Next Wave #1037: TV People
In Association With Vero True Social
Dublin is a central and compulsive point of music and poetry, and *TV People* – guitarist and vocalist Paul Donohoe and drummer Brendan Clarke – make a contribution to the rich, creative movement. Representing a wide range of new voices across genre, it’s clear that what’s happening isn’t purely about music.
There’s more to it than that, reflects Donohoe “There's definitely a real sense of camaraderie and helping each other out amongst Dublin bands. The bands are very supportive of each other, it’s a positive music scene to be involved in. If you're playing gigs in town, you're going to be seeing the same people, as they come to each other’s shows. It's absolutely amazing, and there’s cracking music coming out at the moment.”
Clarke nods in agreement. “It feels like there's more and more music coming out of the city, which is just great, and that keeps you on your toes too. It’s competitive in a good way, like every Friday, there will be a hundred new tracks coming. I guess it makes you aware of the creative challenges out there, and you want to strive to deliver good art.”
Striving constitutes a notable part of their story so far. TV People have been going from strength to strength, putting in the hours and hard work, and new five-track debut EP ‘Nothing More’ reflects how far they have come. If it is hard to pinpoint their references at first, the origins soon become apparent, as components of electronic music, garage rock, punk and psychedelia come together to form something novel and deeply resonant.
They draw inspiration from a complex range of sources going as far as Travis Barker, Interpol, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and much more. Songwriting plays a distinct role to the Irish group, with a lyrical focus on the everyday as much as wider existential issues, and the drum sound is pivotal “We tend to approach each song as its own entity,” says Clarke. “We'll often start off with the rhythm section, or have a riff and drums come in, and we build it up from there. It’s definitely not like ‘this is what TV people sound like’, it's more a case of what we want to throw in, and what we think sounds cool. We have our own tastes as well that we try and imprint upon our sound.”
Music is an opportunity to express a particular feeling, and Donohoe’s admiration of writers and poetic lyricists such as Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath and Morrissey places him in an inspired position “Sometimes, the moments where I feel the most creative is when there's something that's troubling me, or there's something that I need to get out of my system, it’s trying to express that. Once that’s done, you have that sense of getting that away.” He enjoys writers that convey something plain and normal in interesting ways. “Some of our lyrics tend to be an interesting slant or just something emotive, just a common, everyday thing.”
TV People have strong emotional and rhythmic instincts. As their music reaches wider audiences, it will connect with people, and that process has already begun.
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Words: *Susan Hansen* // *@SusanHansen_*
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