Billy Childish
What music are you currently grooving to?
Today, when I was painting, The Early Music Show on Radio 3, it was (looks it up) ‘A Celebration Of The 450th Anniversary Of The Birth Of The Composer Thomas Tomkins.’
It sounded sort of like somebody keying into some spiritual, ritual element of himself in nature. But I’d never heard of him until today, and I won’t remember him tomorrow. What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? An impossible question. I’ll say
King Of The Delta Blues Singers. But if you ask me in 10 minutes it would be different. What was the first record you ever
bought? And where did you buy it? Strawberry Fields, from Boots in Chatham. It was a bit like when I first heard Jimi Hendrix in ’67, it sounded like it could almost be power drills it sounded so weird, like when people first went to the cinema and thought the train on the screen was going to run them over.
Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? When I was a kid, Jimi Hendrix, because of my intense sort of emotional feeling about him.
What do you sing in the shower? Things I’m working on. Oh, Julie [Mrs Childish, speaking offstage] said I sing Grizzly Bear, the work song.
What is your favourite Saturday night record? Ramones, Doors, early Kinks,
early Rolling Stones, early Bob Dylan, early Who, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, early Ike and Tina, Janis Joplin doing Ball And Chain
at Monterey, Wilson Pickett,
Billie Holiday. I’ve been known to, like, possibly dance to Jimmy Reed, otherwise I probably don’t move. And your Sunday morning record? Music on a Sunday morning, what do you think this place is? We don’t listen to music on a Sunday morning. Julie does, she has playlists. She likes all sorts of nonsense, ‘Classic Rock’ she calls it. Ha ha! She’s giving me the finger, she’s American.
The William Loveday Intention’s The Baptiser is out now; Paralysed By
The Mountains is released on April 29 (both Damaged Goods).