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THEE HEADCOATS

Thee Headcoats

Heavens To Murgatroyd, Even! It's Thee Headcoats! (Already) - 2023 Reissue

    Reissue of classic album originally released by Sub Pop Records in 1990! Now with new artwork + two extra tracks (‘Girl From ’62’ was originally released as the A-side of a single on Regal Select Records, USA 1991 / ‘Troubled Times’ – was the B-side of a single on Dog Meat Records, Australia 1990). 

    Q&A with Billy Childish (September 2023)

    What’s the story behind the album title?

    “Heavens to Murgatroyd, even!” is a term of surprise by Snagglepuss, a bright pink lion, who starred in his very own Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The term was famously employed by The Downliners Sect on the intro to their top tune ‘Leader of The Sect’.

    This album originally came out on Sub Pop Records in 1990. The label was known for US grunge at the time, how come they ended up working with a Medway garage ‘n’ racket group?

    We prefer the term “Maximum Drums and Racket”. It all came about because a young Steve Turner, of Mudhoney fame, when a young lad visiting England with his father, happened across Thee Mighty Caesars playing at The Cricketers Public House at the Oval. Fast forward five years and he is telling the Seattle Grunge mob all about how great we are. We were then invited to play with Mudhoney on their first Sub Pop jaunt in the UK. Bruce Pavitt, the Sub Pop visionary, saw our mass appeal and asked if we'd knock out an LP for Sub Pop. He also asked me to sign a contract. I replied - “what’s a contract, can you eat it?” By this good chance we still owned the LP.

    You recorded the album at Red Studios in Wouldham, near Rochester in Kent. What are your memories of recording there?

    It was all fine and dandy, I won’t go into details as I don’t want to embarrass Red Rodders, the engineer. Let’s just say there was a lot of marsh gas down Wouldham way.

    Some of the tracks were recorded with Ollie Dolot (The Squares) on bass and backing vocals. How long was he in the band and why did he end up leaving?

    Ollie was in for a good few months. Ron (Bruce) roped him in. Then whilst helping out The Cramps with their show at the Town and Country Club (formerly the home of British Fascism) we ran into Tub and knowing him from when he was guitarist with Mike Spenser and The Cannibals we asked if he'd like to twang the onion twine. Ron then told Ollie he was out the band sunshine and that it was me who had thrown him out. Which was not the case, it was Ron. I also think Ollie may have been absent due to being nicked for house breaking, or something. Strange but true.

    This new edition is expanded with two non-album tracks and has brand new artwork. What made you want to release it with a different cover?

    Sub Pop did the cover without asking - a bit of a shocker! This cover is near to what we would have done ourselves. The two extra tracks would have been on the original LP, but they got swiped as 45s by small labels desperate to get a bit of gold.

    Are there any songs on the album that you’re particularly proud of?

    They are all pretty top notch but ‘We're Gone’ and ‘Rusty Hook’ sit nicely with ‘Troubled Mind’ and ‘Girl From ‘62’.

    Along with the 13 Childish-penned tracks is a cover of ‘Stewball’, a song made famous by Leadbelly and later covered by several artists in the 1960s. What made you want to record your own version?

    I just love Leadbelly. I believe we even brought him to the mind of that young fellow-me-lad Kurt Cobain.



    TRACK LISTING

    Thee Headcoats - Troubled Times
    Thee Headcoats - Mantrap
    Thee Headcoats - No Way Out
    Thee Headcoats - Reindeer Are Wild
    Thee Headcoats - Hand To Hand
    Thee Headcoats - Headcoat Man
    Thee Headcoats - Girl Of Matches
    Thee Headcoats - Girl From '62
    Thee Headcoats - I Don't Like The Man I Am
    Thee Headcoats - Pocahontas Was Her Name
    Thee Headcoats - We're Gone
    Thee Headcoats - Stewball
    Thee Headcoats - I Ain't About To Give You My Name
    Thee Headcoats - Rusty Hook

    Thee Headcoats

    Leaders Of The Sect

      Thee Headcoats are arguably the most famous and influential of the many group incarnations that Billy Childish has formed or performed in since 1977. Cited in the New York Times - back in the day - as 'the undisputed kings of garage rock', Thee Headcoats rule (1989 - 2000) saw them as Childish's most prolific group - up until that time - releasing upwards of eighteen albums and over 45 singles. Thee Headcoats performed their last gig in 2000.

