When I think of Billy Childish I also think of English outsiders like Lawrence from Felt, Denim etc, and David and Rachel from Comet Gain. People who’ve used the dole and housing benefits as a basis from which to build ‘careers’ as music makers no matter what the financial, mental and physical cost - and if you don’t think hauling heavy amps and musical equipment from one end of the street/city/country to the other isn’t relentlessly hard work then try it for a year or so for a few quid and the half-hearted applause from strangers. Yeah? The hard scrabble to be a musician or an artist without regular cash/rich parents is a challenging one which is why so many eventually resort to the 9 to 5. It’s therefore important that people like this don’t become wry musical/artistic footnotes and are celebrated, hard scrabble or not, although there’s plenty of hard scrabble in Ted Kessler’s To Ease My Troubled Mind. And plenty of joy, pain and inspiration if you want it. Whatever you think of Billy Childish, and I’m not a fan, he’s a remarkable individual and it’s to Ted Kessler’s credit that he manages to catch some of his (occasionally) dislikable, oppositional and awkward spirit via interviews, stories from his life, snippets from his books and comments from various friends, lovers, acquaintances, and band members - ex or otherwise. Arguably he’s being written about now because he’s a success, but he’s a success because he’s worked hard. As one of his friends says, “You put in a thousand hours a year. There’s no shortcut…that’s what Billy did. He just did the work.” His paintings now sell for five figure sums. He’s still knocking albums out. The boy done well. And, I guess I should say, the folks at White Rabbit have done well too, commissioning and publishing a superb book which will be there or thereabouts in plenty of year-end best ofs/must reads. Totally recommended.

To Ease My Troubled Mind: The Authorised Unauthorised History of Billy Childish – Ted Kessler – published by White Rabbit - £30.00

Steven Long