Neil Baldwin – bass guitar
Simon McGlynn – drums
Ally Palmer – guitar
Norman Rodger – vocals, guitar
Influences
Then:
The Ramones, The Rezillos, The Jam, Echo and the Bunnymen, Talking Heads, XTC, Another Pretty Face, The Clash, The Kinks, The Buzzcocks, Television, Neil Young, John Barry.
Now:
Neil: Slade,Free, Hawkwind, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Bowie, Iggy, Kate Bush, The Jam, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order.
Simon: the Clash, Jellyfish, the Skids, 3 colours red, XTC, Carbon/Silicon, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros A.C.R.
Ally: Wilco, Teenage Fanclub, Gillian Welch, Laura Cantrell, The Lemonheads/Evan
Dando, Johnny Cash, The Go Betweens, Arcade Fire, Richmond Fontaine, Midlake, The Hold Steady, Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad.
Norman: The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, The Faces, Bob Dylan, Bruce
Springsteen, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Calexico.
The first TV21 album for 28 years has just been released on cd, vinyl and download on Powbeat Records.
The album features a mix of old and new material, with 10 tracks on the vinyl version and a further eight bonus tracks on the CD.
The CD edition of the album is now on sale via Avalanche Records, Ripping Records and other outlets - vinyl and download to follow soon.. Copies are available online.
5 tracks from the album are available on this site now.
"With retroid hooklines/riffs intact, tracks such as One Day In Summertime, Look To The Sun’ and the Eddie & the Hot Rods-esque How Did You Get It So Wrong? create a sense of déjà vu that compares with classic debut nugget Snakes And Ladders" The List
"Twenty eight years since their first album, A Thin Red Line, was released in 1981, comes the Scots new wave band's second album. And you know what? It's worth the wait." Daily Record
"With no pressure or expectations, the Edinburgh quartet have delivered a fine longplayer of unrelenting upbeat pop still in thrall to their brand of '80s ‘indie’ that existed before the term became embarrassing and meaningless" The Skinny
"Somehow TV21 have bridged that 28 year gap and come up with a record that
more than matches its illustrious predecessor in every way."
http://manicpopthrills.wordpress.com/
"A hugely entertaining album, with great songs. There’s many bands from today who would benefit from listening to this lean, well-oiled machine."
http://17seconds.co.uk/blog/
There's a review of our Spear of Destiny support here and here
Interview on Is This Music? site
There's an interview with us here by those nice people from Is This Music?. How could you not fail to like a website named after a Teenage Fanclub song? And an instrumental at that!
Originally formed in 1979, TV21 released a string of singles and one album, A Thin Red Line. During that time they toured extensively, both in their own right and as support to bands such as The Skids, The Jam, The Moondogs and The Undertones. But by May 1982 the band had grown frustrated at their inability to break through to the next level and decided to quit while they were ahead, immediately after coming offstage supporting The Rolling Stones at Edinburgh Playhouse. And that was the end of that, until October 2005, when out of the blue, they agreed to perform as part of the John Peel Day gigs organised around the country to mark the anniversary of the DJ’s death.
Peel had been a huge influence on the band and it seemed entirely appropriate to get together for the event. The gig, at Edinburgh’s Citrus Club, was an unqualified success, if a little rough at the edges, though that was hardly surprising after twenty three years, the introduction of a new drummer and only two rehearsals! Most surprising for the three original band members was simply how much they enjoyed playing again. So, now they’re back and enjoying it more and more.
Sorry to hear you're gonna be in Berlin this Saturday Ally. If any of the rest of you fancy a gig closer to home we've got our EP launch in Edinburgh with Endor and Washington Irving!
Hoots, toots and hullo to a' the laads from a' o' us on the Fital Spark! Dougie says the wee lassie on yeer new album sleeve looks like his great-niece Senga fae Lochboisdale. "Whit's senga doin on thon there CD?" he says wi' an expression o' mystifiction. Oor big news is that we took on a new shup's hand. Oh he's chust sublime. A grand big laad wi' shouthers on him like a wardrobe, one skelly ee and a crick in his neck that makes him walk roond the Fital Spark with his heid tilted like a budgerigar. Oh and he's dolefu'! Dolefu! He's that melancholius he makes Dan MacPhail look like one o' the Crankies. His name's...ah, weel, now it wudna be fair, richtly, tae put his name on the hinternet. But it will gie ye a clue if I tell ye that most nights, in his sleep, he cocks his great heid ontae one side and mutters one word: