Billy Nomates | |
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![]() Billy Nomates in 2023 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Victoria Ann Maries |
Also known as | Billy Nomates |
Born | Leicester, England | 2 May 1990
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 2020–present |
Labels | Invada |
Website | [1] |
Victoria Ann "Tor" Maries [2] (born 2 May 1990) is an English musician and singer-songwriter who performs under the stage name 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. [3] Her stage name, Billy Nomates, was taken from an insult directed at her when she turned up at a gig on her own. [4] In 2024, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. [5]
Maries' first album was recorded in Bristol with Portishead's Geoff Barrow. [3] She released this in 2020 [6] and quickly gained attention from BBC Radio 6 Music. [3] She describes her music as no wave. [4] Critics make mention of post-punk and describe her delivery as sprechgesang. [3] [4] 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. [7] Maries's second and third albums, Cacti and Metalhorse were released in 2023 and 2025.
BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Amy Lamé chose Billy Nomates's debut as her Album of the Year in 2020. [8] 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". [3]
Year | Title | Director | Album |
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2020 | "No" | Jack Joseph & Bobby Spender | Billy Nomates |
"FNP" | n/C | ||
2021 | "Heels" | Jack Joseph Dalby & Bobby Spender | Emergency Telephone |
2022 | "Blue Bones" | Tia Salisbury | Cacti |
"Balance is Gone" | NWSPK | ||
"Saboteur Forcefield" | John Minton | ||
"Spite" | NWSPK |