      With a 'break' of twenty-two years, Thee Headcoats got together over a weekend earlier this year and recorded a brand new LP, a 45 and an EP. These being released through Damaged Goods Records.

      Here, Spinout Nuggets comes into the picture. Having the ear of mister Childish, our executives convinced the Dearstalking Man to allow us access to the original tapes and can now proudly present a 45 from that same great session, allowing the listener an earhole of a 'Bona' alternative version of 'Leader Of The Sect', - complete with 'Round The Horns Sandy and Julian' on the intro (also listen out for Thee Headcoatees on backing vocals).

      This is coupled with an unreleased rendition of 'Paralysed By The Mountains'. Our advice: don't hang about if you want this classic piece of wax spinning on your turntable, as Thee Headcoats' 45s don't go stale on the shelf. The Kids might be all Square, but this is HIP!

      TRACK LISTING

      Side A
      Leader Of The Sect 'Bona!' (2:32)
      Side B
      Paralysed By The Mountains (3:31)
      The Lynx (4:01)

      Thee Headcoats

      Irregularis (The Great Hiatus)

        The undisputed kings of garage rock are back! It’s been 22 years since the last Headcoats album, but now Billy, Bruce, and Johnny return with a brand-new studio album! Recorded last year at Ranscombe Studios in Rochester. Billy, Bruce, and Johnny kindly answered some pertinent questions…You got back together recently as Thee Headcoats Sect to make the ‘Tribute to Don Craine’ EP.

        What was it like working with each other again after all this time? BILLY: It was 'fab' and 'gear.' BRUCE: The weirdest thing for me was how weird it wasn't. It was like time compressed, but to the 'good old days', early on. I was wary that it 'wouldn't be like Thee Headcoats', but it was. JOHNNY: I'm with Bruce and Billy on that one. I think we were all surprised how it all just worked. If I remember correctly, we kicked off role playing like we detested each other. Then we got started and well, you can hear the result. What were the first songs you ran through when you got in the studio? BILLY: That’s a very good question. No idea. BRUCE: I can't remember. They all sound the same to me. JOHNNY: Bill had stuff on his phone that went “KSSHHCCCKSSHHHH”! So, we did that first. You’ve also paid tribute to Don with a track on the Irregularis album – ‘Oh Leader We Do Dig Thee’. He was, along with the other members of Downliners Sect, a big inspiration to Thee Headcoats. When did you first become aware of his music and what was he like to work with? BRUCE: We were given (or possibly lent) a reissue of the Sect's first LP around 1977, marketed as 'Punk From The Vaults', which certainly floated our boats and definitely popped our corks, due to the somewhat aggressive yet carefree nature of the tunes and sound in general. Ollie, our old bassist, found an ad in a trade magazine for them with a contact number for a Michael O'Donnell, which I excitedly called almost immediately. T'was none other than Don his'self and we managed to convince him into venturing down to Rochester to record some tunes with us which became the first Headcoat Sect EP. We were fairly starstruck and presented him with a brand new 'dearstalker' (or 'Headcoat', as they were now known). He was very accommodating and a great laugh and spent the evening with us, regaling us with tales of yore. I recorded a lot of it on cassette, which I may still have somewhere. Gawd bless Don.

