Punk / Original and Proto
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£ 24.99
- Ex Tax: £ 24.99
To Ease My Troubled Mind : The Authorised Unauthorised History of Billy Childish
Billy Childish - Book - by Ted Kessler
(2024)
In 1977, 17-year-old Steven Hamper was a stonemason in the dockyards of
Chatham, Kent. His heart, however, beat in sync with the punk rock
tremors of the era, seduced by its celebration of amateurism. So, in a
gesture of revolutionary defiance, he took a 3lb club hammer and smashed
his hand, vowing to never work again.
In doing so, Steven
Hamper metamorphosed into Billy Childish and formed his band, The Pop Rivets, a true renaissance man.
Childish has since remained steadfastly true to punk's DIY cred,
becoming one of the most recognisable and authentic voices in whichever
artistic endeavour he undertakes. He has released over one hundred and
fifty albums of raw rock and roll, punk, blues and folk, written many
volumes of searing poetry as well as several autobiographical novels.
But what he is perhaps best known for in recent years is his painting,
for which he is now critically, commercially and internationally feted.
He hasn't changed course in any of his disciplines, though. The world
just caught up with the sheer volume of his brutally honest work.
To Ease My Troubled Mind is a mosaic portrait collated over a year of
interviews with Childish, as well as with close family, ex-girlfriends,
bandmembers past and present, friends, foes, collaborators, even his
therapist. It is an unflinching, yet frequently spiritual and funny
portrait of an artist whose obstacle-strewn upbringing formed the
backbone of his work: raised in a broken home and abused as a child,
Childish was an undiagnosed dyslexic in remedial class at school who is
nevertheless now Britain's most prolific and uncompromising creative
force.
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