Messed!Up
The legendary punk singer-songwriter and former frontman of 70s punk rock band The Adverts, TV Smith, has been a non-stop touring force in the scene over the last decades. Smith may have spent decades on the fringes but his talent has never been dimmed, and with his last album Handwritings he has written one of his best albums ever.
At the end of October, he passed through Hamburg for a gig at Goldener Salon and Messed!Up hauled him in for a chat about Handwriting and writing songs and tour diaries before looking back on his overall career as an artist.
Writing songs and tour diaries
As a start and out of curiosity; what music had the biggest impact on you?
Probably Bowie. I listened to a lot of music, but he was my hero. As a child, I listened to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but the one that really made me interested in creative music was Bowie and early Roxy Music. That kind of era of glam meant something. I loved Iggy Pop as well. But I suppose if I have to nail it down to one person it will be David Bowie.
I recently listened to an interview with an artist who said that he enjoyed talking about the process of creating more rather than talking about the finished product. How is it with you? Do you enjoy writing songs more than presenting the finished songs to the public on tour?
The thrill of writing and creating something new when there was nothing there before is nothing really to compare with. I would only compare it with giving birth because you’ve made something that just didn’t exist before, and that is an amazing feeling. When you’ve written a song that, you think, really says something.
But the other thing I love just as much as presenting them to the audience is playing them live because that is the fulfillment because I spent many years writing songs without having an audience for them.
This fulfillment of playing songs in front of people, to see how they enjoy them in front of me, is really a special feeling.
This reminds me of the lyrics of ‘One Chord Wanders’. I imagine how you were enjoying your favorite song while sliding onto the stage without noticing that the audience had disappeared. Especially as people tend to think that punk music always is aggressive, dull, and narrow-minded while you prove that it can be the exact opposite.
Yes, that was supposed to be funny but it’s actually based on my experience with my previous band Sleaze. Before I moved to London I had a glam band I formed in art college. We put up gigs in local town halls and school halls. I still have a tape of one of these concerts when we didn’t hear anyone clapping. There was no response whatsoever after the songs. (laughs)
In this day and age, you can reach out to people with your music in many different ways, especially online. How do you see streaming services like Spotify, Amazon Music, and so on?
Well, I certainly don’t see any money from them. I like the fact that people can get music when they want it so they can discover artists. And I like to think it would lead them on to coming to see gigs, maybe to buy records if people still do that in the future. But I think it needs fixing because the current system means that people who make the music are not getting anything out of it. I don’t know how, but it is not working for the artists or only for some artists it is. I know personally that I don’t get any money from the amount of streaming and listenings.
As a consumer, I prefer the full physical product also because of beautiful artwork with something to look at.
Exactly, the artwork is really important to me. As a consumer myself I will check out new music on Spotify, sometimes. But then, if I like it, I am going to buy the record. And I think if everyone did that then it would be an acceptable way. But the whole system is broken because you used to listen to the radio. In Britain, we listened to John Peel. When there was new music on we were going to get it.
But there is no shop window for music anymore, there’s nowhere to hear your next favorite band. All you are going to hear on the radio is more rubbish.
I also know you were writing books while on tour, weren’t you?
I was writing my tour diaries on tour. I was writing my diaries on trains or while waiting in hotel rooms or wherever I was staying. When I got back home after the tour, I would bring it all together and make a good story out of it. But that’s, again, a case where I found out that I didn’t have time to write the tour diaries anymore because I was gigging too much.
My last tour diary I wrote in 1996. I made the decision at the beginning of the year to write up every single gig I did that year. Then I didn’t realize I was going to do about a hundred gigs so I ended up having to write about every single one. It completely took all of my time. The whole year I didn’t write a single song because I was writing the tour diaries. It was just all too much.
‘What does politics mean’?
In April this year, TV Smith released his latest effort Handwriting, an album drawing accolades from the music press for being one of his best works to date. With renowned folk music producer Gerry Driver as the record’s magic knob-twiddler, including a set of non-conventional instruments on the album, and with the politically-charged lyrics on top, Smith’s music is brought into a new direction of folkiness.
What was the inspiration for your current album Handwriting?
That’s simple; the world, the situation in the world, and what’s going on. The sort of disastrous way of politics. I am just really worried about the way the world is going.
We can just see there’s more and more war, more and more poverty, people are more and more unhappy. Instead of going towards a society where we’re more helping each other out and making a better world, we are ending up with a worse world. People are more selfish, unpleasant, greedy, and aggressive to each other, and it’s just confusing to me. I wrote the album as a way to try for myself to understand what’s going on.
