The Singing Loins

I had already been listening to Billy Childish for a few years (albeit not as rabidly as i later did) and already owned about a dozen of his releases before I came across the "At The Bridge" album which was credited to Billy Childish & The Singing Loins. At first I thought it was some one-off band he had assembled, but soon realized that the Singing Loins were a Medway duo, who had created a name for themselves on their own. The sound of the album was a lot folkier than anything else I had heard by him. They had an awesome raw, gritty lo-fi folk/blues/traditional sound going on. They sounded like authentic working class pub-folk (you could imagine them tearing it up at a smoke filled local pub in rural England in the 1800s. Banjos, Acoustic guitars, accordians, cardboard box percussion....this shit was the lo-fi real deal. They described their sound as "Authentic raw folk from the Medway delta". They released a few albums on Hangman Records and called it quits after a few years. They did a one-off reunion gig in '04 which lead to a legit comeback, and a new album at the end of '05. "Songs To Hear Before You Die" is the album, and is really great.

Here are a few tunes from the album:
Skinner's Rats
The Pub On The Corner
Medway Wheelers


This guy here could probably give you a better background on the band. Either way, pick up this 2 CD anthology that collects everything they had previously done. Pound those pints and throw on the singing loins.