Thee Headcoats - And The Band Played Johnny B. Goode (Taken from forthcoming LP)

A taster from the band's forthcoming album 'The Sherlock Holmes Rhythm & Beat Vernacular'.

To be released on CD, LP and digital by Damaged Goods Records on 14th November 2025.

PRE-ORDER CD or LP - https://shop.damagedgoods.co.uk/produ...

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“The undisputed kings of garage rock” (New York Times) are back once again!

Two years on from their 2023 album Irregularis (The Great Hiatus), Thee Headcoats are back with a new record that ranks alongside the very best of their 1990s albums. We proudly present to you The Sherlock Holmes Rhythm ’n’ Beat Vernacular. Featuring 12 fab cuts (or ditties if you prefer) recorded last year at Ranscombe Studios in Rochester.
The Sherlock Holmes Rhythm ’n’ Beat Vernacular will be released on the same day as Man-Trap, a brand-new album by Thee Headcoatees, which features the chaps on rhythm section duties.

Thee Headcoats – a short history

One of the many musical outfits led by Billy Childish, Thee Headcoats is his most prolific group to date (we think). No small wonder, given Billy’s ceaseless creativity and busy release schedule. Thee Headcoats play tough, R&B-influenced rock ’n’ roll influenced by the the early Kinks, Pretty Things and more importantly, The Downliners Sect, with an added sense of fun informed by Bruce the drummer’s fascination with Deerstalker hats. Thee Headcoats established their template on early LPs like The Earls of Suavedom (1989) and Heavens to Murgatroyd, Even! It's Thee Headcoats! (Already) (SubPop, 1990). A leaner, more punk-oriented attack emerged on latter-day albums such as 1998’s The Messerschmitt Pilot's Severed Hand, yet the boys never abandoned their commitment to raucous ’60s-informed R’n’B, sounding essentially unchanged on 2023's reunion masterpiece Irregularis (The Great Hiatus).

Billy Childish and Bruce had already made a name for themselves as the UK's leading exponent of no-frills punk and Rhythm ’n’ Beat with their early groups The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, and Thee Mighty Caesars when, in 1989, they introduced a new combo, Thee Headcoats. Clad in matching Deerstalkers (which they mistakenly dubbed "headcoats"), Thee Headcoats featured Childish on guitar and lead vocals, Allan Crockford on bass, and Bruce Brand on drums. During his time with Thee Mighty Caesars, Childish had found valuable partners in the outspoken garage-punk label Crypt Records, which released several of their albums in the United States, and Thee Headcoats' first US album arrived on Crypt, 1989's The Earls of Suavedom. Ollie Dolot would take over on bass by the time they recorded 1990's The Kids Are All Square – This Is Hip! Touring in the United States helped spread the word about the group, and soon the Mummies, Mudhoney, and Nirvana were among the bands singing their praises. The endorsement of the latter two acts would in part lead to Sub Pop Records issuing 1990's Heavens to Murgatroyd, Even! It's Thee Headcoats! (Already) in America, though Childish insisted the CD version be mastered from a vinyl LP in deference to anti-CD tastes.

In 1991, Childish suggested an auxiliary group be formed – Thee Headcoatees; this being a female vocal group backed by the boys, featuring Holly Golightly, Kyra LaRubia, Ludella Black and Bongo Debbie. 1993's The Good Times Are Killing Me now featured Tub Johnson on Bass duties, and this became the line up loved world wide by all of good taste. In 1996, the boys teamed up with one of their musical heroes, Don Craine of the Downliners Sect to cut a collaborative LP, Deerstalking Men, released under the banner Thee Headcoats Sect.

Thee Headcoats would record 19 albums and more than twice as many singles between 1989 and 1999, even as Childish continued to make records with other projects, including collaborative albums with his friend Sexton Ming, and calypso music with The Blackhands. 2000's I Am the Object of Your Desire, credited to Wild Billy Childish & His Famous Headcoats, would seemingly be the group's swan song (or not), and their “final” show was recorded for release on Childish's Hangman label on 2001's Live at the Dirty Water Club. By the time the LP came out, Childish had already introduced his next combo, The Buff Medways, the name inspired by a breed of chicken native to Kent and the surrounding Medway area.

After the death of Don Craine in February 2022, Billy Bruce and Tub went into the studio with Keith Grant Evans, of the Downliners Sect, to cut a Headcoats Sect EP, A Tribute to Don Craine, featuring the first tunes Thee Headcoats had knocked out since their long rest. Inspired by the sessions, the three opted to record a new Headcoats album, and Irregularis (The Great Hiatus) appeared in March 2023. It included the song ‘Oh Leader We Do Dig Thee’, a tribute to their late friend Craine.

[With thanks to Mark Deming (AllMusic.com)]