Andy Childs
Andy Childs was editor of Zigzag in the early '70s and conducted memorable interviews with Tim Buckley, the Grateful Dead, John Martyn, Lowell George and a host of other luminaries. Then, as Zigzag stuttered and changed, a career in the music biz beckoned and after spells at United Artists and EMI he went to work for Andrew Lauder and Jake Riviera launching F-Beat/Demon Records.
A period with Rough Trade Records in the early '90s followed and he then spent 12 years at Rykodisc as marketing director, general manager and finally head of Hannibal Records. When Warner Music acquired Rykodisc in 2006 they showed no interest in continuing with Hannibal, so Childs was freed from the shackles of major-label tyranny to pursue a new career as an international marketing and catalogue consultant.
56 articles
List of articles in the library
Grateful Dead: The History of the Grateful Dead
Retrospective by Andy Childs, ZigZag, October 1973
"Weird, black satanic weird, white archangel weird. As weird as any thing you can imagine, like some horror comic monster who, besides being green and ...
Mighty Baby: From Infancy To Adolescence
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1973
REMEMBER Mighty Baby? Got their records? If the name sounds familiar but you've never heard them, then you've missed out on easily one of the ...
John Martyn: Talking with John Martyn
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, April 1974
BARD BON-VIVEUR BULLSHITTER DOPER ENTERTAINER EXPLORER GUITARIST HERO HOBO LEGEND LOVER MINSTREL MUSICIAN PATHFINDER PERFORMER PICKER PIONEER PISSARTIST PLAYER POET RACONTEUR RAMBLER RHYMER ROMANCER SINGER ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr Hook and The Medicine Show: The Fly-paper Monkey Mafia
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, May 1974
I MUST ADMIT that a couple of months ago the thought of attempting an interview and article on Dr Hook and The Medicine Show was ...
Jackie Lomax: The History Of Jackie Lomax
Profile and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1974
WITHOUT ANY DOUBT, one of the sad, inexplicable stories of English rock music is the failure of Jackie Lomax to receive the degree of success ...
Tim Buckley: A Happy Sad Starsailor from Washington D.C.
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, August 1974
BEFORE I ENTERED the glamorous and exciting world of the rock n' roll business on a full-time basis, I used to "work" (a rather loose ...
Grateful Dead: A Conversation with Phil Lesh
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, September 1974
Some of you out there probably think that ZigZag has just about OD'd on the Grateful Dead recently, which is a fair criticism considering that ...
Ronnie Wood: Ron Wood: I've Got My Own Story To Tell
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, September 1974
Earlier this month Warner Bros released Ron Wood's first solo album, appropriately titled I've Got My Own Album To Do (K 56065), so we thought ...
Interview by Andy Childs, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1974
From Van Gogh to Hank Williams to Hunter S Thompson via RD Laing and Ray Charles: Tim Buckley on life, America, and all his albums.
File format: mp3; file size: 79.2mb, interview length: 1h 22' 31" sound quality: ***
Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: The Ballad Of Chilli Willi And The Red Hot Peppers
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, October 1974
SATURDAY, 8th June 1974: NOT EXACTLY the best gig I've seen the Willis play, but one that sticks out in my memory as being one ...
Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young: The Neil Young Story Part One: Expecting To Fly
Retrospective by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1974
WITHOUT ANY doubt, one of the musical highlights of this year was the memorable concert held at Wembley Stadium a few months back. A day ...
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1975
FOR ME, THE release of a new John Martyn album is always among the most noteworthy events of the year. ...
Little Feat: Lowell George: Huge Stars Big Hearts And Little Feat
Profile and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1975
AFTER THEIR PHENOMENALLY successful visit to this country, the name Little Feat must be on the tip of everyone's tongues and in the heart of ...
Retrospective by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1975
LAST TIME we traced the stormy, erratic career of the fabulous Buffalo Springfield – up until the time Neil Young left them to be replaced ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Starting Over
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1975
APPARENTLY UNKNOWN to most of the British pop press and record buyers alike, the Raspberries have made six highly successful singles (five of them made ...
