Billy Chyldish

Billy Childish in 2009. Photo by Charles Thomson. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Billy Chyldish
Birth name	Steven John Hamper
Also known as	William Charlie Hamper, Bill Hamper, Bill Hamper-Childish, Guy Hamper, Jack Ketch, Gus Claudius, Danger Bill Henderson
Born	December 1 1959 (1959-12-01)
Origin	Chatham, Kent, England
Genres	Garage punk Indie rock Punk blues
Occupations	Singer, guitarist, record producer, artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, filmmaker
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Hangman Records, Damaged Goods, Sub Pop, Transcopic, Sympathy For the Record Industry, Big Beat Records, Get Hip Records, K Records, Amphetamine Reptile
Associated acts	The Medway Poets Thee Mighty Caesars Thee Headcoats Mudhoney Armitage Shanks Holly Golightly
Website	BillyChildish.com

Billy Chyldish (born 1 December 1959), or Childish, is an English poet, artist, painter, author, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist.

Life

Overview

Chyldish is known for his explicit and prolific work – he has detailed his love life and childhood sexual abuse, notably in his early poetry and the novels My Fault (1996), Notebooks of a Naked Youth (1997), Sex Crimes of the Futcher (2004) – The Idiocy of Idears (2007), and in several of his songs, notably in the instrumental "Paedophile" (1992) (featuring a photograph of the man who sexually abused him on the front cover) and "Every Bit of Me" (1993). From 1981 till 1985 Childish had a relationship with artist Tracey Emin and has also been associated with another British artist Stella Vine.

He is a consistent advocate for amateurism and free emotional expression and was a co-founder of the Stuckism art movement with Charles Thomson in 1999, which he left in 2001. Since then a new evaluation of Childish's standing in the art world has been under way, culminating with the publication of a critical study of Childish's working practice by the artist and writer Neal Brown, with an introduction by Peter Doig, which describes Childish as "one of the most outstanding, and often misunderstood, figures on the British art scene".

Youth and education

File:Childish,-The-Drinker-600.jpg

Billy Childish. The Drinker, oil painting, 1996.

Childish was born Stephen John Hamper in Chatham, Kent, England, where he lives and works. Although he had an early and extremely close association with many of the artists who became known as "YBA" artists he has resolutely asserted his independent status. He was sexually abused when he was aged 9 by a male family friend: "We were on holiday. I had to share a bed with him. It happened for several nights, then I refused to go near him. I didn't tell anyone." He left secondary school at 16, an undiagnosed dyslexic. Refused an interview at the local art college, he entered Chatham Dockyard, Kent, as an apprentice stonemason. During the next six months (the artist’s only prolonged period of conventional employment), he produced some 600 drawings in "the tea huts of hell". On the basis of this work he was accepted into St Martin’s School of Art. He then lived on the dole for 15 years. In 2006 Childish turned down the offer to appear on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother UK. Childish has practised yoga and meditation since the early 1990s.

Painting

As a prospective student lacking the necessary entry qualifications, Childish was accepted into art school 4 times on the strength of his paintings and drawings. He studied foundation at Medway College of Design in 1977-1978, and was then accepted onto the painting department of St Martins School of Art in 1978, before quitting a month later. He was re-accepted at St Martins in 1980, but was expelled in 1982 for refusing to paint in the art school and other unruly behaviour. At St Martins, Childish became friends with Peter Doig with whom he shared an appreciation of Munch, Van Gogh and blues music. Doig later co-curated Childish's earliest London show at the Cubit Street Gallery.

In the early/mid 1980s Childish was a "major influence" on the artist Tracey Emin, whom he met after his expulsion from St Martins when she was a fashion student at Medway College of Design. Childish has been cited as the influence for Emin's later confessional art. Childish paints in a personal style, which parallels his passion for the elemental in both writing and music. He has exhibited extensively since the 1980s and was featured in the British Art Show in 2000. Since 2002 Childish has been represented in London by the L-13 Gallery, along with Jamie Reid and James Cauty (with whom sometimes collaborates).

In 1996 Childish painted "The Drinker", influenced by Hans Fallada's novel of the same title. He has cited Fallada as a major influence on his own prose work, notably in the novel "Sex Crimes of the Futcher". In 2008 Childish commenced a series of paintings based on the life and death of the Swiss author Robert Walser, whom Childish has also cited as an influence on his prose work.

