion of the under-achievers of the world. 

Apart from being a DJ, musician, remixer, record label owner, fan of A Certain Ratio and artist - he was a gentlemen in the truest sense of the word. Courteous, generous and wore a fine suit on occasion...

His succinct mantra seems perfect for a world packed full of pomposity and stupidity:

"If you're not on the margins, you're taking up too much room”

Strings of Desire - #10

The Billy Childish Cadillac

It was whilst I was writing a blog post a couple or so years ago for 'The things that I miss etc...' that I pondered the availability of the most amazing guitar I'd ever seen. I've been a fan of the works of Billy Childish and his vast plethora of bands for a many a year and I became aware (specifically around the time of The Buff Medways) of an amazing red guitar that Billy would attack with unadulterated abandon. It looked like a cross between the sort of guitar that Bo Diddley championed and a 1950's futuristic space car. 

I had previously assumed that it was an old discontinued vintage number and I didn't even bother to really start looking. However, after a particularly wild night blasting out The Buffs on my Dansette, I decided to at least find out the name of it. 

It was of course - The Billy Childish Cadillac.

It transpired that whilst it was modelled on a couple of old guitars that apparently the body shape is loosely inspired by a photo on the back of a Bo Diddley album, the headstock shape came from an old Vox guitar Billy had lying around at the time. The body is covered in red leatherette with a white piping side trim. The effect is stunning. When combined with its lightweight, thin solid body the growling P-90's sound complimented by fantastic tremolo - it is truly a great guitar to play and to look at. 

Who makes such a fantastic instrument? Well, Fabian of Fab Guitars makes them, just across the channel in Oostende Belgium. A lovely guy, who makes beautiful guitars that sound as good as they look. Check them out here Fab Guitars - By the way, Fabian is only making 13 Cadillacs and a fair few of them have gone already...

I was looking for a job and then... #2

My email inbox is bursting with a thousand jobs, none of which are in the slightest bit suitable or relevant. But I suppose it is good to know that there are jobs for other people out there.

The sun has shone for most of today and despite the slight chill that accompanies these dry Sydney winter days, overall it is very pleasant. I scan the bookshelves in front of me, wondering when I will have to start selling off some of the rarer editions I have managed to collect during the years. I'm working backwards, deciding on which one will be the last to survive. I suspect it'll be either the limited edition Bukowski or the ltd edition Billy Childish.

Of the older more regular books, I'll be pulled between either The Outsider or A Happy Death. Camus has always been a touchstone for me and I already feel comforted by the knowledge that he'll be with me until the end. As for music, well most of the stuff I know own is MP3 but of the vinyl, goodness knows what I'll keep. I've already had the horrendous experience of losing my treasured box of 7" singles (including a signed Tin Soldier picture sleeve) back in 1990. I won't be able to do a runner with a bin bag and a couple of adidas holdalls this time. But, who know by the time this train reaches the end of the track I might have jettisoned enough crap...

I keep glancing enviously at the drinks cabinet, wondering how long I'll give the two bottles of Jameson a wide berth. Meanwhile, I am trying to make friends with the local Magpie family. I was attacked by one on Sunday whilst out riding my bike and am trying to make amends before the whole thing blows up into a full on feud. I'm not sure of the best approach really but I'm starting off with a bit of friendly banter. Although I suspect food would be a better bet.

I've been unemployed before and I'm starting to remember the overwhelming joy that small glimpses of security bring amidst the crushing disappointment of a regular day. This is not going to be easy but then again nothing ever is, is it?

Until tomorrow...

Poll Results - Billy Childish's Best Band

BILLY CHILDISH'S BEST BAND?