| Billy Childish (Aug.07 issue) |
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| Written by Gretchen LaBudde | |
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Page 1 of 3 Childish BehaviorThe cult of Billy Childish ferments and expands in a fecund barrel of snarls and guitars, vibrating colors, and subversively misspelled poetry and manifestos. Hailed by fans across the globe as the greatest garage-rocking poet ever, he's a punk maverick who favors early rhythm & blues. He has recorded over a hundred albums, painted a thousand or so paintings in a self-taught slash-and-go style, and written over 30 collections of poetry and four novels. 
Often mimicked but hardly duplicated, the working class lad from
Chatham, Kent, UK funneled his anger stemming from a dysfunctional
childhood into a wildly prolific body of work. He eschews high concept.
Instead goes with his gut. Not at all some naive
three-chord-rocker-aping-retro, Childish churns out music, art, and
writing all intertwined by an aesthetic that embraces what he describes
as authentic, elemental, and expressionistic. Those of us looking in
from the outside might also call his work primal, compelling, and raw.
Making sense out of Thee Billy Childish has been a lifelong quest, even
for Childish. "I'm interested in a journey with meaning rather than just a big wank," says Childish from his home in Chatham. Every so often, his wife's laugh peppers the background as she plays with their cats, Shackleton and Mallory. "I don't do rock or rock star parties. I don't hang around with those people or art people. My job is to antagonize them by being real." Perhaps best known as the leader of Thee Headcoats, Childish began playing music in that punk summer of 1977 when he pulled together the Pop Rivets. That was the last time he was interested in contemporary music. Since then his musical interests have slid back in time to early rhythm & blues, including Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, and Bo Diddley - although guitars sounding an awful lot like the Kinks' Dave Davies sneak in pretty frequently. Childish went on to form the Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, and the Buff Medways as well as helm a myriad of other projects. Currently he bills the circus Wild Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire. Already there's a new live album Punk Rock At The British Legion Hall on Damaged Goods. If that's not enough, anyone craving to catch a show for themselves would do good to travel to London's legendary Dirty Water Club where he plays every month or so. The man is reclusive, prefers to stay in and work on his art. He dislikes travel and has little interest in playing music with anyone except his friends. And yet Billy Childish will venture for the first time into the Deep South to show his art, read his work and play his music. Unlike the very brief tours with his various bands, his art and writing will be showcased more prominently than his music. The Vinson Gallery is exhibiting his work and sponsoring a reading and solo performance on its stage at the Decatur Book Festival. Criminal Records also gets in on the fun, hosting a solo performance, but don't expect some stateside hired guns to help him rehash all those rockers from Thee Headcoats or Mighty Caesars. "I play with my friends. I don't play with musicians. Musicians would just ruin everything," he says without any discernable irony. |
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