TV Smith
rose to prominence in the first wave of British punk rock as singer and
songwriter for the Adverts who, after frequent early appearances at the seminal Roxy
club in London in 1977, gained cult
success with the Stiff Records single
"One Chord Wonders." This turned to
notoriety when their next release, "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" thrust them into the upper reaches of the U.K.
charts. A further single, “Not Time To Be
21” also entered the charts, and the band spent the rest of the year playing
live, including major tours with The
Damned and Iggy Pop. The album
that followed in 1978, "Crossing
the Red Sea with the Adverts" charted on its first week of release, and is
considered to be one of the few genuine classics of the era.
The
Adverts released one further album, “Cast
Of Thousands,” before their split in
1979. Mercilessly slammed by the critics at the time, the album has recently
found new favour, and was recently described by
Mojo magazine as “the long
lost punk album that rivals The Clash’s ‘London Calling,’”
TV
went on to tour and record with TV
Smith's Explorers, who achieved a hit with the single
“Tomahawk Cruise.” When the band split, he spent a period away from
the live circuit, writing and recording songs – among them
“Lord’s Prayer” for Lords Of
The New Church. He entered the live arena again in the late
1980’s, playing sporadic gigs with
his band Cheap, before re-emerging as
a solo artist in 1992 with the
release of the acoustically-infused "March
of the Giants” on the Cooking Vinyl
label.
The
nineties saw TV gigging relentlessly throughout Europe, as well as releasing two
further solo albums, 1995's
"Immortal Rich" - which came out in
the U.S. on long-time fan Henry Rollins'
label - and 1999's
"Generation Y." In
2001 German chart-toppers
Die Toten Hosen performed as TV's
backing band to record "Useless," an
album of re-recordings of classic TV Smith songs, which became his biggest
selling album since The Adverts.
In
2002, an internet-only acoustic
anti-war single “Not In My Name”
released during the build-up to the Iraq invasion received more than 7,000
downloads. Since then, TV has continued to prove himself as one of the UK finest
and most consistent songwriters with the release of
“Not A Bad Day” (2003),
and “Misinformation Overload” (2006).
In
2007, to celebrate the thirtieth
anniversary of The Adverts, TV put
together a band called The Bored
Teenagers to play a sold out performance of
“Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts” at London’s historic
100 Club. A CD and DVD was released
of the concert, and the band went on to play a number of festivals through
Europe, including a triumphant main stage appearance at the annual
Rebellion punk festival.
A new studio
album “In The Arms Of My Enemy” was
released on the Boss Tuneage label in
2008 to critical acclaim:
“This punk survivor should be embraced,
celebrated and added to the compulsory listening list of any self respecting
music fan in the country.
More than a mere collection of songs,
‘In The Arms Of My Enemy’ possesses that rare quality of genuinely capturing a
mood and a feeling of a nation. This album is a real triumph for honest,
heartfelt and informed song-writing.”
Sonic Dice
“Officially a Damn Good Thing.”
Subba-culcha
“The songs snap along with
catchiness injected into every riff: a protest record that reveals a raging
flame within its creator.”
Record Collector
“A great punk album,”
Pennyblack
TV’s latest album, released at the request of his fans, is a double live CD of a
recent solo concert in Germany featuring the entire one hour fifty minute set.
Selling for the price of a single CD, “TV
Smith live at the NVA” is available on
Boss Tuneage from October
2009.
Meanwhile, TV continues to tour the world, bringing his epic solo show to
ever-increasing audiences. He plays more than 100 gigs a year, and has recently
performed in the USA, Australia, Germany,
Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Norway,
Sweden, Finland, Lithuania,
Poland, the
Czech Republic and of course the
UK, where he was recently invited to play support on major tours by
artists as diverse as Dead Men Walking
and Toy Dolls. His on the road
experiences have been documented in two books of tour diaries published by Arima:
Volume One, “Getting There,” and
Volume Two, “How To Feel Human.”
A
full length documentary of TV Smith, covering his time with
The Adverts and his subsequent solo career is currently being
completed by WDF Productions.
Latest news, archives, and photos can be found at
www.tvsmith.com