LP – Black Vinyl

The Milkshakes were mainly Mickey Hampshire (Guitar / Vox); Billy Childish (Guitar / Vox); Bruce Brand (Drums); Russ Wilkins (Bass) When punk rock group the Pop Rivets broke up in 1980, Billy Childish joined forces with Mickey Hampshire, a Pop Rivets roadie who had been performing in a group called Mickey and the Milkshakes with his cohort Banana Bertie. The two began writing songs together and the group released their first LP, Talking bout Milkshakes! in 1981.

With Childish and Hampshire sharing guitar and vocal duties, Bruce Brand on drums, and Bertie on bass (later replaced by Russ Wilkins then John Agnew), the Milkshakes sound was a primitive blend of British beat groups, like the early Kinks at their toughest, and hard-rocking American guitar instrumentalists like Link Wray. This sound came to be known as the Medway sound and the core members have been playing a variation on it throughout their whole careers.

The Milkshakes were a very prolific group, recording nine records in their four years together, and the band was very much a blend of Childishs primitive songwriting and Hampshires more melodic leanings. The group also masterminded and backed a Medway girl group, the Delmonas. When Mickey left The Milkshakes in 1984 Childish, Brand and Agnew went on to form Thee Mighty Caesars. Mickey and Bruce now play in The Masonics along with Ludella Black from The Del Monas, and Russ lives in Scotland and fronts the Wildebeests as well as being Lord Rochester.

Tracklist:

1. Shimmy Shake
2. I Can Tell
3. Tell Me Child
4. Goodbye Girl
5. More Honey
6. Soldiers of Love
7. El Salvador
8. Let’s Stomp
9. Hide and Scatter
10. Jaguar
11. That Girl of Mine
12. You Can Only Lose
13. Little Minnie
14. Cadillac