Billy Childish: Retrosonic Podcast Special Edition

Billy Childish, Chatham June 2014 by Paul Slattery

Welcome to the latest Retrosonic Podcast Special Edition, this time we feature the hugely influential Medway based musician, author, poet and artist Billy Childish. We visited Billy in his Medway studio and interviewed him as he painted a huge canvas, chatting about his early musical influences and the effect that they had on his own songwriting and sound. Along the way we take in a selection of some of his own many and varied line-ups, discussing and playing tracks from The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways, The Musicians of The British Empire and then bring it right up to date with his latest outfit, The CTMF.

You can listen or download directly here or visit the Retrosonic Podcast Soundcloud page.



Rock Photographer Paul Slattery took his first Billy Childish photo in 1977, although he didn't know it at the time. By complete coincidence when Paul was photographing the Sex Pistols at Brunel University he happened to capture a young, vociferous, peroxide-haired Punk Rocker in the front row of the crowd, and that was Billy Childish. So 37 years later Paul could finally hand over a set of those prints to a grateful Billy. This episode takes the story of those photographs and Billy's experience with the Seventies Punk scene as the starting point of the interview and we talk about the songs and the sounds that inspired him to this day, informing his various musical projects.

Sex Pistols at Brunel University December 1977 by Paul Slattery
Billy in the centre to the right of Johnny Rotten...

Paul Slattery photographed Billy Childish in his various line-ups for many years and we are pleased to publish some of his rare photos from The Milkshakes to the Musicians of The British Empire.

The Milkshakes at The Frontline Theatre Brixton February 1983 by Paul Slattery

Thee Headcoats at Camden Lock, London June 1990

Thee Headcoats at St. John's Tavern London June 1990

Billy at the Cubitt Gallery, London June 1995

Thee Headcoats at The Monarch London September 1997

The Buff Medways, Boston Arms London March 2001

Musicians of The British Empire, Boston Arms London June 2009

Billy Childish, Chatham June 2014 by Paul Slattery

For other Special Edition Retrosonic Podcasts including dedicated episodes featuring in-depth interviews with TV Smith, Chris Wilson of The Flamin' Groovies, Ian from Damaged Goods Records, Ian Person and Mattias Barjed from The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Harley Feinstein from Sparks/Halfnelson, Mattias Hellberg, Rob Symmons and Rob Green of The Fallen Leaves, the excellent Swedish Psychedelic band The Movements and much more, please check out our Retrosonic Podcast archive on Soundcloud here. All episodes are free to download.

Check out the Damaged Goods Records on-line store for all your Billy Childish musical needs - CD's vinyl and downloads from all of of his various line-ups. For Billy's Art, including Prints, Woodcuts, Sculpture and Special Editions and books then please visit the L-13 Studio store.

Billy Childish, Chatham June 2014 - Photo Copyright Retro Man Blog

Thanks to Billy, Steve from L-13, Ian from Damaged Goods Records and Paul Slattery for sharing all the excellent photos. All photographs above copyright Paul Slattery 2014. For more photos of our visit to the Medway please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and, if you are not already a subscriber, hit "Like" for access to the exclusive photo album.