Dublin quartet, TV People, on making music during quarantine, their future plans as a rising band and their new single Nothing More, released September 4.
Rating: 4/5
TV People are Dublin’s latest up-and-coming band with an indie, garage-rock sound, and elements of punk throughout their music. Inspired by The Strokes and Interpol, the band takes inspiration from their individual favourite artists to stimulate their songwriting process in order to create their tracks.
The formation of the band
Created in 2019, TV People formed a strong brotherhood dynamic enough to fulfil their dreams. The quartet consists of Paul Donohoe on vocals and guitar, Len Rochford as lead guitarist, Rob Kavanagh on bass, and Brendan Clarke on drums. Paul Donohoe explained that he has known Rochford and Clarke for around five years, “jamming around and playing but never [going]beyond a few cans”.
The band was officially formed in February 2019 after they recruited Rob Kavanagh; the missing element to perfect the four-piece band. Over the last year they have been creating music, and have finally released their first few singles.
The story behind the name
The artists explain the struggle of finding the perfect brand to suit them. They wanted it to be memorable and unique. “We came across the name TV People in a short story written by a Japanese author called Haruki Murakami and we liked the aesthetic of the name and it stuck, which is nice,” says Clarke.
The first two singles
In early 2020, the band released Kitchen Sinking, their first single, as well as Time Eats Up, in March. Rob Kavanagh, bass guitarist explains how “Kitchen Sinking” was written from scratch: “It kind of clicked that this was actually the kind of stuff we were happy to be making, something unique and it kind of gave us an idea of what our sound might be.” Both were written simultaneously alongside each other, which came together fast, written and produced in a short time frame to get music out to fans.
Nothing more
“Nothing more”, their latest single, is to be released September 4, with the tune being particularly special due to the way in which it was formed. The song was written over the period of lockdown with the band members working remotely and sending demos to one another in order to piece the song together. Clarke says: “It was pretty unusual because Paul would send me a vocal track on WhatsApp, and we’d build it up and make a homemade demo.”
The track took significantly longer than their others to create, being slightly challenging to make as the members experimented with the ways they had to make their music with their own individual instruments. Clarke adds: “I think that is one of the reasons why it is such a chilled track; because it is such a different dynamic to how it was written but we are all really happy with it and excited to release it.”
“Nothing more” is a chill, mellow, indie tune with a sombre tone throughout.. The pace fluctuates at around two minutes as the guitars get louder and the pace increases. Then it changes at around three minutes again as the guitars slow down, but the drums get louder. The three different sections of the song stand out. Rather than it having a stronger chorus, which is typical in most song structures. Kavanagh explains the need to try something new: “We’ve gotten into that different mindset to set a new challenge every time we write a new song.”
The music video
The music video’s purpose was to focus more on “the atmosphere and aesthetic rather than the narrative”. It consists of the raw moments in the studio, filmed in Dublin and in areas where the members live, also working alongside friends and family.
The director was Robert Clarke, Brendan Clarke’s brother – adding to the family feel of the visual to go hand-in-hand with the chill visual of the song. Both Clarke and Rochford agree that the song is a more “professional release” because of an increased budget and more flexibility regarding their creativity with the video.
The band explains that the single, “reflects on the superficial challenges of finding yourself that you face in adolescence and early adulthood, and contrasts these with a deeper existential anxiety that emerges in their place as you begin to overcome them.”
Rob Kavanagh adds: “We wouldn’t have written that song in the way we did if the lockdown didn’t happen, which is a nice benefit to it.”
Future plans
Although difficult to plan with the current circumstances, the band hopes to release more singles, create an EP, and work towards an album. Due to Covid,-19 a headline show in Dublin that they were in the midst of planning was cancelled. Nevertheless they hope that this will happen in the near future, as well as performing a tour in the UK where the majority of fans are based. In addition to the release of “Nothing More”, they are hoping to release a follow up single soon, and aspire to work with the likes of ABBA and Kanye West too.
Kavanagh adds: “We miss playing but are excited for the single to come out.”