In 2008 Childish made several paintings of the steam paddle tug John H Amos which was moored on a pontoon at Rochester. In 2010 a major exhibition of Childish's recent paintings, writing and music was held at The ICA London, with a concurrent painting show running at White Columns Gallery in NY. Childish is represented by neugerriemschneider Berlin, and Lehmann Maupin, NY.

In 2008 Childish formed the "non organisation" The British Art Resistance, and held an exhibition under the title Hero of The British Art Resistance at The Aquarium L-13 gallery in London: A collection of paintings, books, records, pamphlets, poems, prints, letters, film, photographs made in 2008.(Citation needed)

Music

File:BillyChildish.jpg

Childish at the Shinjuku loft, Japan (early 1990s)

Childish made records of punk rock, blues, folk, classical/experimental, spoken word and nursery rhymes. In a letter to Childish, the musician Ivor Cutler said of Childish: "You are perhaps too subtle and sophisticated for the mass market." Childish's groups include TV21, later known as the Pop Rivets (1977–1980), sometimes spelled the Pop Rivits, with Bruce Brand, Romas Foord, Russell Wilkins and Russell Lax. He later formed Thee Milkshakes (1980–1984) with Micky Hampshire, Thee Mighty Caesars (1985–1989), The Del Monas then Thee Headcoats (1989–1999). In 2000 he formed Wild Billy Childish & The Friends of the Buff Medways Fanciers Association (2000–2006), named after a type of poultry bred in his home town. The Buffs, as they were sometimes affectionately known, split in 2006, and Wild Billy Childish & the Musicians of the British Empire were born, recording a song about one of Billy's heroes George Mallory titled "Bottomless Pit." In early 2007, Billy formed The Vermin Poets with former Fire Dept singer and guitarist Neil Palmer and A-Lines guitarist and singer Julie Hamper, his wife. Thee Headcoats began their monthly residency at the Wild Western Room in the St John's Tavern, north London, in the early 1990s, and continued after moving to the Dirty Water Club in 1996. The Musicians of the British Empire (MBEs) played at the venue more or less once a month until feb 2011. Childish has not played live since then.

Childish has been namechecked by a number of famous musicians including Kurt Cobain, Graham Coxon, The White Stripes (Jack White had Billy's name written in large letters on his arm for an early Top of the Pops appearance) and Kylie Minogue who named the LP Impossible Princess after his book Poems to Break the Harts of Impossible Princesses [sic].

On September 11, 2009, Damaged Goods Records – Childish's current label – issued a message to subscribers stating that Childish's wife Julie (aka Nurse Julie, bassist in the MBEs) was pregnant. Childish has since been recording as bass player with The Spartan Dreggs, with Neil Palmer on vocals and guitar and wolf Howard on drums.

Hangman Books

In 1981-82 Childish formed Hangman Books, publishing poetry and some fiction. (Associated projects are Hangman Films and Hangman Records.) Hangman Books has published poetry books and pamphlets by Childish, Tracey Emin, Bill Lewis, Vic Templer, Joe Corkwell, Sexton Ming, Philip Absolon, Chris Broderick, Mark Lowe, Neil Sparks, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Dan Melchior, Dan Belton, Alfie Howard, Simon Robson, Steve Prince, Joe Machine, Wolf Howard and Amanda Collier, among others. From 1982 to 1987 the daily running of the press was carried out by Traci Emin (later Tracey Emin). From 1988 through 1999 it was managed by Kyra De Coninck (one of Thee Headcoatees band). Since 2000 Julie Hamper, Childish's wife, has been overseeing it.

Since 1986 Hangman Records, also run by Childish, has released more than 50 LP records, including spoken word, experimental works and punk rock. Many local Medway groups and artists had their earliest releases on Hangman. Hangman Books and Hangman Records are both independent, non-profit-making and do not receive outside funding.

Tracey Emin

Main article: Tracey Emin

During the 1980s, Childish was an influence on the artist Tracey Emin, whom he met in 1982, after his expulsion from the painting department at St Martin's School of Art. Emin was a fashion student at Medway College of Design. Emin and Childish were a couple until 1986-87, Emin selling his poetry books for his small press Hangman Books. In 1995 she was interviewed in the Minky Manky show catalogue by Carl Freedman, who asked her, "Which person do you think has had the greatest influence on your life?" She replied:

Uhmm... It's not a person really. It was more a time, going to Maidstone College of Art, hanging around with Billy Childish, living by the River Medway.

