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.

Billy Childish London Gig announced & New 7" Single released on Damaged Goods Records.

The inspirational Medway Garage Rock legend, author and artist Billy Childish has finally announced his long-awaited return to the stage with a gig at The Lexington on Pentonville Road in London on May 21st with his latest line-up Wild Billy Childish & CTMF. The band will play two sets, an all-ages matinee kicking off at 3pm and then an over-18's only set from 8pm. Please note that tickets only went on sale this morning and already the evening show has SOLD OUT! Tickets for the matinee are still available at the time of writing but I can't guarantee they won't have sold out too by the time you read this. It just goes to show the overwhelming interest in seeing Billy play live again.

Thee Headcoats - Photo Copyright Paul Slattery

Damaged Goods Records have also released a brand new 4 track 7" vinyl EP by The CTMF entitled "A Glimpse of Another Time" which precedes their forthcoming (and fourth) album. The title track of the EP is a song about the scene based round Slim Chance’s Club at the Wild Western Rooms in the 1990′s (The club was out the back of the St. John’s Tavern in Archway, North London). The club later moved down the road to the Boston Arms. Billy’s  group Thee Headcoats used to play a regular monthly stint there, which explains the cover photo taken in 1991 of  Billy fronting Thee Headcoats with Bruce and Johnny on that tiny, legendary, wild west themed stage. The cover photo was taken by my Retro Man Blog colleague Paul Slattery who worked closely with Billy during that period. You can order the single from the Damaged Goods Records on-line store at this here link.

The New CTMF Single with cover photo by Paul Slattery

In our Retrosonic Podcast Billy Childish special at our Soundcloud site here. Retro Man Blog and Photographer Paul Slattery visited Billy in his Medway studio to chat about some of his musical influences such as Hamburg-era Beatles, Link Wray, Muddy Waters, The Voidoids and more and the effect they had on his own work. Along the way we discuss and play some tracks from a selection of his many line-ups including The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways, The Musicians of The British Empire and his latest band The CTMF.

For the Blog feature to accompany the Podcast which has some exclusive Paul Slattery photographs of Billy from throughout the years from the crowd at the Sex Pistols Brunel University gig in 1977 right through the various line-ups to the present day, please check out the link here.

Billy at work in his Medway studio - Photo by Retro Man Blog

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.

Retrosonic Podcast Episode 13: "I Know How To Please You..."

Steve from Retro Man Blog, Rock Photographer Paul Slattery and Adam from The Jetsonics with the usual waffle, news and top tunes...This Episode features all the info about our exciting Medway Garage Rock gig on June 6th with Graham Day & The Forefathers, The Len Price 3 and Galileo 7 in conjunction with the new Countdown Publications book "The Kids Are All Square" by Ian Snowball and Bob Collins about the Medway music scene. Sticking with the Medway theme, there's classics from The Prisoners and Thee Mighty Caesars and we are very pleased to have an exclusive track from Galileo 7 from their forthcoming new album. Elsewhere there's groovy Psychedelia from Fogbound, The New Alchemy, The Sonic Jewels and The Chocolate Watchband, a Mod rarity from The Afex and some great Garage Rock from The Uniques and The Movements. We have another exclusive from the fantastic French Ye-Ye Beat group Les Kitschenettes, raw soul from Otis Clay and some classic Trojan Ska from Claudette...All this and news on the new Graham Day & The Forefathers limited edition 7" single on State Records and chat about our other upcoming Retro Man Blog gigs with The Len Price 3, The Jetsonics, The Fallen Leaves, The Transients, The WitchDoktors, King Salami & The Cumberland 3, The Superminx 70, The Past Tense and Les Kitschenettes and reports on recent gigs and happenings...You can listen and download all previous Episodes at our Retrosonic Soundcloud site here...In the meantime here's Episode 13...enjoy!