Review from The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, May 18th

The Buff Medways Steady the Buffs (Transcopic, £13.99)

A DEBUT album from a trio named after a breed of chicken. The Buff Medways is in fact the latest nom de guerre for garage-rock luddite Billy Childish. Thus, quite apart from the Chatham-based artist's renown as writer, painter and ex-boyfriend of Tracey Emin,Steady the Buffs arrives carrying the hefty baggage of the 99 albums he has made to date. You might think that anyone who has been in bands for 25 years and still isn't famous is destined never to be so.

Childish has certainly never courted popularity, but his underdog status is under threat, largely due to the patronage of the White Stripes, the Hives and Blur's Graham Coxon, who runs the Transcopic label, Here, Childish remains true to his principles, blasting out low-fidelity but high-quality, neo-Sixties beat tunes with a verve that puts the latest crop of young 'uns to shame. Childish has picked a good time to make one of his punchiest records.
Andrew Perry.

US NEWS!

This album is due a US release via Amphetamine Reptile Records on 21st Jan 2003, Catalogue number ARP 10073. More information here (please note this is a Acrobat PDF file.

Amphetamine Reptile Press Release
Let's get right to the point: who isn't sick and tired of hearing about bands "bringing back rock 'n roll?" How can something be brought back that never fucking left in the first place? For over twenty years, Billy Childish has been cranking out raw garage rock 'n roll so good that, of course, us shaved apes stateside are only now catching up. Y'see, Billy Childish is, in his own right, a legend. The ironic thing, however, is that he's most legendary with artists who have gone on to greater success under his influence. Such current all-stars as The White Stripes and The Hives have gone on record as devotees of the man. With such influential line-ups as The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars and Thee Headcoats, among others, Childish has released so many records it would make James Brown's head spin. Steady The Buffs clocks in as Billy Childish's 100th full album. After the demise of Thee Headcoats, Childish continued to focus on his art and poetry in the UK, unable to keep himself out of music.

The start of the new century also marked the start of Billy Childish's new musical project, The Buff Medways. Featuring Childish and ex-members of the Daggermen, the group has come together to carry on the tradition that Billy Childish has been nurturing for the last 20 years. The Buff Medways create a postmodern crisis-management feeling, somehow crafting songs that sound like they were written in collaboration with The Sonics or early Who - a timeless garage sound that never grows tired. The feeling of a sweaty basement, of having the greatest time of your life, of not giving a shit about anything but you and your best mates - such is the aura of The Buff Medways.

Press Quotes
"One of the most prolific and overlooked of the original British punks, Billy Childish has spent nearly 20 years recording scores of no-budget albums for tiny, penniless record labels the world over. Under his own name and with Thee Headcoats, The Pop Rivets, Thee Mighty Caesars and The Milkshakes, he has recorded upward of 80 albums, every one of them in a stripped-down, cockney-accented anti-style that casts the timeless rock 'n' roll raveup as a traditional folk form." -James Sullivan, SF Weekly

"If you get off on rough, real music, then Billy Childish is your man!" - Kerrang!