Thee Headcoatees were an all-female
garage
A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include:
*Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...
band formed in
Chatham, Kent,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1991. They were part of the
Medway scene
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 dat ...
. The members were
Holly Golightly, Kyra LaRubia, Ludella Black and "Bongo" Debbie Green.
Formation
Thee Headcoatees were formed by
Billy Childish as a backing group for his band
Thee Headcoats
Thee Headcoats was a band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1989, that was well known for its garage rock sound, explicitly sticking to this style on almost all of their albums. The band's signature sound as well as their prolific writing has ...
. Ludella Black's previous band The Delmonas had performed the same function for Childish's earlier bands, starting with The Milkshakes. Their songs were principally written by Billy Childish and were songs that did not suit his own acts. After Holly Golightly did a cameo appearance with Thee Headcoats, Childish added her to The Delmonas lineup; soon thereafter the band was renamed Thee Headcoatees.
History
As a backing band Thee Headcoatees initially would just do a few songs to warm up for Thee Headcoats. Their song "Headcoat Girl" on ''The Sisters of Suave'' even states "I wanna be a headcoat girl". In 1991 the band cut their first album ''Girlsville'' for
Hangman Records. It consisted of songs written by Billy Childish and covers of songs by The Kinks (Last Plane Home), The Beatles (Run For Your Life), The Tamrons (Wild Man) and more. In 1998 Debbie Green left the band, which was reduced to a three piece for their final album, ''Here Comes Cessation''. Thee Headcoatees continued to tour with Thee Headcoats until the group folded in 1999.
Post break-up
Holly Golightly has gone on to pursue a solo career, recording more than ten LPs, and has worked with the bands
The Greenhornes
The Greenhornes were an American garage rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in 1996 by vocalist/guitarist Craig Fox, bass guitarist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler. They released their debut album '' Gun For You'' in 1999, follo ...
and
The White Stripes
The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...
and in her latter career has formed the band Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs.
Kyra and Debbie went on to sing for The A Lines (featuring Delia from
Mambo Taxi and Julie Hamper of Billy Childish's Musicians of the British Empire); Debbie and Delia currently play in Ye Nuns. Kyra and Ludella later appeared in The Shall I Say Quois alongside Julie Hamper, while Debbie also went on to play with Dutronc, Baby Birkin and The Speed of Sound; she also drummed and sang with
Would-Be-Goods, and recorded in The Buffets, alongside Hamper.
Album discography
*''Girlsville'' (1991)
*''Have Love Will Travel'' (1992)
*''Ballad Of The Insolent Pup'' (1994)
*''Bozstik Haze'' (1997)
*''Punk Girls'' (1997)
*''Here Comes Cessation'' (1999)
*''The Sisters Of Suave'' (1999)
ingles compilationref>
References
External links
Complete discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thee Headcoatees
English punk rock groups
British indie rock groups
English girl groups
Garage punk groups
All-female bands
Musical groups established in 1991
1991 establishments in England
Musical groups disestablished in 1999
1999 disestablishments in England
Musical groups from Kent