Billy Childish, Rough Trade 14/8/09

On the way to Rough Trade in Brick Lane I cut down Fournier St where I spy for the second time up close;  two of our greatest national treasures, Gilbert and George. The first time was many years ago in Streatham Hill when I passed them in the street and on turning round for one final look, found George doing exactly the same thing to me! Anyway, as always, I digress (sort of) which brings me to Chatham’s own punk rock renaissance man – painter, poet, author, musician and of recent years, the very dapper Billy Childish. One of the few men who can carry a moustache and a collarless shirt with any sort of panache.
Childish is at Rough Trade for one of their regular free in-store gigs which make up a significant part of my own gift economy. The introductory abortive poetry set almost descends into farce as Billy denigrates his own work, forgets the words and generally exhibits a lack of motivation for the whole idea. Plucking victory from the jaws of defeat he spontaneously delivers a hauntingly powerful a cappella of  “Black Girl” aka “In the Pines” aka “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” and things start looking up.

The shambling antics continue as he ineptly tunes the guitar, asking the audience for advice and stops the first number halfway through to get the bass sound adjusted. But when The Musicians Of The British Empire get their mojo working it’s electrifying; the primal energy and raw power reminds you why you fell in love with rock n’ roll in the first place. This is why a loud trashy guitar, bass, drums and voice remain such a potent musical formula – these are the base atavistic elements of rock n’ roll and they ain’t going away baby.
Childish has an amusing line in self-deprecating patter which belies his (and his band’s) abilities as they blast through a set of loud reductive rock which includes covers of The Who and Jimi Hendrix. This and the trash aesthetic that embraces the fetishism of vintage Hagstrom guitars et al* are the true signifiers of garage rock…just don’t call it garage rock. Billy’s assertion is that they are a rock n’ roll band, it’s the press that labels them garage rock because they don’t understand the tradition and lineage of rock n’ roll music.This punk-inspired theme of authenticity is something he keeps returning to which leaves me torn as I am equally prone to artifice in music as I am to the former. However, at the end of the day (to coin a crap phrase); authentic or not, great music will always ring my bell – so ding dong to Billy Childish and The Musicians Of The British Empire.

*The Musicians Of The British Empire even have their own (admittedly beautiful) set of upright Shure PA speakers which must be approaching 50 years of age.

Post-script
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to capture my cd in its full glory on the shelves at Rough Trade – humour me…