Ted Kessler

Billy Childish es mucho más que un músico, pintor o poeta; Es el último gran antiheroe del undergrounds británico. En esta biografía “autorizada pero no autorizada” el popular periodista musical Ted

The story of Billy Childish the most famous artist you have never heard of by legendary music journalist Ted Kessler

In 1977, 17-year-old Steven Hamper was a stonemason in the dockyards of Chatham, Kent. His heart, however, beat in sync with the punk rock tremors of the era, seduced by its celebration of amateurism. So, in a gesture of revolutionary defiance, he took a 3lb club hammer and smashed his hand, vowing to never work again. In doing so, Steven Hamper metamorphosed into Billy Childish, a true renaissance man.Childish has since remained steadfastly true to punks DIY cred, becoming one of the most recognisable and authentic voices in whichever artistic endeavour he undertakes. He has released over one hundred and fifty albums of raw rock and roll, punk, blues and folk, written many volumes of searing poetry as well as several autobiographical novels. But what he is perhaps best known for in recent years is his painting, for which he is now critically, commercially and internationally feted. He hasnt changed course in any of his disciplines, though. The world just caught up with the sheer volume of his brutally honest work.To Ease My Troubled Mind is a mosaic portrait collated over a year of interviews with Childish, as well as with close family, ex-girlfriends, bandmembers past and present, friends, foes, collaborators, even his therapist. It is an unflinching, yet frequently spiritual and funny portrait of an artist whose obstacle-strewn upbringing formed the backbone of his work: raised in a broken home and abused as a child, Childish was an undiagnosed dyslexic in remedial class at school who is nevertheless now Britains most prolific and uncompromising creative force.

A great writerA music journalist of integrityTheres only one Ted Kessler!Paul Weller Billy Childish Liam GallagherPaper Cuts is the inside story of the slow death of the British music press. But its also a love letter to it, the tale of how music magazines saved one mans life. Ted Kessler left home and school around his seventeenth birthday, determined to be someone who listened to music professionally. Paper Cuts tells how Kessler found redemption through music and writing and takes us on a journey alongside the stars he interviewed and the work-place dramas he navigated as a senior staffer at NME through the boom-time 90s and on to the monthly Q in 2004, where he worked for sixteen years before it folded with him at its helm as editor in 2020.We travel in time alongside musical heroes Paul Weller, Kevin Rowland, Mark E Smith, and to Cuba twice, first with Shaun Ryder and Bez, then with Manic Street Preachers. We spend long, mad nights out with Oasis and The Strokes, quality time with Jeff Buckley and Florence Welch, and watch Radiohead deliver cold revenge upon Kessler in public. A story about love and death, about what its like when a music writer shacks up with a conflict of interest, and what happens when your younger brother starts appearing on the cover of the magazines you work for, this is the memoir of "a delinquent doofus" whose life was both rescued and defined by music magazines.

Ted Kessler and Hamish MacBain are fantastic chaps. The Dudley Moore and Peter Cook of music journalism LG x Liam GallagherThis instant Sunday Times bestseller is the definitive book about the music of Oasis, published as the reunion tour was making headlines around the world. A deeply researched tribute to the creative talent and star power of the Gallaghers, A Sound So Very Loud is crammed with unknown detail and the kind of anarchic, brilliantly funny anecdotes that only Oasis could generate.Music journalists Ted Kessler and Hamish MacBain first met Liam and Noel in 1994, when the brothers were playing tiny venues, and have since interviewed them dozens of times, tracking the astonishing success of Oasis as they became one of the biggest bands in the world.In this comprehensive telling of the Oasis story through their spectacular back catalogue, Kessler and MacBain focus on the enduring power of the music, exploring the tales behind the lyrics and revealing the background to the writing, recording and impact of all the songs, from megahits like Live Forever, Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova to the fan-favourite B-sides and deep cuts such as Acquiesce, The Masterplan and Half the World Away.With their unique perspective on all things Oasis, Kessler and MacBain bring this story to life in glorious colour. A Sound So Very Loud is the book every Oasis fan needs on their shelves, destined to be as timeless and as moreish as the music itself.Essential reading. Hamish and Ted have had front row tickets to the Oasis story from the very beginning. Theres no one who knows more about the band, the music and its impact Mat Whitecross, director of Oasis: SupersonicSomething special: a book of wit and verve about why Oasis matter The Telegraph