Billy Childish

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Billy Childish
] Pinhole photograph of Billy Childish by Wolf Howard from Stuckism.com
Background information
Birth name	Steven John Hamper
Also known as	William Charlie Hamper
Born	December 1, 1959
Origin	Chatham, Kent, England
Genre(s)	Rock, Alternative, Indie rock, Garage rock, Punk rock, Punk blues
Occupation(s)	Singer, guitarist, producer, artist, author, poet, photographer, film maker
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1979 – present
Label(s)	Hangman, Damaged Goods
Associated acts	The Pop Rivets, The Medway Poets, Thee Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Delmonas, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways, The Musicians of the British Empire
Website	BillyChildish.com

Billy Childish (real name Steven John Hamper) or William Charlie Hamper (born December 1, 1959) is an English artist, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. He 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 novel My Fault. He was sexually abused when he was age 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." [1]

He has published more than 40 collections of poetry, written 3 novels, recorded more than 100 full-length independent LPs of Punk, Rock and Roll, and Medway-Delta Blues and produced more than 2,500 paintings. He is a consistent advocate for amateurism and free emotional expression and was a co-founder of the Stuckism art group in 1999, which he left in 2001.

[edit] Background

Billy Childish was born and lives in Chatham, Kent, England. He left secondary school at 16, an undiagnosed dyslexic. Refused an interview at the local art school, he entered Chatham Dockyard, Kent, as an apprentice stonemason. During the following six months (the artist’s only prolonged period of 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, where he was friends with the artist Peter Doig, to study painting. However, his acceptance was short-lived and before completing the course he was expelled in 1982. 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.

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

[edit] The Medway Poets

Main article: The Medway Poets

In 1979, Childish was a founder member of The Medway Poets, a punk performance group, who read in pubs, as well as the Kent Literature Festival and the 1981 Cambridge International 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." ^[1]However, a TV South documentary on the group in 1982 brought them to a wider regional audience. 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."^[2] Thomson has said this period was "an incredibly pressured and creative time and established the basis on which we are still working."^[3] Other members included Bill Lewis and Sexton Ming with whom Childish has continued to collaborate: they have brought out several spoken word and music albums.

[edit] Tracey Emin

During the 1980s, Childish was a major 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. Tracey was a fashion student at Medway College of Design. Emin and Childish were a couple until 1986/7, 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.

They remained on friendly terms until the formation of the Stuckists group in 1999, which offended her and caused a lasting rift. Childish left the Stuckist movement in 2001. However, in a 2003 interview, Emin said:

"I don't like it at all," she spat. "I don't really want to talk about it. If your wife was stalked and hounded through the media by someone she'd had a relationship with when she was 18, would you like it? That's what happened to me. I don't find it funny, I find it a bit sick, and I find it very cruel, and I just wish people would get on with their own lives and let me get on with mine.^[4]

[edit] The Stuckists

Main article: Stuckism

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

By 1999 Childish and Thomson were reconciled, and 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. Thomson and Childish wrote a number of manifestos, the first of which contained the statement:

Artists who don't paint aren't artists.

The Stuckists soon achieved considerable press coverage, fuelled by the fact that Emin had just been nominated 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 lead to Emin severing her and Childish's 14 year friendship in 1999. After this time all references to Childish have been removed from Emin's biography.^{[citation needed]}

Childish left the movement in 2001.

[edit] Music

His groups include The Pop Rivets (1977-1980), sometimes spelled the Pop Rivits (with Bruce Brand, 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)(The Buff Medwaysfor short) 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.

This is This album by Billy Childish's current band, the Buff Medways

Childish has been namechecked by a number of famous musicians including Kurt Cobain, 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 (Childish's own spelling).

He and Jack White fell out in March 2006. Childish criticised White in the US GQ magazine: "They don't have a good sound ... Jack's half into the sound and music, but then he wants to be a pop star as well, so you've got a big problem." White responded on the Stripes' website, accusing Childish of plagiarism and of being "the bitter garage rocker". Childish wrote an open letter to the NME saying White was jealous because he had "a bigger collection of hats, a better moustache ... and a fully developed sense of humour".^[5]

The Aquarium Gallery in London brought out a spoof boxing poster advertising Jack "Whingy" White v Billy "Bitter" Childish. Lawyers acting for the White Stripes removed the poster from eBay and have written to the gallery, claiming the poster violates their intellectual property rights.^[6] The poster was later reissued with the photographic image of White's head replaced with a cartoon. The gallery insist that this is not to be taken as an admission that they had breached any copyright, simply an attempt to prevent the poster from being withdrawn again; a copy of the old poster was included with sales of the new. The posters eventually sold £110 each, with the Aquarium converting half the profits into gold for White to collect from the gallery.