Her famous "tent" Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 (1995) was first exhibited in the show, and Childish's name was displayed prominently in it. The tent was destroyed in a fire at the Momart warehouse, in Leyton, east London, in 2004.

Childish has said "My relationship with Tracey Emin finished in 1987 – 21 years ago, to be exact. Whilst I like and respect Tracey, and wish her well, the relationship is not significant in respect of my current life, and therefore I choose not to discuss it."

The Stuckists

Main article: Stuckism

File:2000 Real Turner Prize Show.jpg

Billy Childish (far right) with the first Stuckists group at the Real Turner Prize Show, Pure Gallery, Shoreditch, London, in October 2000

In 1999 Childish and Charles Thomson co-founded the Stuckist art movement. Thomson coined the group name from Childish's Poem for a Pissed Off Wife (Big Hart and Balls 1994), where he had recorded Emin's remark to him:

Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! – Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!"

The group was strongly pro-figurative painting and anti-conceptual art. Childish wrote a number of manifestos with Thomson, the first of which contained the statement:

Artists who don't paint aren't artists.

The Stuckists soon achieved considerable press coverage, fuelled by Emin's nomination for the Turner Prize. They then announced the inauguration of a cultural period of Remodernism to bring back spiritual values into art, culture and society. The formation of The Stuckists directly led to Emin severing her 14-year friendship with Childish in 1999.

Childish has said: "The Stuckist art group was formed in 1999 at the instigation of Charles Thomson, the title of the group being taken from a poem of mine written and published in 1994. I disagreed with the way Charles presented the group, particularly in the media. For these reasons I left the Stuckists in 2001. I never attended any Stuckist demonstrations and my work was not shown in the large Stuckist exhibition held in the Walker Art Gallery in 2004."

British artist Stella Vine, who was a member of the Stuckists for a short time in 2001, joined the group having developed a "crush" on Billy Childish while attending his music events. In June 2000, Vine went to a talk given by Childish and fellow Stuckist co-founder Charles Thomson on Stuckism and Remodernism, promoted by the Institute of Ideas at the Salon des Arts, Kensington. Vine formed The Unstuckists a month after joining, and has since said she did not agree with Stuckism's principles, and described them as bullies.

As a young man, Childish was highly influenced by Dada, and the work of Kurt Schwitters in particular. Childish has a Kurt Schwitters poem tatooed on his left buttock and made a short film on Schwitters's life, titled The Man with Wheels, (1980, directed by Eugean Doyan). In his poetry, Childish mentions that he once had a bank account under the name of Kurt Schwitters. As to what is now termed conceptual art, Childish has said "I respect the right of detractors and champions alike as we live in a democracy."

The Chatham Super 8 Cinema

In 2002, along with Wolf Howard, Simon Williams and Julie Hamper, Childish formed The Chatham Super 8 Cinema. The group makes super 8 films on a 2nd-hand camera Wolf Howard bought at a local flea market. In 2004 Childish released a 30-minute documentary titled Brass Monkey, about a march undertaken in Great War uniform commemorating the 90th anniversary of the British retreat from Mons in 1914.

Writing

Sexton Ming, Tracey Emin, Charles Thomson, Billy Childish and musician Russell Wilkins at the Rochester Adult Education Centre 11 December 1987 to record The Medway Poets LP

Childish is a confessional poet, who has published over 40 collections of poems. In 1979, he was a founder member of The Medway Poets, a poetry performance group, who read at the Kent Literature Festival and the 1981 international Cambridge Poetry Festival. There were, however, personality clashes in the group, particularly between Childish and Charles Thomson, who said: "There was friction between us, especially when he started heckling my poetry reading and I threatened to ban him from a forthcoming TV documentary." However, a TV South documentary on the group in 1982 brought them to a wider regional audience, though Childish's poetry was "deemed unbroadcastable". According to Childish: "Me & Charles were at war from 1979 until 1999. He even threatened having bouncers on the doors of Medway Poets' readings to keep me out."

Recognition

Childish has twice won commendations in the National Poetry Prize.

