Bilinda Butcher

Butcher wrote a third of the lyrics on both Isn't Anything and Loveless. She never planned her lyrics, saying, "I didn't have a plan and never thought about lyrics until it was time to write them. I just used whatever was in my head for the moment." Some lyrics emerged from her attempts to interpret Shields' rough demo cassettes: "He never sang any words on the cassettes I got but I tried to make his sounds into words. It always became my own thing in the end though."

Guitar-wise, Butcher favors offset models, playing several Fender Jaguars, Jazzmasters, and Mustangs. She also uses a Charvel Surfcaster, which she has called her favourite guitar. Live, she keeps her effects setup minimal. Before music took over, she worked as a nanny for a French family in London at seventeen, then moved to Paris for six months with her partner. The couple later returned to London, squatted in Brixton, and had a child, Toby. As a teenager, she was drawn to gothic rock bands like Bauhaus and later post-punk acts such as The Birthday Party. Now 64, she remains active as a musician, with a career spanning nearly four decades.