        TRACK LISTING

        1. The Baker Street Irregulars
        2. Full Time Plagiarist
        3. The Ballad Of Malcolm Laphroaig
        4. Cops And Robbers
        5. Mr H Headcoat
        6. Thee Headcoatitude
        7. Tubs Help Out
        8. The Leader Of The Sect
        9. Oh Leader We Do Dig Thee
        10. One Ugly Child
        11. 7% Solution
        12. The Kids Are All Square

        Thee Headcoats / CTMF

        Full Time Plagiarist

          Thee Headcoats and CTMF go head-to-head! Two Billy Childish bands battle it out with versions of the same song! Thee Headcoats version is taken from their forthcoming new studio album Irregularis: The Great Hiatus. The CTMF version is exclusive to this release. Two versions of the same song by different bands. Has each band heard the other version? If so, did they pass judgement? No, neither group heard the other version. I had forgotten how the CTMF version went - even though it was only a few weeks past. As with all the LPs there’s no rehearsal. I play the track - we do a run through and then press record. I don’t remember how either version goes now. There’s a famous saying – “Talent borrows; genius steals”. Are you a borrower? A stealer? Or something else entirely? As I’ve said before, I follow strict music industry guidelines and only plagiarise 50 percent of my material. Kurt Cobain put it better - he said people thought he was original because he didn’t let on what he was ripping off. Though we know he got the riff to his most famous song from The Daggermen, a local group Wolf (our drummer) played in. What was it like recording with Bruce and Johnny after such a long time? We met up in the studio in the morning, had a cuppa, a chat, plugged in and recorded the LP (in two days.) It was the first time we'd all been together in about 30 years, and it felt like yesterday - just laughing and joking about how rubbish we were and generally having fun. It was like no time had passed at all. Love the sleeve picture for this 7”! A lot of people miss the humour in your work, does that frustrate you? I’m not frustrated but surprised that the British seem to have lost their sense of humour somewhat - they’ve been pretty po-faced since 1978, I think. I was brought up on Pete and Dud when I was a kid. Interestingly a lot of comedians seem to like what we do. Stewart Lee has always been a fan and he said there are others of his ilk. If something can’t be mocked or laughed at, I’m not that interested in it

          Thee Headcoats

          Head Box

            A boxed set of 4 CDs featuring four classic albums by Thee Headcoats! We present four albums by Thee Headcoats in a clamshell box set complete with booklet. With exclusive new artwork by Bruce Brand at Arthole! The four albums in the set are - Headcoats Down! The Kids are all Square, This Is Hip! Headcoatitude W.O.A.H! Bo in Thee Garage Thee Headcoats was a band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1989, that was well known for its garage rock sound, explicitly sticking to this style on almost all of their albums. The band's signature sound as well as their prolific writing has been attributed to Billy Childish's love of simple, direct recording. The band has been on multiple labels including Billy's own Hangman Records, Damaged Goods and Sub Pop. Described in the New York Times as 'the king of garage rock', Thee Headcoats had their roots in the British punk scene of the 1970s (both Billy and Bruce playing in The Pop Rivets and The Milkshakes). The band recorded songs by The Clash under the pseudonym Thee Stash. The band also recorded tribute albums to Bo Diddley and Jimmy Reed. Their debut album featured new versions of songs recorded by Son House including 'John the Revelator' and 'Child's Death Letter', both of which were later covered by The White Stripes upon whom Billy and Thee Headcoats were a great influence. These influences give a good indication of the band's sound; punk mixed with pure rhythmic rock 'n' roll and blues. 

            Thee Headcoats Sect

            A Tribute To Don Craine EP

              Four song Extended Play 7” by Thee Headcoats Sect! “Absolutely fantastic, cracking rhythm 'n' blues, best thing I've heard for years!” - Rob Symmons (The Fallen Leaves) After 23 years off Thee Headcoats (Billy, Bruce and Tub) have again teamed up with Keith Evans of Downliners Sect, to record a top notch Extended Play as Thee Headcoat Sect. 'The Backer Street Irregulars' features Keith on lead vocals, still equipped with all the power, fun and attitude that put him at the top of the tree of British R'n'B vocalists back in the heyday of rhythm and beat. The EP was recorded in honour of their dear friend Don Craine (the leader of the Sect), who passed over in February 2022. 

              TRACK LISTING

              A1 – The Baker Street Irregulars
              A2 – Oh Leader, We Do Dig Thee
              B1 – One Ugly Child
              B2 – The Ballad Of Malcolm Laphroaig (Alt Version)

              Thee Headcoats

              Down

                A re-issue of the very first Headcoats album that originally came out on Hangman Records in 1989. Features 12 tracks including "Young Blood" and "You're Looking Fine".


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