TV Priest – Real Tasty Music

23rd May 202224th May 2022 James Pearson Hot New Single, News

TV Priest release new single “It Was Beautiful”

TV Priest have today shared “It Was Beautiful“, the latest single from their upcoming sophomore album My Other People, set to be released via Sub Pop on June 17th. Pre-order here.

Vocalist Charlie Drinkwater says of the single:

“‘It Was Beautiful’ is a love song about the past, present, and future. A reminder that love is the most essential thing. The words came fast; it was recorded in a single emotive session, the first song we wrote together after my family had gone through a difficult experience and I think you can hear that in the kind of melancholy euphoria that plays out as the song progresses. In some ways it’s a coda to the whole album; a reminder to guard your hope fiercely.”

Listen to the new single below!

TV Priest live dates

For up to date information on tickets, please visit TV Priest.com.

Fri. Jun. 05 – Brittany, FR – Art Rock Festival

Sat. Jun. 06 – Tours, FR – Aucard De Tours

Fri. Jun. 17 – London, UK – Rough Trade East

Mon. Jun. 20 – Brighton, UK – Resident*

Tue. Jun. 21 – Southsea Portsmouth, UK – Pie & Vinyl*

Wed. Jun. 22 – Totnes, UK – Drift*

Thu. Jun. 23 – Leeds, UK – The Vinyl Whistle*

Sun. Jul. 03 – Hyeres, FR – Pointu Festival

Fri. Jul. 22 – Suffolk, UK – Latitude Festival

Sun. Jul. 24 – Sienna, IT – TVSpenta Festival

Tue. Jul.26 – Brooklyn, NY – Union Pool

Wed. Jul. 27 – Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA

Fri. Jul. 29 – Montréal, QC – Bar le Ritz PDB

Sat. Jul. 30 – Toronto, ON – Monarch Tavern

Sun. Jul. 31 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen

Thu. Aug. 04 – Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon

Fri. Aug. 05 – Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon

Sat. Aug. 06 – Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret

Sun. Aug. 07 – Seattle, WA – Clock-Out Lounge

Fri. Sep. 03 – Salisbury, UK – End of the Road Festival

Fri. Sep. 09 – Heusden, NL – Misty Fields Festival

Sat. Sep. 17 – Leicester, UK – Wide Eyed Festival

Mon. Oct. 24 – Nijmegen, NL – Merleyn

Tue. Oct. 25 – Groningen, NL – Vera

Tue. Oct. 26 – Rotterdam, NL – Rotown

Fri. Oct. 28 – Amsterdam, NL – London Calling Festival

Sun. Oct. 30 – Bristol, UK – The Louisiana

Mon. Oct. 31 – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds

Tue. Nov. 01 – Dublin, IE – The Workman’s Cellar

Thu. Nov. 03 – Manchester, UK – Yes (Pink Room)

Fri. Nov. 04 – Glasgow, UK – Broadcast

Sat. Nov. 05 – Leeds, UK – Belgrave Music Hall

Mon. Nov. 07 – Cambridge, UK – Portland Arms

Tue. Nov. 08 – Leicester, UK – Firebug Bar

Thu. Nov. 10 – London, UK – Scala

Fri. Nov. 11 – Reading, UK -The Face Bar

Sat. Nov. 12 – Southampton, UK – The Joiners

Sun. Nov. 13 – Brighton, UK – Green Door Store

Tue. Nov. 15 – Paris, FR – TBC

Wed. Nov. 16 – Le Havre, FR – Le Tetris

Fri. Nov. 18 – Nantes, FR – Stereolux

Sat. Nov. 19 – Lille, FR – L’Aeronef

Sun. Nov. 20 – Brussels, BE – Botanique

Tue. Nov. 22 – Zurich, CH – Bogen F

Thu. Nov. 24 – Berlin, DE – Privatvclub

Fri. Nov. 25 – Cologne, DE – Artheater

* Stripped down performances

29th Mar 202229th Mar 2022 James Pearson News

TV Priest announce new album ‘My Other People’, share new single

TV Priest have today announced new album My Other People, coming on June 17th via Sub Pop and shared new single “Bury Me In My Shoes”. Pre-order here. This follows on from 2021’s debut Uppers and will include previously released single “One Easy Thing”.

