THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Led by multi-hyphenate Billy Childish, The William Loveday Intention returns with its seventh full-length release in under two years. Cowboys are SQ (“square” for non-hepcats) features a rugged mix of Americana, blues, garage, and literate pop played with ramshackle flair. Plus, Billy revisits Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone, which he covered on the first William Loveday Intention LP, The New and Improved Bob Dylan (2020).
Says Childish: “The group’s name comes from my grandmother Ivy Loveday. When registering my birth it was mistakenly recorded as William Ivy Loveday, William being my great grandfather’s name.
“The beginning of The William Loveday Intention Group was ‘the intention’ to revisit some songs from the past that I had imagined could be orchestrated. (I’ve wanted to do something like this since Thee Headcoats with pieces like This Wondrous Day.) About 20 years ago I was approached with the idea of touring these songs with a small orchestra, an idea I was up for but never happened. In lockdown however it just came to my mind as something to follow through on. As is quite normal for me I booked the studio and under that pressure wrote two or three songs the night before — and on a few occasions, at eight in the morning just before I left for the studio. As usual there where no rehearsals and, due to the lockdown conditions, a few of the tracks are just me and Jim Riley (engineer) doing everything: drums, guitar, bass, organ etc. — because no one else would brave the plague and come into the studio. Those tracks sit hidden within the actual group recordings, and sound the same as if recorded by the group.
“As in all my endeavours, games and life, I only do what I do irrespective of what’s wanted or required and then force it on the world regardless. I’m so happy to have made these records that are for no audience — but hopefully will find one. These are as true to my heart as anything I’ve done.”
