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Medway scene

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Music from north Kent
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The Medway scene consists of the bands and related cultural activities of the Medway Towns, north Kent, England. Main towns involved (from West to East) are Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, and Rainham. The Medway scene is typically dated from the punk era of the late 1970s, when the presence of the Medway College of Design (later Kent Institute of Art & Design and now UCA Rochester) influenced a "vibrant art, poetry and music scene."

History

Of Medway musicians, the best known is Billy Childish (from Chatham) who formed punk band The Pop Rivets in the late 1970s, and later formed The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways, The Musicians of the British Empire and The Chatham Singers, among others. His inspiration has led to many other bands forming who now have a worldwide cult following. Other notable bands include The Prisoners, The Dentists, The Claim and Thee Headcoatees. The music often draws heavily on the tradition of garage/punk/rock'n roll/raw-blues music from the 1950s and 1960s, hence references to the "Medway Delta". Records have been released on Big Beat, Media Burn and other small indie labels, as well as Childish's own Hangman Records and Hangman's Daughter, and latterly Damaged Goods Records. There has also been an accompanying, though not so well known, poetry scene, started by The Medway Poets in the late 1970s; Childish was a member of this group. There is also a crossover into art with the Stuckists art group.


The music scene in Medway continued to thrive beyond the turn of the Millennium, with many bands (see below) based in the Towns. A large selection of recordings from this period is available to enjoy via The Medway Scene (Post 2000) project hosted at Internet Archive.

Bands

This list is incomplete

A

  • Abinger Drive
  • Acker & The Nice Boys
  • Antmonkey
  • Airhead
  • Allfather
  • All Flags Burn
  • All the Flesh
  • Alvin Purple
  • The Ambience
  • Andy Pandys
  • Archie Wah Wahs
  • Armitage Shanks
  • The Accursed
  • Ascend To Glory
  • Audrey, Start The Revolution
  • Auntie Vegetable
  • Autumn Venture
  • Avokan

B

  • Bad Taxidermy
  • Balance Lost
  • Bassbreakz FM
  • The Baron Von Marlon
  • Bear vs Manero
  • Bela Lugosi Blues
  • Better Weather
  • The Beatles (Yellow Submarine)
  • Between the Eyes
  • The Big Three
  • Black Light Brigade
  • Black Lion Courtiers
  • Blind Lemon Pie
  • Bluevoid
  • Bonsai Reservoir
  • Brahma Bums
  • The Bresslaws
  • Brigadier Ambrose
  • Bring The Ruckus
  • The Bristols
  • Broken Banjo
  • The Buff Medways
  • The Blue Mantras

C

  • Calling Nova
  • Cakewalk
  • capitalH
  • Carpetburn
  • CarCrashTelevision
  • Cenet Rox
  • Cerulean Echoes
  • Cherubs
  • Chevouge
  • ChickenShit Blues Band
  • The Chatham Singers
  • Billy Childish and the Blackhands
  • Christlike Mints
  • The Claim
  • The Clockwork Spiders
  • Congress
  • County Lines
  • Cracked Actors
  • Cream Soda
  • Lupen Crook
  • Crustaceans (The)
  • Crybaby Special
  • Crystal Tips & Alastair
  • CTMF
  • Thee Cuss Words

D

  • The Daggermen
  • Graham Day and the Forefathers
  • Graham Day and the Gaolers
  • Dead Kaczynski
  • Death Awaits Us
  • The Deccas
  • Delayed Experience
  • The Delmonas
  • The Dentists
  • Dirty Vibes
  • The Discords
  • Disney Firetruck
  • Drawstring
  • Doubt
  • Dresden Style
  • The Drunken Popes
  • Dumb Angel

E

  • The Earls of Suave
  • The Effected
  • Eleusia
  • Envy
  • Esther Kane
  • Exoskeletons

F

  • Feed the Rhino
  • Five Days Time
  • Floreat
  • The Flowing
  • The Flying Isaacs
  • Fortune West
  • Footprints on the Ceiling
  • Frau Pouch
  • From Fags To Niggers

G

  • Galileo 7
  • Gash
  • The Germans
  • Get Rekt
  • Gin
  • Giraffe
  • Godsends
  • G-Pid
  • Grinners
  • Groovy Uncle
  • The Godless Reds
  • The Grand Merci
  • The Gruff Men

H

  • The Hamelins
  • Thee Headcoatees
  • Thee Headcoats
  • Heaven Sent
  • Heavy Mass Driver
  • The Herbs
  • The Hiding Place
  • Hold Your Fire
  • Houdini
  • The Hyacinth Girls
  • Hypnotic Eye

J

K

  • Karma
  • Jack Ketch and the Crowmen
  • Kid Harpoon
  • Kids Unique
  • KILL RPNZL
  • The Kravin' "A"s