Publications

Poetry

• Chatham’s Burning. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1977.
• Bostik Haze. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1978.
• Fab 69. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1978.
• The Kray Twins Summer Special. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1978.
• The Arts and General Interest. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1978.
• Hack Hack. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1978.
• Goat Gruff. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1979.
• Kinda Garten. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1980.
• The Cuckoo’s Cuckoo. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1980.
• Mertz in Chatham. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1980.
• The Man with Wheels. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1980.
• Billy Chyldish in Merz England No. 1. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1980.
• The Dog Jaw Woman. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1980.
• Shed Country Paintry + Poeming. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1980.
• Bo-Pug: The Six Tails. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1981.
• Book of Nursry Rhims. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1981.
• Back on Red Lite rd. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1981.
• 2 Minits walk from 10am. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1981.
• The First Creacher is Jellosey. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1981.
• Black Things Hidden in Dust. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1982.
• You Me Blud N Knuckle. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1982.
• Big Cunt. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1982.
• Prity Thing. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1982.
• 7 by Chyldish. Chatham, UK: Phyroid Press, 1982.
• Will the Circle be Unbroken. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1983.
• 10 No Good Poems of Slavery, Buggery, Boredom and Disrespect. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1983.
• Noting Can Stop This Man. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1983.
• The Unknown Stuff. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1983.
• Poems from the Barrier Block. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1984.
• Tear Life to Pieces.. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1985.
• Poems Without Rhyme, Without Reason, Without Spelling, Without Words, Without Nothing. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1985.
• Monks Without God. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1986.
• Companions in a Death Boat. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1987.
• To the Quick. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1988.
• The Girl in the Tree. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1988.
• Maverick Verse. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1988.
• Admissions to Strangers. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1989.
• En Carne Viva: Poemas, 1984 – 1988 (Spanish / English). Barcelona, Spain: Stultifera Navis, 1989.
• Death of a Wood. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1989.
• The Deathly Flight of Angels. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1990.
• Like a God i Love all Things. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1991.
• The Hart Rises. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1992.
• Trembling of Life. London: Damaged Goods, 1993.
• Poems of Laughter and Violence: Selected poems, 1981-1986. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1992.
• Hunger at the Moon. Long Beach, CA: Sympathetic Press, 1993.
• Days with a Hart Like a Dog. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1994.
• Poems to Break the Harts of Impossible Princesses. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1994.
• Big Hart and Balls. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1995.
• This Purile Thing (compiled & edited by Matthew Higgs). Imprint 93, 1996.
• In 5 Minits You’ll Know Me: Selected poems, 1985-1995. Long Beach, CA: Sympathetic Press, 1996.
• A Terrible Hunger for Love: Unpublished poems, 1982-84. Chatham, UK: Hangman Books, 1997.
• "I’d Rather You Lied": Selected Poems, 1980-1998. Hove, UK: Codex Books, 1999.
• Chatham Town Welcomes Desperate Men. Chatham, UK: Hangman Books, 2000.
• Chatham's Burning: 25 years of being Childish. [Chatham, UK?]: [Hangman?], 2002.
• Evidence Against Myself. Chatham, UK: Hangman Books, 2003.
• The Boss of All English Riters. Chatham, UK: Hangman Books, 2003.
• Calling Things by Their Proper Names. Chatham, UK: Hangman Books, 2003.
• Knite of the Sad Face: Chap book. London: The Aquarium, 2004.
• The 1st Green Horse God has Ever Made. Chatham, UK: Urban Fox Press, 2004.
• The Man with Gallows Eyes: Selected poetry, 1980-2005. London: The Aquarium, 2005.
• The River be My Blud: Medway poems, 1980-2005. Chatham, UK: Urban Fox Press, 2005.
• The Uncorrected Billy Childish: Poems ritten on a summers evenings in July. Chatham, UK: Hangman Books, 2005.
• This is My Shit and it Smells Good to Me. London: The Aquarium, 2008.
• Old 4 Legs. London: The Aquarium, 2008.
• Where the Tiger Prowls Stripped and Unseen. London: The Aquarium, 2008.
• Gods Fantastic Colours (hand stamped covers). London: The Aquarium, 2008.
  • some copies appear with different titles and different author and publisher: Art War, Man Taken from Guts and Insolunce in the Face of Art being examples.
• Unknowable but Certain. London: Blackheath Books, 2009.
• The Uncorrected Billy Chyldish. Tooting, UK: Tangerine Press, 2009.
• Selected Poems (Penguin Classic “Art” Edition). London: L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, 2009.
• Colour Blinds Music Deafens Taste Burns My Throat and the Poets Massacre. Tooting, UK: Tangerine Press, 2010.
• Paraffin Van. 2011.
  • also published under title I Fuckt Frida Kahlo as a Faber & Faber lookalike.
• Bent Haikus. Tooting, UK: Sick Fly Publications, 2012.
• the sudden wren or painting lessons for poets and other mediochur cunts. Clerkenwell, London: L-13 Press, 2013.

