The Medway scene consists of the

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

s and related cultural activities of the

Medway Towns Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

, north

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. Main towns involved (from West to East) are

Strood Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. Strood forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It ...

, 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 The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Co ...

and now UCA Rochester) influenced a "vibrant art, poetry and music scene."

History

Of Medway musicians, the best known is

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper; 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer, and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing, and visual art. He has ...

(from Chatham) who formed

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band The Pop Rivets in the late 1970s, and later formed The Milkshakes,

Thee Mighty Caesars Thee Mighty Caesars were a Medway scene garage/ punk group, formed by Billy Childish (vocals/guitar) in 1985 after the demise of The Milkshakes, alongside John Agnew (bass) and Graham Day (drums), who initially was still also in fellow Med ...

Thee Headcoats Thee Headcoats is a band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1989, that was notable for its garage rock sound. The band has been on multiple labels including Billy Childish's own Hangman Records, Damaged Goods and Sub Pop. The band played t ...

, 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 A prisoner is someone incarcerated in a prison, jail or similar facility. Prisoner(s) or The Prisoner(s) may also refer to: Literature * ''The Prisoner'' (), the fifth volume of ''In Search of Lost Time'', a 1913–27 novel by Marcel Proust * ' ...

The Dentists : ''This band is unrelated to the short-lived Nazi punk band of the same name. See Nazi punk for information on the latter.'' The Dentists were an English indie rock band from the Medway towns (as part of the '' Medway scene'') in England, who ...

, The Claim and

Thee Headcoatees Thee Headcoatees were an all-female garage band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1991. They were part of the Medway scene. The members were Holly Golightly, Kyra LaRubia, Ludella Black and "Bongo" Debbie Green. Formation 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 Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as the ...

, Media Burn and other small indie labels, as well as Childish's own Hangman Records and Hangman's Daughter, and latterly

Damaged Goods Records Damaged Goods is a British independent record label. History Damaged Goods records formed in 1988 from a living room in east London. The first release was a re-issue of the 1977 single by Slaughter and the Dogs, "Where Have All the Bootboys Gon ...

References

{{Reflist Medway Garage rock English styles of music Music scenes Culture in Kent

History

Further reading

References