Billy Nomates

Maries grew up in Leicester and was a member of a number of bands that failed to be noticed. Following a period of depression, a Sleaford Mods gig inspired Maries to return to making music and she moved to Bournemouth to write and compose.^[1] Her stage name, Billy Nomates, was taken from an insult directed at her when she turned up at the gig on her own.^[2]

Maries' first album was recorded in Bristol with Portishead's Geoff Barrow.^[1] She released this in 2020^[3] and quickly gained attention from BBC Radio 6 Music.^[1] She describes her music as no wave.^[2] Critics make mention of post-punk and describe her delivery as sprechgesang.^[1][2] She featured on "Mork n Mindy" by Sleaford Mods in 2021. She released the Emergency Telephone EP in October 2021, produced by herself on Barrow's Invada record label.^[4]

BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Amy Lamé chose Billy Nomates's debut as her Album of the Year in 2020.^[5] The Guardian's Laura Snapes picked out Billy Nomates as one to watch in 2020, describing her voice as "deadpan yet biting", offering "an acute lens on British class structure".^[1]

After playing a set at the Glastonbury Festival 2023, Billy Nomates received what she called an "insane" amount of online abuse and requested BBC Radio 6 Music to remove footage of her performance from their web pages. BBC removed it.^[6] Fellow musicians, such as Billy Bragg, the Anchoress and Lonelady, expressed their support for Billy Nomates, calling out the misogynistic and sexist character of the abuse.^[7]

Studio albums

• Billy Nomates (2020)
• Cacti (2023)

EPs

• Emergency Telephone (2021)

Music videos