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Jun 25, 2023

Kyra: Here I Am, I Always Am

Album review KYRA – Here I Am, I Always Am (25th Anniversary Reissue) Damaged Goods Limited Peach coloured Vinyl / DL Out now. Originally released on Vinyl Japan in 1998, the one and only album by

Album review

KYRA – Here I Am, I Always Am (25th Anniversary Reissue)

Damaged Goods

Limited Peach coloured Vinyl / DL

Out now.

Originally released on Vinyl Japan in 1998, the one and only album by Kyra from Thee Headcoatees gets a 25th Anniversary reissue including five bonus tracks. This is one of our favourite albums of the 90’s and we’re over the moon to finally have it out on Damaged Goods, say the label. Ged Babey is pleased too. It gives him an excuse to get on his hotline to Medway heroes Dick Scum from Armitage Shanks and Billy Childish.

You may think that you don’t know who Kyra is…. but if you are one of the 100,000 people who have watched this, then you do.

She sings lead on this with the Headcoatees and Headcoats and she is a force of nature.

ORIGINAL LP SLEEVENOTES – Kyra (that’s pronounced ‘Keera’) is a Flemish girl who sings punk rock and Chansons with heart and abandon. She first came to our attention as one of Thee famed Headcoatees. The energy and power of her performance convinced us that she should make an album of her own. So, recorded live and in a style that would make lesser hearts tremble, here she is, (she always is).

I asked Billy Childish (BC) about the album and Kyra.

(GB) What a voice – you can hear her energy and vibrant personality shining thru in the recordings. Was she fun to work with?

(BC) Yes, Kyra was always easy and fun to work with.

(GB) Am I right in thinking she is Huddies mum?

(BC) Yes, Kyra was in the Headcoatees. We were together for 15 years. Four months after we split up she discovered she was pregnant with Huddie.

(GB) When was the last time you listened to the album?

(BC) Ahh, I may have heard a track here or these – but mostly when we recorded it. I think it’s essentially Thee Headcoats with Kyra.

(GB) I’m planning a dinner party. Do you think it would be ideal listening for my guests?

(BC) Depends on the guests and if you want them to stay for pudding or clear off!

Thanks Billy.

There isn’t a planned dinner-party. That was a loaded question – the Hammer Horror style screams – the Flemish chanson and Kyra’s at times harsh voice did make me think ‘Ideal music to get rid of unwanted guests who don’t dig cool sounds’. But there is far more to her than that.

She is amazing onstage and has a scream that can strip paint off the walls, as you can see from the Wild Man clip and hear from the one on the cover version of Love In A Void by Kyra and Armitage Shanks.

Did Siouxsie ever sing the line as ‘spunk in my eyes’? Apparently not, as Dick Scum explains:

The only version we had at the time was on the programme Something Else on VHS tape. I transcribed the words as I heard them! That’s also why I sing ‘Stick one in the fridge’ instead of Sten guns in Knightsbridge’ on Armitage Shanks cover of 1977.

I wish we had done a whole LP with Kyra. She was brilliant. Still is. She was fearless and funny.

Those takes on the single were first goes, the guitar feedback and her screaming a fantastic accident. Much later I found out that she would have liked to have worked with us more. The feeling was mutual. Her work with Billy and also Sexton was incredible, instinctive and almost telepathic. On top of this she and Billy were so welcoming to me and we have a friendship that goes way beyond music. She told me that her surname means King in Flemish. That’s about right. (Dick Scum)

Apart from a great version of Orgasm Addict with the Shanks, another cover is the Electric Eels song Agitated. Very few people could sing it with the same utter conviction and joyful abandon as Kyra.

The same goes really for the rest of the songs, most of which are written by Billy Childish. No one knew him better and consequently she was the only other person who could sing those songs with any genuine authority.

The highlight of the album perhaps is an amazing cover of Jacques Brels Marieke, performed in hugely dramatic fashion in Flemish. Then again the Dads Army ramalama punk of Doodlebug is pretty irresistible to.

Here I Am, I Always Am displays the Headcoats on absolute top form. Recorded live and with a sharpness and clarity. It really is a classic Medway album against which others should be measured.

Buy from here

All words Ged Babey, with thanks to Dick and Billy for their input.

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