L

  • Len Bright Combo
  • The Len Price 3
  • Let Our Enemies Beware
  • The Long Weekend
  • Loud Sounds Dept
  • Love Reptiles

M

N

  • The New
  • Night Shift
  • Niltones
  • Nine Days to No One
  • Nobby and the balloon pilots
  • Nutty Gig

O

  • The Ovines
  • One Day Elliot
  • Opus Trees
  • The Only Sun
  • Orphan
  • The Objectors

P

  • Paperfriend
  • Pandora
  • Penthouse
  • Petburger
  • Petts
  • Phineas Fogg
  • Pity Party
  • Planet Mushroom
  • Point IV
  • The Pop Rivets
  • Power in Motion
  • The Pressure
  • The Prime Movers
  • The Prisoners
  • The Product
  • Punching Swans
  • Pure Joy
  • Punyfish
  • Professional Biscuit Thief

Q

  • Quad Riot

R

  • The Reg Varney Trio
  • Reasonable Doubt
  • Red Light
  • Restoring Order
  • Robert Underwater
  • Rocking Richard and Whistling Vic Templar
  • Rubberhead
  • Racket Boyz

S

  • Saracen
  • Saturday Sunset
  • Scarecrow Asylum
  • Science Noodles
  • Second Sun
  • Sergeants' Mess
  • Silence Remains
  • Silesia
  • The Singing Loins
  • Slaves
  • Smile Wide
  • The Solarflares
  • The Spangalitos
  • Sparrows
  • Thee Spartan Dreggs
  • The Sputniks
  • The Stabilisers
  • The Stormkings
  • Story Books
  • The Strookas
  • Stumpgrinder
  • Sulphate
  • Sunshine Pony Finger
  • Sworn to Secrecy
  • The Syndromes

T

  • Tape Error
  • That Massive Bereavement
  • The Bluesmothers with Seven String Les
  • Theatre Royal
  • These Guilty Men
  • The Tinned Tomatoes
  • Timmy Tremolo
  • Things That Blink
  • The Men with the Golden Gonads
  • ThePARADE
  • Together, We Fight
  • Touch of Red
  • Toxic Frog
  • The Sulphur Scrubs
  • The Tour
  • The Trainset
  • The Wogans
  • Take a Stand
  • Stuart Turner
  • Turtle Circles

U

  • Underground Heroes
  • Univited Guests
  • Unknown Impulse
  • UpCDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start

V

  • The Vandebilts
  • The Vermin Poets
  • Vlks

W

Y

  • Ye Ascoynes D'Ascoynes

Z

  • Zen Bones
  • The Zac Schulze Gang

Medway Music Archived

The Medway Scene (Post 2000)

Selected discography

  • V/A – Medway Powerhouse, Vol One (LP) Hangman, 1987
  • V/A – Medway Powerhouse, Vol Two (LP) Hangman, 1987
  • V/A – Medway Powerhouse, Vol Three (LP) Hangman, 1988
  • V/A – Medway Powerhouse, Vol Four (LP) Hangman, 1989

Further reading

  • Collins, Bob and Snowball, Ian The Kids Are All Square: Medway Punk and Beyond 1977-1985, Countdown Books, 2014.
  • Holling, Saskia Girlsville: The Story of The Delmonas & Thee Headcoatees, Spinout Publications, 2021.
  • Morris, Stephen H. Do It Yourself: A History of Music in Medway, Cultured Llama, 2015.

References

  1. Holling, Saskia Girlsville. Spinout Publications, 2021, p20
  2. "Billy Childish and the Medway Scene". Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  3. "Going underground". Medway1.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  4. "Album Review: The Singing Loins – Stuff". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  5. "Music scene in the Medway towns". BBC News. 29 September 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  6. "Armitage Shanks (Chatham, Kent, England, UK) – Discography". Punkygibbon.co.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  7. "The Accursed – Discography". Punkygibbon.co.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  8. "Better Weather". Betterweathermusic.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  9. "BLACK.LIGHT.BRIGADE". 8 April 2014. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  10. "DETOUR RECORDS". Shop.detourrecords.co.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Vinyl Album: Various Artists – Medway Powerhouse Vol 1 (1987)". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  12. "The Discords – Appearances – Vinyl Albums". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  13. "Wedding Day Anti-Blues – Single, by Hypnotic Eye". Hypnotici.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  14. "Jack Ketch and the Crowmen – Appearances – Vinyl Albums". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  15. "The Long Weekend". Spotify. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  16. The Pressure
  17. "Rocking Richard And Whistling Vic Templar – Appearances – Vinyl Albums". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  18. "Vinyl Album: Various Artists – Medway Powerhouse Vol 4 (1989)". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
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