TV Priest
Post-punk 4 piece TV Priest share new single It Was Beautiful taken from forthcoming second album My Other People due 17th June via Sub Pop Records.
Photo credit: Hollie Fernando
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.”
Having been together since their teenage years, the London four-piece TV Priest comprised of vocalist Charlie Drinkwater, guitarist Alex Sprogis, producer, bass and keys player Nic Bueth and drummer Ed Kelland shared debut album Uppers at the height of the global pandemic which caused this personal and professional landmark to feel as they put it “both colossal and minuscule” not being able to take to the road to support the release. Looking back at debut release Drinkwater comments: “It was a real gratification and really cathartic, but on the other hand, it was really strange, and not great for my mental health I wasn’t prepared, and I hadn't necessarily expected it to reach as many people as it did. It sounds a bit naïve, but it was all very quick. It felt kind of divorced from reality.”
As such, follow up album My Other People intentionally maintains a strong sense of earth-rooted emotion, taking full advantage of the opportunity to physically connect. Using “Saintless” (the closing song from Uppers) as something of a starting point, Drinkwater set about crafting lyrics that allowed him to articulate a deeper sense of personal truth, using music as a vessel to communicate with his bandmates about his depleting mental health. “Speaking very candidly, it was written at a time and a place where I was not, I would say, particularly well,” he says. “There was a lot of things that had happened to myself and my family that were quite troubling moments. I apologised to the band the other day for not being a great friend or person in this process, because I simply was not happy. Despite that I do think the record has our most hopeful moments too; a lot of me trying to set myself reminders for living, just everyday sentiments to try and get myself out of the space I was in. Whether or not the sincerity is understood, I think I'll always be proud of that.”
“It was a bit of a moment for all of us where we realised that we can make something that, to us at least, feels truly beautiful,” agrees Bueth. “Brutality and frustration are only a part of that puzzle, and despite a lot of us feeling quite disconnected at the time, overwhelmingly beautiful things were also still happening.”
TV Priest Live
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
For up to date information on tickets, visit TV Priest.com.