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1975
IT'S AN AWFUL confession to make, especially in a normally omniscient rag like this, but up until about nine months ago I was almost completely ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Down By The Jetty
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1975
ROCK'N'ROLL LOUD, dirty, mean, raw, vicious rock'n'roll. That's what Dr Feelgood are all about and they never make any pretensions to the contrary. ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr Hook: Bankrupt
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1975
IT WAS OUR man at the layout board, Edward Barker, who recently posed the question to me that he in turn had heard elsewhere. It ...
Speedy Keen, Thunderclap Newman: From Out Of The Shadows Comes Speedy Keen
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1975
IF SOMEONE EVER asked me to compile a list of my ten favourite singles of all time I'd have five 'definites' straight away and about ...
Neil Young: Tonight's The Night
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1975
AS I HOPE I've made clear in previous articles, Neil Young ranks in my estimation as THE singer/songwriter...I play his records extensively and regularly for ...
Clancy: The Past, Present And Future Of Clancy
Profile and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1975
THE MORE DEDICATED readers among you who scrutinise and memorise every last detail in the magazine will doubtless recall several sly mentions I have made ...
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, August 1975
THIS INTERVIEW TOOK place in Wilko's front room. Obviously tired and weary from the extensive Naughty Rhythms Tour, which still had three gigs to run, ...
Tim Buckley: The Candle Died, Now You Are Gone, For The Flame Was Too Bright
Obituary by Andy Childs, ZigZag, August 1975
LESS THAN a month after I started work at ZigZag, I had the privilege of meeting Tim Buckley. I interviewed him at some length and ...
Todd Rundgren, Utopia: Todd Rundgren: The Man Born To Synthesize, or was that a Wizard? a True Star?
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, August 1975
A ZIGZAG interview with Todd Rundgren could get well out of hand if we weren't too careful. Not only has he been around long enough ...
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, September 1975
ON THE back page of Sounds dated 12/4/75 there's an ad for this album which includes a quote apparently taken from ZigZag, saying simply "a ...
Discography by Andy Childs, ZigZag, September 1975
THERE WAS once a time when I thought that Lou Reed was the single most important person working in contemporary American rock 'n' roll. I ...
Nils Lofgren: Nils Lofgren (A&M)
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, September 1975
THE FATE that was thanklessly bestowed upon Grin's fourth album Gone Crazy, is fortunately, and perhaps miraculously, not to apply to this record, i.e. it ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Sneakers
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, October 1975
BACK IN the heady days of the late sixties when it seemed that for several precious months San Francisco became the rock music centre of ...
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, November 1975
ALTHOUGH IT'S COMMON news by now that the Grateful Dead have ceased their collective activities until the summer of next year, a whole complicated mess ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Chocs Away
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1975
IT ALWAYS happens that whenever the loose ensemble of people who contribute to ZigZag, and their friends, associates, chauffeurs and bodyguards get together for one ...
Grateful Dead: Blues For Allah
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, January 1976
AS ONE WHO has been frequently criticised for my unlimited devotion to the Grateful Dead and my continued belief that they are still one of ...
John Cipollina, Man: Man: Maximum Darkness
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, January 1976
ONE OF THE undoubted highlights so far this year for all ZigZaggers has been the long-overdue visit of John Cipollina to these shores, and if ...
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, January 1976
SO WHAT DO you think of the Moody Blues? ...
Dr. Feelgood On The Road: Maximum R'n'B
Report and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1976
THE DRESSING room is a scene of semi-chaos and ordered confusion... packets of half-eaten sandwiches, cans of lager, guitar cases, cigarette remains... the usual décor. ...
Quicksilver Messenger Service: Solid Silver
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1976
WELL, THE GREAT name of Quicksilver Messenger Service is resurrected yet again, this time with perhaps more credibility than on previous occasions. A sticker on ...
