“If, like me, you are a devotee of Billy Childish’s music, his poetry, his painting, or his mustaches, then I needn’t bother to tell you how mandatory this book is. But to the Childish agnostic or the Childish ignorant, know this book is for you too. If you are even remotely interested in the gritty anthropology of underground music or high art scenes, in learning how obstinance and revolt can prosper in the face of corporate culture, or how one man overcame a truly Dickensian upbringing to single-handedly master all forms of cultural production and wrestle them into his own stubborn shapes, then trust me, you are in the right place. Ted Kessler’s formally unique collage of prose, oral history, poetry, and correspondence is the perfect vehicle for telling the story of Childish, an absurdly fecund artist who produces more culture in a week then most artists produce in decades. It is also a fittingly unsparing portrait of a man seemingly allergic to falsehood or pretense. Within these pages you will learn how Childish forged himself into a creative legend but also how he inspired a community of fellow travelers and how those friendships blossomed (and sometimes curdled) within the spheres of that shared creativity. There are tales of love geometries of far greater complexity than the triangle, plus UFOs, a literal goblin, Sasquatches painted in majestic oils, and of course ample tales of punk rock mayhem and trashed garage-rock brilliance. Compulsively readable and hugely inspiring, Kessler’s book is an overdue tribute to a man who not only contains multitudes but projects them relentlessly into the world.”
—Guy Picciotto (Fugazi)

“. . . [A] portrait of a man as fascinating as he is flawed, someone who is committed to exposing truths about himself while creating all sorts of fabrications . . . Kessler’s detached, freewheeling biography is ultimately about someone who, for better or worse, has unquestionably done it his way.”
—The Times (UK)

“This is a wild, frank and yet friendly biography of the musician, artist, poet and writer . . . Funny, sad and uplifting in equal proportions—you can’t read it without seeking out an album or twenty.”
—Record Collector

“[A]n engrossing tale of someone following their own path . . . whose artworks now change hands for serious money, and is feted by the very institutions and publications that previously dismissed him.”
—Mojo

“The book is not a conventional biography. It was done at Childish’s suggestion, with his cooperation, on the basis that he would never have to read it.”
—Uncut

“[Childish is] the UK’s most prolific creative force—painter, poet, musician, publisher, memoirist, and novelist.”
—Financial Times

“A revered cult figure whose prolific output in the fields of painting, writing, and music have never failed to enlighten, annoy, and confuse in equal measure . . . With a unique mixture of gallows humor, uncomfortably confessional literature, strangely beautiful paintings, and incendiary manifestos, he has relentlessly carved the niche of a true original.”
—Dazed

“Kessler’s ability as a storyteller results in a profound portrait. Part life story, part art history, part investigation, part lover’s quarrel, it weaves a complex, compelling tapestry of Childish from fragments of his existence—ones that in the hands of another would likely have remained shapeless chaos. Here? It’s cosmic dust given form.”
—Terri White, author of Coming Undone

“Ted Kessler has elegantly, wittily documented Billy Childish’s maverick life, achievements, and persona with insight and skill, never allowing himself to be slavishly captivated—or repelled—by Billy’s ‘dangerous charisma.’”
—Miki Berenyi, author of Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me from Success

“To negotiate the convoluted life of Wild Billy Childish in text is roughly the literary equivalent of attempting to count the hairs on a copulating yak’s back. But somehow Ted does it brilliantly—with style and grace. A story of domestic violence, abandonment, misunderstood artistic integrity, dyslexic poetry . . . and guitars . . . Billy told me he probably won’t read this book. If so—he’ll be missing out.”
—Marc Riley, cohost of BBC Radio 6’s Riley & Coe

“Ted Kessler gets as close as anyone is ever likely to get to one of the most enigmatic artists of the modern age, with an electric text that brings in multiple voices and viewpoints to present a complex portrait of a damaged boy alone with his art against the world. It is a touching, sad, sometimes hilarious, and ultimately inspirational work.”
—David Keenan (singer-songwriter)

“A wildly compelling narrative. Packed with equal parts trauma and joie de vivre . . . A fascinating, all-but unbelievable story.”
—Roy Wilkinson, author of Do It for Your Mum

“Increasingly in life I ask myself, What would Billy Childish do?. Thanks to Ted Kessler’s kaleidoscopic, inspiring, and affectionate portrait of this complex true original I think I now know the answer.”
—Benjamin Myers, author of Cuddy