There are a lot of political songs on it. Why do you think that political songs still have such an impact, especially on the younger generation?
Well, what does politics mean? Political songs just mean songs about real things as far as I’m concerned. That is politics, isn’t it? Who is running the world? Politicians? Or are they giving the appearance of running the world? I’m not sure they are. There are lots of big business concerns running the politicians, actually.
But let’s make it simple and say it’s politicians running it. They are certainly the ones we are voting that try and sort out the problems and they are not doing it.
‘Who’s Got the Time’ is one of the tracks on your new album. What things would you love to tackle but don’t have the time for?
Good question. I love having free time, I’m never bored. I love reading but haven’t read a book for years because I just don’t have time. My whole life is devoted to touring and writing songs and recording songs. So actually, I haven’t had a holiday for years somehow because I spent such a long time without anyone interested in what I was doing.
I couldn’t get a record deal, I couldn’t put a record out. I am literally writing songs just for my own benefit to make demos. Now people have started to become interested in what I do. I just take every opportunity to play and go out. That’s my life, that’s what I do. That’s all of it.
Gerry Driver played a lot of instruments on your album. Is there any instrument that you would’ve loved to include in your music but didn’t because it wouldn’t suit your musical style?
No, there’s nothing. I pushed the boundaries with The Adverts and with Cast of Thousands, the second Adverts album, and I got massive criticism for it at the time for putting on choirs and piano and synthesizers. So I already had the experience of people saying you shouldn’t use this instrument. I have always thought it is total nonsense. You shouldn’t be restricted to instruments you can or can’t use. It is absurd.
The goal of a creative process is to be open and to be able to do whatever you want, whatever suits what you are creating. On a personal level, I wish I could play piano because I learned it when I was a kid. I passed my first piano exam with honors and gave up immediately because I hated it as a child. But I miss not being able to play piano now.
The Legacy of TV Smith
In live performances, Smith is magnetic, whether he’s playing in packed venues or intimate pubs. His stripped-back acoustic sets are as powerful as his full-band performances, drawing listeners and bringing a level of finesse that allows the full ferocity and power of his songs to be truly appreciated. But isn’t it a bit dull to play fan favorites over and over again?
What do you think makes people listen to your music and come to your concerts?
Well, people tell me, and I hope it’s right, that they like it because I am authentic. Someone said to me last night that he hadn’t seen any gig before where the artist meant every single word from the beginning to the end. And that’s what I do.
Once I enter into the concert there is no mental let up from me. I try to create something really special until I’m off stage. I never go with a plan of what I am going to play. I start playing and try to make a story between the songs, link up the songs and try to find out what the audience could enjoy. The actual gig itself is a really creative process for me. It is never a list of songs that I am playing and then go, it’s always something special.
When you look back on your whole career, what song do you think you will be remembered for and what song do you wish to be remembered for?
That’s not for me to say (laughs). Possibly ‘Lion and the Lamb’ has become an audience favorite but it will probably be ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’.
‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ is not my favorite but I think that’s what people will remember me for because it was a hit record. Once you’ve got a hit record you will never get away from it. The audience’s reaction to the early punk stuff like ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ or ‘One Chord Wanders’ is always great. That’s when they start to sing along and it’s a great feeling. But I think there is a more authentic and more special reaction to songs like ‘Lion and the Lamb’ or ‘Handwriting’, a track from the new album which has already become an audience favorite.
Does it annoy you to play old songs like ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ or ‘One Chord Wanders’ on stage after such a long time?
Well, it used to annoy me but now they found their own kind of level in the set. I play an hour and a half and then people generally know that I’m now going to play them at the end of the set. We have a whole kind of exploration of my back catalog and at the end, we are going to do ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ of course. It’s kind of fun, like a wind-down at the end of the set. The cream on top. I don’t have any problems playing what are my hits anymore. I like it and I am proud of them.
What are your plans for the near future?
We will continue the tour here. Later we are going to play a few gigs in Japan. I’d love to play in America again but I thought we drop the idea if Trump gets elected. When I talked to an American friend about that decision he couldn’t understand it. He went ‘You are not willing to play in the States because of Trump? I mean, in the 80s you had Margaret Thatcher in the UK’. I think he was making a point here, I must admit (laughs).
*****
Photographer: Kevin Winiker
*****
TV Smith pages