Listen to the new single below!

Frontman Charlie Drinkwater says of the album,

“My Other People is a more “open’” set of songs, both musically and in our themes; in the process of writing we found ourselves talking about things other than anger or aggression. We wanted to discuss love, loss and joy too. It’s a record about personal disintegration and destruction, but also rebuilding again after this. It’s also heavily rooted in place, the music being a very direct response to Britain and England in 2021, but in a more abstract and textural sense. A muddy field viewed from a train window between cities, a patch of wild flowers growing next to a motorway, sticky carpets in a suburban flat roof pub, pissing rain on an August bank holiday and the smell of diesel in an out of town supermarket car park. An angry, hopeful, shitty, beautiful island.”

Tracklisting

1. One Easy Thing

2. Bury Me In My Shoes

3. Limehouse Cut

4. I Have Learnt Nothing

5. It Was Beautiful

6. The Happiest Place On Earth

7. My Other People

8. The Breakers

9. Unravelling

10. It Was A Gift

11. I Am Safe Here

12. Sunland

TV Priest release new single “Lifesize”

TV Priest have shared “Lifesize“, their first new single since the release of debut album Uppers. The new single will be available as a 7″ single as part of Sub-Pop’s Singles Club Vol.6 which has previously included John Waters, Jeff Tweedy, Duma, LIDS, Washed Out, Hand Habits, BNH Deluxe, Porridge Radio, Sheltered Workshop Singers, and more. Join the club here.

Drinkwater and Co. continue to tell tales of disillusion through their vibrant and ever captivating storytelling backed by searing guitars and an undying groove. The disdain that Drinkwater sings towards the stereotypical idea of man is intoxicating in its ugliness. “Justice is cruelty in another language / And wisdom is fear” he sings as the guitars wail and you can’t help cling onto every syllable as he preaches of much needed understanding.

Speaking on the track frontman Charlie Drinkwater said:

“‘Lifesize’ is about the worship of the ‘strong man’ image often present in our political and cultural discourse. One where the patriarchal underpinnings of our society and political structure goes unchallenged. After a particularly grueling year, when people have looked to leaders for strength, we’ve found instead empty gestures and contempt. (‘Talk like a salesman, walks like the Pope.’) We don’t need more macho bravado; society needs empathy and compassion.”

Listen to the new single below!

1st Feb 202118th Feb 2021 James Pearson Review

TV Priest – Uppers Album Review

It’s always enticing to listen to an album and wonder how it will play out in a live setting. That’s been the case for many albums released over the past year, but at least those bands played shows before the pandemic hit. In fact they’ve only ever played one live show, in a disused industrial freezer, so naturally this collection of songs will be fresh to about every audience member when the times comes. Born out of childhood friends needing a new get up in life, TV Priest aren’t just the latest in the new wave of post-punk bands to emerge from South London, they’re something more. Their lyrics still speak and focus mainly on the failings of the conservative government and the disparity of life in modern Britain. But unlike their contemporaries they offer up a conversation “It’s about the meshing of information strands. It is supposed to be a snapshot of a time and place” says lead singer Charlie Drinkwater“. And this can be heard in the likes of “This Island” where Drinkwater sings “Well I found singularity, I found it at the bottom of the mail online comments section”. Through grinding riffs and snarling vocals TV Priest have set about to deliver a sermon of understanding.