[edit] Discography

• Greatest Hits (1979) The Pop Rivets
• Empty Sounds from Anarchy Ranch (1979) The Pop Rivets
• Talkin' 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

[edit] 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")

[edit] Books

[edit] Poetry

• Back on Red Lite rd (1981)
• 2 Minits walk from 10am (1981)
• The First Creacher is Jellosey (1981)
• Black Things Hidden in Dust (1982)
• You Me Blud N Knuckle (1982)
• Big Cunt (1982)
• Prity Thing (1982)
• 7 by Childish (1982)
• Will the Circle be Unbroken (1983)
• 10 No Good Poems of Slavery, Buggery, Boredom and Disrespect (1983)
• Noting Can Stop This Man (1983)
• The Unknown Stuff (1983)
• Poems from the Barrier Block (1984)
• Tear Life to Pieces (1985)
• Poems Without Rhyme, Without Reason, Without Spelling, Without Words, Without Nothing (1985)
• Monks Without God (1986)
• Companions in a Death Boat (1987)
• To the Quick (1988)
• The Girl in the Tree (1988)
• Maverick Verse (1988)
• Admissions to Strangers (1989)
• En Carne Viva (1989) Spanish/English
• Death of a Wood (1989)
• The Deathly Flight of Angels (1990)
• Like a God i Love all Things (1991)
• The Hart Rises (1992)
• Trembling of Life (1993)
• Poems of Laughter and Violence -Selected Poems 1981-1986 (1993)
• Hunger at the Moon (1993)
• Days with a Hart Like a Dog (1994)
• Poems to Break the Harts of Impossible Princesses (1994)
• Big Hart and Balls (1995)
• This Purile Thing (1996)
• In 5 Minits You’ll Know Me -Selected Poems 1985-1995 (1996)
• A Terrible Hunger for Love (1997) Unpublished poems 1982-84
• “I’d Rather You Lied” Selected Poems 1980-1998 (1999)
• Chatham Town Welcomes Desperate Men (2000)
• Evidence Against Myself (2003)
• The Boss of All English Riters (2003)
• Calling Things by Their Proper Names (2003)
• Knite of the Sad Face (2004) Chap Book
• The 1st Green Horse God has Ever Made (2004)
• The Man with Gallows Eyes - Selected Poetry 1980-2005 (2005)

[edit] Fiction

• Conversations with Dr. X (1987)
• Cannon Fodder, Louis-Ferdinand Celine. Trans. K. De Coninck and B. Childish (1988)
• The Silence of Words (1989)

My Fault

[edit] Novels

• My Fault (1996)
• Notebooks of a Naked Youth (1997)
• Sex Crimes of the Futcher (2004)
• the ideocy of idears (2006/2007?)

My Fault and Sex Crimes of the Futcher are listed in Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in fiction

[edit] Lyrics

• Child's Death Letter (1990)
• Gun in My Fathers Hand: Selected Lyrics 1977-2006 (2006)

[edit] Paintings

• Paintings of a Backwater Visonary (2005)
• Thoughts of a Hangman - Woodcuts (2006)

[edit] See also

• Thee Headcoats
• Stuckism
• The Medway Poets
• Medway groups
• Tracey Emin
• Shooting at the Moon
• Punk literature
• Collective, a BBC website Childish contributes to.

[edit] Notes and References

1. ^ Interview with Charles Thomson on 3ammagazine.com
2. ^ "Billy Childish on Stuckism", trakmarx.com Accessed April 9, 2006
3. ^ Interview with Charles Thomson on artistica.com
4. ^ Thomas, Brett (2003)"Eminently outrageous" The Sydney Morning Herald online, February 3, 2003. Accessed April 29, 2006
5. ^ "Billy Childish hits back at Jack White" nme.com, March 3, 2006. Accessed April 29, 2006
6. ^ Adams, Guy (2006) "A Childish spat: 'Whingy' White calls in the lawyers" The Independent, March 14, 2006 (pay to view article). Accessed April 29, 2006

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Billy Childish

• Billy Childish official site
• Aquarium Gallery (represents Billy Childish)
• Billy Childish fan site
• MySpace Billy Childish Society
• Billy Childish interview with Tony DuShane on Drinks with Tony