Ah- the British- Where would we be without them? Their noble land has inspired a wealth of cultural touchstones- scones, Jack the Ripper and the U.S. Constitutional Right to Bear Arms to name three. In fact, every Southern gun rack-toter should write a pen pal to Parliament in gratitude for their grave ongoing threat. To relate this to the all-important world of rock criticism, futile battles have raged for years over which nation invented rock or perfected it. The ‘British Invasion’ period saw pasty art-school fops studying bacon-fat Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley riffs and churning out their own mutations in the form of the Stones, Animals, Kinks, Who and yes- the Beatles. American teenagers in turn formed their own combos to crank out amateurish hybrids of R&B and white teen sass, playing road-houses and school dances- the platonic ‘garage band’ ideal. After the bloat of early 1970s rawk excess, with both sides equally guilty, it took four snot-nosed punks from Queens (the Ramones) to kick England’s musical bum into gear again. Whichever side of the pond you choose to hang your hat on, this cultural push me-pull you has kept rock alive. America’s latest Saviors of Rock, The White Stripes, have stepped into the breach one again, recording their album Elephant at Liam Watson’s all-analog Toe Rag studios in London, and clarified their debt by dueting with Holly Golightly on the last track. What does it all mean?
Before the pixieish Detroit duo known as Jack and Meg White were glimmers in their mom(s)’ eye, young gawky Englishmen with funny hats were rocking the Bo Diddley beat into a crackling dimestore microphone. Billy Childish, a self-taught iconoclastic writer, poet, painter and WWI enthusiast, took Lou Reed’s minimal rock credo to heart- ‘…three chords is pushing it, four chords is jazz.’ Beginning in 1977, his numerous bands including the(e) Headcoats, Milkshakes, and most recently the Hendrix-inspired Buff Medways, Childish has cranked out music at a breakneck pace, exuding fun, spontaneity and live excitement. Childish’s rock trios utilized trusty barre chords, primitive drumming and thumping bass, with a snotty English delivery. The music owed as much to the pop bubblegum Nuggets of 1960s garage as the politically tinged DIY movement, with matching woolen caps and even a female spinoff band- the Headcoatees. (We’ll get back to them.) Through their prolific output and ceaseless touring, the Headcoats spread their pasty English seed on our shores thorugh two decades. In the 1990s, the band toured with such notorious Sub Pop acts as Mudhoney, and released an album on the label (The impishly titled Heavens to Murgatroid- It’s The Headcoats!) Childish’s influence shows no sign of waning in the 21st century. This fall his band the Buff Medways opened for indie-rock darlings Modest Mouse at Radio City Music Hall and performed at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in Los Angeles. In keeping with his response to this fame, the band recently released a seeming WWI concept album, 1914, featuring the members dressed in military regalia, lighting smokes on a dreary B/W battlefield. The Childish way will abide.
“Well Holly I love you too, but there’s just so much that I don’t know about you.”
- Jack White
With a name cribbed from the high-class prostitute in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, (her mother was reading Capote’s novel during her pregnancy), our next artist of the week began her career in the same garage family as Billy, as a founding member of the Headcoatees in 1991, but has since developed into one of the most distinctive rock singers and songwriters ‘on the scene,’ delivering smoky torch song put-downs set to fuzz guitar, tailor-made for late-night bleary reverie. The legend reads that she has driven trucks, lived on a boat, and trained horses. Be that as it may, her music is what makes it evident that she truly has lived. Holly and Childish recorded a version of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s erotic march ‘Sand’ on a 1999 collaboration. Just as 1960s chanteuse Nancy Sinatra wouldn’t be pinned to her “Boots” a-go-go image, Holly quickly put her Headcoatee days behind her. Holly recorded with the newly hot ‘White Stripes studio’ head Liam Watson for years before the Detroit duo entered the picture, releasing records on many labels starting with her 1995 solo debut The Good Things. Her 2001 singles collection collected the various strands that make her one of the true originals- from garage raveups to acoustic sultriness. The varying musical directions don’t clutter her sound- her voice remains. Garage disciples the Greenhornes backed Golightly on an American tour, demonstrating the continuing musical cross-fertilization that goes beyond glossy flavors of the month to the working club circuit. Last year, she released two albums, Truly She Is None Other and Slowly But Surely and she is currently touring the states.
To their credit, the White Stripes never claimed that what they do is strictly garage-rock; magazines do. The fact that they cite Childish and Golightly as influences speaks not just to ‘a sound’ but a choice. Each artist has maintained longevity by doing what they love best when they want to do it- writing and recording songs and building a body of work that is certifiably their own. Who wins in the latest UK/US battle of the bands? Everybody does.
Recommended Billy Childish ventures:
This Is This The Buff Medways. Damaged Goods. 2000.
Heavens to Murgatroid, It’s Thee Headcoats! Sub Pop. 1991.
Singles Roundup Damaged Goods. 2001
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