Lyrics

• Child’s Death Letter: Billy Chyldish, Selected lyrics. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1991.
• Gun in my Father’s Hand: Selected lyrics, 1977–2006. London: The Aquarium, 2006.

Novels

• My Fault. Hove, UK: CodeX, 2000; London: Virgin, 2005.
• Notebooks of a Naked Youth (1997)
• Sex Crimes of the Futcher. Rochester, UK: The Aquarium, 2005.
• The Idiocy of Idears: A skoolboys tail. Rochester, UK: The Aquarium, 2007.
• The Stonemason. London: L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, 2011.

Short fiction

• Conversations with Dr X. Rochester, UK: Black Hand Distribution, 1987.
• The Silence of Words. Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1989.
• 9 Stories of the River Medway: Recounted in the language of idiots for people of little discernment. 2005.
• Charlotte C Young & Billy Chyldish, Karl St Bernard Lampenshwartz and Doktor Albirt Umber: The biographical notes. London: L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, 2010.
• ''Bombs, Buggery and Buddhism; or, Diaries of a mock human (Part one). Clerkenwell, UK: L-13, 2010.

Art

• Hendrix was Not the Only Musician (1998)
• Handy Hints: The Stuckists (est. 1999) anti-anti-art, the first Remodernist Art Group (2000)
• The Medway Scene: Art in the Medway towns (2002)
• Childish: Paintings of a backwater visionary (2005)
• Thoughts of a Hangman: Woodcuts (2006)
• Field Trip Krakow/Auschwitz. under Guy Hamper, 2008.
• Field Trip High Atlas/Marrakech. under Guy Hamper, 2008.
• Alfred Wallis. Tate St.Ives, 2009.
• I am their damaged megaphone. Berlin: neugerriemschneider, 2010.
• Field Trip Dockyard / Estuary Dreck. under Guy Hamper, 2010.
• Love the Art Hate. London: L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, 2010.
• The soft ashes of berlin snowing on hans falladas nose. Berlin: neugerriemschneider, 2010.
• Frozen Estuary and Other Paintings of the Divine Ordinary. Chatham, UK: No.1 Smithery, The Historic Dockyard, 2012.

Photography

• Photo Booth (2003)
• Dark Chamber: Pinhole Photography from the IGPP (contributor) (2007)
• Dark Chamber 2: Pinhole Photography from the IGPP (contributor) (2008)

Translated

• Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Cannon Fodder (translated by K. De Coninck and B. Chyldish). Rochester, UK: Hangman Books, 1988.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Billy Chyldish.

Audio / video

Billy Childish - The noble beast (poetry).