Perhaps the standout element of this album is Drinkwater’s storytelling charm and weave. Consistently he not only captures the emotion of a time and people, but displays the absurdity found within the mundane and everyday. On “Decorations” he’s breaking down the idea of ‘personal progression’, all these small victories that he describes like “A certain medal on a certain chest, A nought and a cross and a Sunday best” are supposed to take you “Through to the next round” as he puts it. The conversation that Drinkwater is trying to create is clear. Let’s look at the world and question it together rather than dying on a hill for our own beliefs. “I thought we were getting closer, but we’re further apart” he declares on “Slideshow”, which has certainly been the case over the last decade or so, stoked by politics, Brexit, racial injustice and somehow the pandemic. This is not Drinkwater abstaining from the conversation, his views clearly match those of other contemporary punk frontmen, but through his lyricism he’s wit-fully documented a moment in time. Of course no one’s safe from his intentful gaze, not even Prince Louis who’s “On a throne of his own, a bovril biscuit, a cup of milk, not saving lives but not taking ones either” he remarks on “Powers Of Ten”.

Being a document of the there would inevitably be a mention of the pandemic. On “Journal Of A Plague” year Drinkwater lays down the general collective emotions and tellings of the year, “Hey buddy, Normalize this, you better dig that pit” he sings over the somewhat understated instrumental. Much like a journal Drinkwater offers small insights and records of what transpired within the year, rather than commenting on the impact they had.

This wouldn’t be a punk album of course without some chugging riffs and screeching guitars to soundtrack Drinkwater’s musings. And there are moments where these axe wielded flurries reach truly euphoric heights. Although closer “Saintless” might not follow the formula instrumentally than the rest of the album, adding in embellishments of acoustic guitar and bedroom pop synthesisers, it leaves you feeling almost hopeful for what’s to come. As each layer is slowly added you can feel the intensity and emotional outpour slowly building until it erupts into an impassioned chorus cry of “We’re no saints, but that’s okay, would you have it any other way?”. Surrounded by a cacophony of whirring guitars and pounding drums, it’s truly an explosive ending that caps off this journey with a topping of grandeur.

This vehement sound does appear on occasion on the likes of “This Island” and “Slideshow”. But too often does this album get lost in the ‘1,2’ beats, with a rolling bass line placed on top, that after a while of the same motion gets a bit too comfortable in its current gear, unwilling to switch it up. And there’s almost a sense of the song wanting to burst out into a fury of anger or flailing guitars, but it never quite reaches it. The like of which can be seen on “Fathers And Sons” as the palm muted strums and rumbling four note bass line carry the song through verse and chorus, but are overarched with a feeling on tepidness, as if they don’t want to become to chaotic. There’s definitely the emotional intensity packed and ready to blow, but its never quite unlocked.

They may not be miles apart sonically or contextually from contemporaries IDLES, Shame or Fontaines D.C. (Drinkwater funnily enough designed their latest album cover), but what TV Priest bring to this new wave of punk is a sense of perseverance. Whether it be from their own story of reformation, or though the stories they tell of a struggling world, not to shame it, but analyse it and see where we can all move forward together.

7th Jan 202118th Feb 2021 James Pearson Hot New Single

TV Priest release new single “Press Gang”

TV Priest have shared new single “Press Gang” from their upcoming album Uppers, set to be released on February 5th, 2021 via Sub Pop. They have also shared an accompanying music video directed by Joe Wheatley.

“Press Gang” is inspired by Charlie’s grandfather’s life’s work as a photojournalist and war correspondent on Fleet Street from the 1950s to the early 1980s. The song is about the shifting role in the dissemination of information and ideas, and how the prevailing narrative that the “Death of Print Media” has contributed to a “post-truth” world.

Uppers is now available to preorder in the U.K. and Europe through select independent retailers.

The band have rescheduled February’s first London headliner and only the band’s second ever show – socially distanced at Oslo – for April 10th. The show was already sold out but the band will perform two shows across the evening, with the second now announced for 6pm. Details and tickets available here: https://www.alttickets.com/tv-priest-tickets

Watch the new video below.