Billy Childish & CTMF at The Lexington London May 21st - Paul Slattery Photographs

Billy Childish at The Lexington photographed by Paul Slattery

Billy Childish made his long-awaited return to the stage with his current line-up Wild Billy Childish  & CTMF with two sold-out shows at The Lexington in Islington on May 21st to promote his excellent new album "Sq 1" which is out now on Damaged Goods Records. There was an afternoon matinee followed by a more traditional evening gig and both sets were crammed with a crowd-pleasing selection of classic tracks from pretty much all of his many line-ups over the years - from The Milkshakes to The Buff Medways, Thee Mighty Caesars to Thee Headcoats and The Musicians of The British Empire to CTMF. There was even the added bonus of Ludella and Kyra from Thee Headcoatees joining in on the encores. Rock photographer Paul Slattery has worked with Billy over the years ever since unintentionally capturing him in the front row of a Sex Pistols gig back in 1977! Paul took some great early photos of The Milkshakes too and now one of his pictures of Thee Headcoats appears on the cover of the CTMF's latest single "A Glimpse of Another Time". Here, Paul kindly shares some of his excellent photographs taken at both the Lexington shows:

For more photos of both sets please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and hit "Like" and "Get Notifications" (if you are not already following) for access to the Photo Album. Videos can also be found at the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here. Then, you can hear us chat about the Lexington gigs and hear a track from "Sq 1" in the latest episode of Retrosonic Podcast, available to listen/download for free from Soundcloud or via iTunes.

All Photos Copyright Paul Slattery 2016

Then don't forget our special Billy Childish edition Retrosonic Podcast when Paul and I traveled down to Billy's studio in Chatham Docks to watch him paint while we chatted about his career, playing a selection of some of his own favourite tracks and influences along the way.

The new CTMF album "Sq 1" is available from here at Damaged Goods Records along with a huge selection of Billy's back catalogue, often in special limited edition versions.

The Milkshakes photographed by Paul Slattery in 1983

With thanks to Paul Slattery for the photographs.