Albums

• Greatest Hits (1979) The Pop Rivets
• Empty Sounds from Anarchy Ranch (1979) The Pop Rivets
• Talking 'Bout... Milkshakes (1981) The Milkshakes
• 14 Rhythm and Beat Greats (1982) The Milkshakes
• After School Sessions (1983) The Milkshakes
• The Milkshakes IV-The Men with Golden Guitars (1983) The Milkshakes
• Sing and Play 20 Rock & Roll Hits of the 50's & 60's (1984) The Milkshakes
• The Milkshakes in Germany (1984) The Milkshakes
• Nothing Can Stop These Men (1984) The Milkshakes
• Showcase (1984) The Milkshakes
• They Came They Saw They Conquered (1984) Thee Milkshakes
• Thee Knights of Trashe (1984) Thee Milkshakes
• Thee Mighty Caesars (1985) Thee Mighty Caesars
• Dangerous Charms (1985) The Del Monas
• Beware the Ideas of the March (1985) Thee Mighty Caesars
• The Delmonas 5 (1986) The Del Monas
• Thee Caesars of Trash (1986) Thee Mighty Caesars
• Acropolis Now (1986) Thee Mighty Caesars
• 107 Tapes (1986) (Early demos/Live) The Milkshakes
• Live in Rome (1986) Thee Mighty Caesars
• Wiseblood (1987) The Mighty Caesars
• The Milkshakes Revenge -The Legendary Missing 9th Album (1987) The Milkshakes
• Fun in the U.K (1987) (Compilation) The Pop Rivets
• I've Got Everything Indeed (1987) Wild Billy Childish
• Don't Give Any Dinner to Henry Chinaski (1987) Thee Mighty Caesars
• Which Dead Donkey Daddy? (1987) Billy Childish & Sexton Ming
• Punk Rock Showcase (1987) Thee Mighty Caesars
• Laughing Gravy (1987) Wild Billy Childish & Big Russ Wilkins
• Plump Prizes & Little Gems (1987) Billy Childish & Sexton Ming
• The 1982 Cassettes (1988) Wild Billy Childish
• Live in Chatham (1988) Thee Milkshakes
• YPRES 1917 Overture (Verdun Ossuary) (1988) Billy Childish & Sexton Ming
• "i remember..." (1988) Wild Billy Childish
• Poems of Laughter and Violence (1988) Billy Childish
• Brimful of Hate (1988) Jack Ketch & the Crowmen
• Play: Capt'n Calypso's Hoodoo Party (1988) Wild Billy Childish & the Blackhands
• Do the Uncle Willy (1988) The Del Monas
• English Punk Rock Explosion (1988) (Compilation) Thee Mighty Caesars
• The Delmonas (1989) The Delmonas
• John Lennon's Corpse Revisited (1989) Thee Mighty Caesars
• Headcoats Down! (1989) Thee Headcoats
• Long Legged Baby (1989) Wild Billy Childish & the Natural Born Lovers
• Surely They Were the Sons of God (1989) (Compilation) Thee Mighty Caesars
• 19th Nervous Shakedown (1990) (Compilation) The Milkshakes
• The Kids Are Square-This is Hip! (1990) Thee Headcoats
• The Earls of Suavedom (1990) Thee Headcoats
• Beach Bums Must Die (1990) Thee Headcoats
• Live in Germany '79 (1990) The Pop Rivets
• Heavens to Murgatroyd, Even! It’s Thee Headcoats! (Already) (1990) Thee Headcoats
• 50 Albums Great (1991) Wild Billy Childish
• Girlsville (1991) Thee Headcoatees
• W.O.A.H! Bo in Thee Garage (1991) Thee Headcoats
• Headcoatitude (1991) Thee Headcoats
• I Am the Billy Childish (1991) (Compilation) Various
• The Sudden Fart of Laughter (1992) Billy Childish
• Der Henkermann-Kitchen Recordings (1992) Billy Childish
• The Original Chatham Jack (1992) Billy Childish & the Blackhands
• Have Love Will Travel (1992) Thee Headcoatees
• Caesars Remains (1992) (Compilation) Thee Mighty Caesars
• The Wurst is Yet to Come (1993) Thee Headcoats
• The Good Times Are Killing Me (1993) Thee Headcoats
• Cavern by the Sea (1993) Thee Headcoats
• Torments Nest (1993) Billy Childish
• Live in the Netherlands (1993) Wild Billy Childish & the Blackhands
• Native American Sampler – A History 1983-1993 (1993) (Compilation) Various
• At the Bridge (1993) Billy Childish featuring The Singing Loins
• Hunger at the Moon (1993) Billy Childish
• Caesars Pleasure (1994) (Compilation) Thee Mighty Caesars
• Live at the Wild Western Room (1994) Thee Headcoats
• Connundrum (1994) Thee Headcoats
• Ballad of Insolent Pup (1994) Thee Headcoatees
• The Sound of the Baskervilles (1995) Thee Headcoats featuring Thee Headcoatees
• In Tweed We Trust (1996) Thee Headcoats
• Deerstalking Men (1996) Thee Headcoats Sect
• Knights of the Baskervilles (1996) Thee Headcoats
• Made With a Passion – Kitchen Demo's (1996) Billy Childish
• Bostik Haze (1997) Thee Headcoatees
• Chathams Burning - Live 77 & 78 Demo's (1997) The Pop Rivets
• Punk Girls (1997) Thee Headcoatees
• The Jimmy Reid Experience (1997) (Thee Headcoats)
• Devil in the Flesh (1998) Billy Childish/Dan Melchior
• The Messerschmits Pilots Severed Hand (1998) Thee Headcoats
• Sherlock Holmes Meets the Punkenstien Monster (1998) (Japanese Compilation) Thee Headcoats
• Brother is Dead…but fly is gone! (1998) Thee Headcoats
• 17% Hendrix Was Not the Only Musician (1998) Billy Childish & His Famous Headcoats
• Taylor Meets Thee Headcoatees (1998) Thee Headcoatees
• Crimes Against Music-Blues Recordings 1986-1999 (1999) (Compilation) Wild Billy Childish
• The Cheeky Cheese (1999) Billy Childish & Sexton Ming
• English Gentlemen of Rock‘N’Roll/the Best Vol.2 (1999) (Japanese Compilation) Thee Headcoats
• Here Comes the Cessation (1999) Thee Headcoatees
• The Sisters of Suave (1999) (compilation) Thee Headcoatees
• In Blood (1999) Billy Childish & Holly Golightly
• Ready Sect Go! (2000) Thee Headcoats Sect
• I Am the Object of Your Desire (2000) Thee Headcoats
• Elementary Headcoats - Thee Singles 1990-1999 (2000) (compilation) Thee Headcoats
• Live at the Dirty Water Club (2001) Thee Headcoats
• This is This (2001) The Buff Medways
• Steady the Buffs (2002) Wild Billy Childish & The Buff Medways
• 25 Years of Being Childish (2002) (compilation) Various
• Here Come the Fleece Geese (2002) Billy Childish & Sexton Ming
• 1914 (2003) Wild Billy Childish & The Buff Medways
• Medway Wheelers (2005) Wild Billy Childish & The Buff Medways
• Heavens Journey (2005) Wild Billy Childish & The Chatham Singers
• My First Billy Childish Album (2006) Various (compilation)
• Punk Rock at the British Legion Hall (2007) Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire
• The XFM Sessions (2007) Wild Billy Childish & The Buff Medways
• Poems of a Backwater Visionary (2007) Billy Childish (spoken word)
• Christmas 1979 (2007) Wild Billy Childish & the Musicians of the British Empire
• Thatcher's Children (2008) Wild Billy Childish & the MBE's
• Juju Claudius (2009) The Chatham Singers
• Archive From 1959 - The Billy Childish Story (2009) Three LP Compilation
• Poets of England (2010) The Vermin Poets
• Forensic R & B (2011) The Spartan Dreggs

