107 Tapes (Early Demos and Live Recordings)

This is a re-issue of the 1986 Media Burn compilation of demos from July 1981 and a couple of German live shows from April 1983. The Milkshakes were mainly Micky Hampshire (Guitar/Vocals), Billy Childish (Guitar/Vocals), Bruce Brand (Drums) and Russ Wilkins (Bass). When his punk band, the Pop Rivets, broke up in 1980, Billy Childish formed a new group with Mickey Hampshire, a Pop Rivets roadie who had been performing in a group called Mickey and the Milkshakes. The two began writing songs together and released their first LP, Talkin' About in 1981. With Childish on guitar and vocals, Hampshire on guitar and vocals, Bruce Brand on drums, and Russ Wilkins (later replaced by John Agnew) on bass, the Milkshakes' sound was a primitive blend of British beat groups, like the early Kinks at their toughest, and hard-rocking American guitar instrumentalists, like Link Wray. This sound came to be known as the "Medway sound" and Childish has been playing a variation on it throughout his whole career.