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, I ...

s and related cultural activities of the

Medway Towns Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to f ...

, north

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, 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 C ...

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 le ...

(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 Thee 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 Medway ...

, 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 notable bands include The Prisoners,

The Dentists ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, 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 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 th ...

, 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 ...

. There has also been an accompanying, though not so well known, poetry scene, started by

The Medway Poets The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, Kent, in 1979. They were an English punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy Childish, Robert Earl, Bill Lewis ...

in the late 1970s; Childish was a member of this group. There is also a crossover into art with the

Stuckists Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.The Medway Scene (Post 2000)
project hosted at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

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

B

*Bad Taxidermy *Balance Lost *Bassbreakz FM *The Baron Von Marlon *Bear vs Manero *Bela Lugosi Blues *Better Weather *The Beatles (Yellow Submarine) *Between the Eyes *The Big Three *Black Light Brigade *Black Lion Courtiers *Blind Lemon Pie *Bluevoid *Bonsai Reservoir *Brahma Bums *The Bresslaws *

Brigadier Ambrose Brigadier Ambrose are an alternative pop band from Chatham, England. After releasing a series of digital only singles, playing various festivals, and recording sessions for BBC Radio One at Maida Vale, the band released their debut and only alb ...

*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 *

and the Blackhands *Christlike Mints * The Claim *The Clockwork Spiders *Congress *Cracked Actors *

Lupen Crook Lupen Crook is an English musician and songwriter. Style Initially making his name as an acoustic singer-songwriter, Lupen Crook (real name Matthew Pritchard) has gone on to create an eclectic music style incorporating garage rock, "broken fol ...

*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 *Delayed Experience * The Delmonas *

*Dirtie Bertie *Dirty Vibes *The Discords *Disney Firetruck *Drawstring *Dresden Style *The Drunken Popes *Dumb Angel

E

*The Earls of Suave *The Effected *Eleusia *Envy *Esther Kane *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 *James Doyle * The James Taylor Quartet *Johnny & the Bandits *Josh Carson *Joy Events *Just The Noses

K

*Karma *Jack Ketch and the Crowmen *

Kid Harpoon Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Career Already a fixture at local venues in his hometown of Chatham, Kid Harpoon first emerg ...

*Kids Unique *KILL RPNZL *The Kravin' "A"s *Kris Dollimore

L

* Len Bright Combo *The Len Price 3 *Let Our Enemies Beware *The Long Weekend *Loud Sounds Dept *The Lovedays *Love Reptiles

M

*The Masonics *Men from Memphis *mexicoFALLZ *Mickey & The Milkshakes *

The Milkshakes 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 le ...

*Millions of Brazilians * The Mindreaders * Sexton Ming * The Musicians of the British Empire *The Men with the Golden Gonad
The Men with the Golden Gonads playing Pipeline

N

*Naked * Near Ruin *Needs Must *The New *Night Shift *Niltones *Nine Days to No One *Nobby and the balloon pilots *Nutty Gig

O

*The Ovines *One Day Elliot *Opus Trees *The Only Sun *Orphan *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 *Red Light *Restoring Order *Robert Underwater *Rocking Richard and Whistling Vic Templar *Rubberhead *Racket Boyz

S

*Saracen *Saturday Sunset *Scarecrow Asylum *Science Noodles *Second Sun *Sergeants' Mess *Silence Remains *Silesia *The Singing Loins *Slaves *Smile Wide *The Solarflares *The Spangalitos *Sparrows * Thee Spartan Dreggs *The Sputniks *The Stabilisers *The Stormkings * Story Books * The Strookas * Stuart Turner *Stumpgrinder *Sulphate *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 *Touch of Red *Toxic Frog *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 * The William Loveday Intention *Wiremother *The Wild *Wipeout *Wooden Dogs

Y

*Ye Ascoynes D'Ascoynes

Z

*Zen Bones *The Zac Schulze Gang

Notable musicians

* Holly Golightly

Medway Music Archived

The Medway Scene (Post 2000)

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

References

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