Various artist compilations

• Time's Up Live (2001)
• The Smoking Dog Presents An Evening Of Medway Blues (2005) (contributes three a cappella tracks "The Bitter Cup", "Black Girl" and "Out On The Western Plains")
• Children of Nuggets (2005) (2 songs included by Mickey and the Milkshakes "It's You" and "Please Don't Tell My Baby")

Selected films

• The Man With Wheels (1980)
• Quite Lives (1983)
• Cheated (1993)
• The Flying Mustache (2002)
• Shooting at the Moon (2003), music by
• Brass Monkey (2004)
• Billy Childish Is Dead (2005)

See also

I Am The Strange Hero Of Hunger - Billy Childish

• List of British poets
• Medway poets
• Punk literature

References

• Billy Childish a Short Study. By Neal Brown (2008)
• "Levity and Mystery: an introduction to the films of Billy Childish" by Neil Palmer in 'No Focus: Punk On Film' (Headpress, 2006)

External links

Poems

• "On seeing another slim volume of poetry"
• Three Poems by Billy Childish at 3am Poetry

Art

• VINSONart.com (Billy's USA dealer)

Audio / video

• Billy Childish (b.1959) at The Poetry Archive
• Billy Childish at YouTube
• Art Basel 2010 Billy Childish interview at www.theartnewspaper.tv

Books

• Billy Childish at Amazon.com

About

• Billy Childish at Totally History
• Billy Chyldish Official website.
• Guardian Interview 2009
• Slashstroke Magazine 2011 Billy Childish interview and photoshoot
• Interview with Billy Childish at The White Review