Billy Childish
“MY favourite criticism of what I do is that I only do one thing and it’s all the same,” laughs Billy Childish. “But I write novels and poetry, do blues, country, punk rock, rock’n’roll, some vague psychedelia, and I’m a painter. Just because I’m interested in the elemental in all aspects of life doesn’t mean that it’s one element, it’s the elemental within anything. It’s like cooking – if your basic ingredients are good, you don’t need fancy sauce.”
Forty-two years into his career, the Chatham singer and guitarist is currently rehearsing his CTMF group for gigs in Margate and America, and working on short stories and a novel (“I’ve done about 18 drafts over the last few years”), but he takes a couple of hours out to talk Uncut through nine of the finest albums from his vast discography. From Troggs-inspired rock’n’roll and Great War song cycles to the very fine new CTMF record, Last
Punk Standing, these selections are raw, vital and in line with his favoured musical traditions. “Musicians are 10-a-penny – I’m not one of them!” he says. “I can appreciate musicianship, but there’s something else that needs to be found. I’m not saying that we’ve found it, but that’s what I’ve wasted a lot of my life looking for!”
THE MILKSHAKES
IN GERMANY
WALL CITY, 1983
Childish’s second band (after the punky Pop Rivets) significantly inspired by The Beatles’ Star-Club set
Big Russ [Wilkins, bass] used to work at a TV repair shop and they had an old garage out the back where we used to rehearse. We’d often record backing tracks onto our Revox half-track machine, then take them to