The Flamin' Groovies: The Re-emergence of the Flamin' Groovies
Profile by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1976
ONE OF the many bright ideas that the collective brains at ZigZag have come up with lately is that of updating articles that appeared in ...
Van Der Graaf Generator: Whatever Would Robert Have Said?
Retrospective and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1976
"BAND OF A MILLION YEARS," proclaims the decidedly Teutonic-looking poster that is being used to herald the reincarnation of Van Der Graaf Generator. Quite what ...
The Who: Who’s Still The Best Live Rock'n'Roll Band In The World, Then?
Report by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1976
IT'S BEEN said often enough over the last month or so, but the fact still remains: The Who are still the best live rock 'n' ...
Barry Melton, Country Joe & The Fish: Barry Melton: The Tale of a Fish
Profile and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1976
STRANGE AS IT MAY seem to all of you who may imagine me as a contemporary of [Pete] Frame and [John] Tobler, when the early ...
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, April 1976
I THINK IT'S QUITE safe to say that Kevin Ayers has spent the greater part of his chequered career trying very hard not to be ...
Peter Frampton: Frampton Comes Alive
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, April 1976
I MUST CONFESS before I go any further that I'm not very familiar with too many of Frampton's previous solo albums (I've only got one ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr Hook: A Little Bit More
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, June 1976
ANOTHER DR. HOOK extravaganza. Another album full of stoned, croaking vocals, infectious giggling, and jokes about dope and sex, right? Wrong. If this new record ...
Jesse Winchester: The Only Fools On The Road Tonight Are The Fools On The Midnight Bus
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, November 1976
"THE NEXT NUMBER is by a songwriter who we really like... his name's Jesse Winchester". (A liberal smattering of applause). "Great... you like him too!" ...
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, November 1976
I'VE BEEN LOOKING forward to this one for ages, same as I do every Ry Cooder album. Apart from the obvious quality of his music, ...
Neil Young, Stephen Stills: Stills Young: Long May You Run
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, November 1976
IF THE music on this album had in any way matched up to the exceptionally heavy vibes surrounding its making then we would surely have ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1976
IF, IN A FLIGHT of fancy, you've ever ventured over to this particular neck of the woods you won't be at all surprised to learn ...
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, January 1977
NOW THAT THAT MOST extraordinarily tedious and self-indulgent of rock 'n' roll years has finally stumbled to some sort of half-assed conclusion, I am able ...
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Dirt Silver & Gold
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1977
THE SEPTEMBER 13th 1975 edition of Billboard Magazine, the American music industry's Bible, carried an interesting and revealing supplement on Colorado – "a growing music ...
Gong, Steve Hillage: Steve Hillage....Electric Gipsy
Profile and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1977
AS I RECALL, it was the "livin' jukebox" himself, Andy Dunkley, who first assailed my ears with Steve Hillage's album Fish Rising. ...
Nils Lofgren: Concluding A Natter With The Soft Funster Himself, Nils Lofgren
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1977
WHAT ELSE did you do between the breakup of Grin and your first solo album, apart from producing that album for Charlie & The Pep ...
Nils Lofgren: Rock ‘N’ Roll Gymnast
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1977
Friday 25th February: Andy Childs talks with Nils Lofgren during a flying visit to London to hype his new album... which is where we begin. ...
John Martyn: Up To Date With John Martyn
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1977
ONLY SIX WEEKS or so gone, and already it looks as if 1977 is going to be a cracker of a year for rock music! ...
Asleep at the Wheel: The Wheel
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, May 1977
THIS ISN'T going to be a very long review, because I want to play the record again before the pubs open. ...
Roy Harper: There'll Always Be An England
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, May 1977
As the pound plummets, the economy slumps and the government totters, there is yet hope for the fair isle of Albion… as we get a ...
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, May 1977
EVER SINCE I first heard the magnificent 'Acadian Driftwood' and marvelled in particular at Garth Hudson's tasteful use of synthesiser, it has always been a ...
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1977
ONE OF the most immediately likeable things about this album besides the very impressive packaging, is that it doesn't purport to be a Best Of ...
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