THE Wave Pictures are no strangers to partnerships, and this time they have gone Childish for their latest album.

Over the years, the English rock three-piece of Dave Tattersall, Jonny Helm and Franic Rozycki have worked as a backing band to the likes of Daniel Johnston, Stanley Brinks and Darren Hayman while carving out their own career too.

Tattersall and Rozycki formed the band in 1998, and Tattersall has penned so many songs that they have made at least one album every year since moving to London in 2006, their modus operandi ranging from garage rock to afro-pop to country punk, all recorded live with few overdubs.

This week sees the release of Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon, their sixth album on the Moshi Moshi label, co-written and produced by one of their heroes, Billy Childish, the cult musician, painter, author, poet, photographer and filmmaker.

Childish wrote the music and played on some tracks; Tattersall wrote the lyrics, glorying in such song titles as All The Birds Lined Up Dot Dot Dot, Fake Fox Fur Pillowcase and At Pea Green Coat.

“Very quickly I realised I couldn’t sing his lyrics, and Billy was like, ‘Ok, you do the washing up and I’ll do the drying’,” says Tattersall, on the eve of playing gigs in Leeds and Hull tomorrow and Thursday after headlining the Miller’s Yard Party in York on February 7.

The Wave Pictures had another album ready for release, but then BBC 6 Music presenter Marc Riley put them in touch with Childish. “The original idea was to do a covers albums, a rock’n’roll album, but when we met Billy, he said it would be a lot more fun to write songs together.” says Tattersall. “It ended up being one of those things you can’t believe how well it worked out.

“Billy was a joy to work with and we love the record. It was the most fun we’ve ever had making a record and to us it’s the most exciting sounding thing we’ve ever done. It’s a very, very alive-sounding record; very fresh and lively; Billy’s a genius at sound.”

He points to two instancers of the collaboration being so fruitful. “I Could Hear The Telephone (3 Floors Above Me) is The Wave Pictures in a nutshell: The Modern Lovers with Rory Gallagher on lead guitar,” says Tattersall. “And while recording Frogs Sing Loudly In The Ditches, Billy said we sounded like ‘a weird Cream’ and put the heaviest, bassiest feedback under it.”

The album succeeds in marrying the psychedelic and mundane. “The phrase ‘The frogs sing only in ditches’ comes from a tourist information board at Rye, which I wrote down, as it sounds very psychedelic but it’s all mundane stuff on the album, which is what life is like. What’s odd is putting it all in a song, like when I sing, ‘please put the heating on before you go to work’, as it’s b****y difficult to get my girlfriend to do that!”

• The Wave Pictures play Leeds Brudenell Social Club tomorrow, supported by Molars and Bored Housewife; Hull Adelphi Club, Thursday.