Medway scene

The Medway scene consists of the bands and related cultural activities in the Medway Towns, north Kent, England. Main towns involved (from West to East) are Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, and Rainham.

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 Thee 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 acclaimed bands have included 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.

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
• Arctic Star
• Armitage Shanks
• The Accursed
• Ascend To Glory
• Audrey, Start The Revolution
• Auntie Vegetable
• Autumn Venture
• Avokan

B

• Bad Taxidermy
• Balance Lost
• The Baron Von Marlon
• Bear vs Manero
• Bela Lugosi Blues
• Better Weather
• Between the Eyes
• 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
• Cerulean Echoes
• Cherubs
• Chevouge
• ChickenShit Blues Band
• The Chatham Singers
• Billy Childish and the Blackhands
• The Claim
• The Clockwork Spiders
• Congress
• Cracked Actors
• 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
• The Delmonas
• The Dentists
• Dirtie Bertie
• Dirty Vibes
• The Discords
• Drawstring
• Dresden Style
• The Drunken Popes
• Dumb Angel

E

• The Earls of Suave
• The Effected
• Eleusia
• Envy
• 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
• 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
• Hypnotic Eye

J

• Jack Gedge
• The James Taylor Quartet
• Johnny & the Bandits
• Josh Carson

K

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

L

• Len Bright Combo
• The Len Price 3
• Let Our Enemies Beware
• The Long Weekend
• The Lovedays
• The Love Family
• Love Reptiles

M

• The Masonics
• Men from Memphis
• mexicoFALLZ
• Mickey & The Milkshakes
• Thee Mighty Caesars
• The Milkshakes
• Millions of Brazilians
• The Mindreaders
• Sexton Ming
• The Musicians of the British Empire

N

• Naked
• Near Ruin
• Needs Must
• The New
• Night Shift
• Niltones
• Nine Days to No One
• Nutty Gig

O

• The Ovines
• The Offbeats
• One Day Elliot
• The Only Sun
• On Margate Sands
• Orphan
• Oubliette
• 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
• Restoring Order
• Robert Underwater
• Rocking Richard and Whistling Vic Templar
• The Round
• Racket Boyz

S

• Saracen
• Saturday Sunset
• Scarecrow Asylum
• Science Noodles
• Second Sun
• Sergeants' Mess
• The Shagmonroes
• Silence Remains
• Silesia
• The Singing Loins
• Slaves
• Smile Wide
• The Solarflares
• The Spangalitos
• Sparrows
• Thee Spartan Dreggs
• The Sputniks
• Spyder Byte
• The Stabilisers
• The Stormkings
• Story Books
• The Strookas
• Stuart Turner
• Sulphate
• Swinging Time
• 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
• The Sulphur Scrubs
• The Tour
• The Trainset
• Take A Stand
• Turtle Circles

U

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

V

• The Vandebilts
• The Vermin Poets
• Vlks

W

• WhiteDevilWhiteDevil
• White Heat
• Wiremother
• The Wild
• Wipeout
• Wooden Dogs

Y

• Ye Ascoynes D'Ascoynes

Z

• Zen Bones

Notable musicians

• Holly Golightly
• Wolf Howard

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