T. V. Smith

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T.V. Smith

T.V. Smith in Stuttgart, Germany in 2008
Background information
Birth name Tim Smith
Born 5 April 1956 (1956-04-05) (age 55)
Occupations Musician, Songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1976–present
Labels Cooking Vinyl, Cherry Red
Associated acts The Adverts
T.V. Smith's Explorers
Cheap
Website tvsmith.com

T. V. Smith (born Tim Smith, 5 April 1956, Romford, Essex, now the London Borough of Havering, England) is a British punk rock singer-songwriter, who was part of the band The Adverts in the late 1970s. Since then, he has played with other bands, as well as pursuing solo work.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

He rose to prominence as the singer and songwriter of the punk band The Adverts, who are best known for their 1977 single "Gary Gilmore's Eyes". When The Adverts split up in November 1979, Smith formed a new band, T.V. Smith's Explorers. They released a single called "Tomahawk Cruise" (a reference to the BGM-109 Tomahawk Cruise missiles) on the independent record label, Chiswick Records. The band recorded the album The Last Words of the Great Explorer, but it failed to achieve commercial success.

Smith then recorded as a solo artist, releasing the album Channel Five in 1983.[2]

Smith's next band was named Cheap (T. V. Smith: Vocals, Mik Heslin: Guitar, Andy Bennie: Bass, Howard Martin Deniz: Drums). They toured from 1986 to 1991 all over Britain and included visits to Holland and France and released the politically charged single "Third Term". They also did a 'John Peel session' for the BBC at the Maida Vale Studios. However, Cheap failed to find commercial backing for their album RIP...Everything Must Go. It was finally released in 1993.[2]

Smith again went solo and continues to perform as a solo artist today, recording and performing his own songs, often with the backing of a variety of other bands from around the world. This includes Germany's Die Toten Hosen, Finland's Punk Lurex OK, The United States' Midnight Creeps, and Spain's Suzy & Los Quattro. His album Misinformation Overload was released in Germany, the UK, Spain and Japan in 2006.

In 2005, he joined the American punk band Amen on their UK tour. As well as supporting, he joined the band on stage for several covers of songs by the Adverts, such as "One Chord Wonders", and "Gary Gilmore's Eyes". Casey Chaos, lead singer of Amen, is a life-long fan of The Adverts, and has even referenced them in a song title on the latest Amen album, Death Before Musick. The song is called "Hello (One Chord Lovers)".

In 2006 he contributed vocals to the song "Ein Jahr(es geht voran)" on the band Fehlfarben's album 261⁄2.

[edit] Discography

[edit] with The Adverts

see The Adverts#Discography

[edit] with T.V. Smith's Explorers

[edit] Albums

  • The Last Words of the Great Explorer (1981), Kaleidoscope Sound/Epic

[edit] Singles

  • "Tomahawk Cruise" (1980), Big Beat
  • "The Servant" (1981), Kaleidoscope Sound
  • "Have Fun" (1981), Kaleidoscope Sound
  • "The Perfect Life" (1981), Kaleidoscope Sound

[edit] Solo

[edit] Albums

  • Channel Five (1983), Expulsion
  • March of the Giants (1992), Cooking Vinyl
  • Immortal Rich (1995), Humbug
  • Generation Y (1999), Cherry Red
  • Not A Bad Day (2003)
  • Misinformation Overload (2006)
  • T.V. Smith & The Bored Teenagers Perform Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts Live At The 100 Club London 5 April 2007 (2007) - Live CD
  • In The Arms Of My Enemy (2008)
  • Live at the N. V. A. Ludwigsfelde, Germany (2009)
  • Sparkle in the Mud (2010)
  • Coming In to Land (2011), Boss Tuneage
Compilations
  • Useless - the Very Best of T.V. Smith (2001), JKP - German-only release, recorded with Die Toten Hosen as backing band

[edit] Singles

  • "War Fever" (1983), Expulsion
  • "Coming Round" (1985), Production House
  • "We Want The Road" (1994)
  • "Thin Green Line" (1996), Humbug
  • "What If?" (2003) - 7" single recorded with Spain's Suzy & Los Quattro
  • Punk Aid (2003) - CD Single with various punk luminaries led by Captain Sensible
  • Xmas Bloody Xmas (2004) - CD single with Vom Ritchie, Drummer from Die Toten Hosen / Tim Cross

[edit] with T.V. Smith's Cheap

[edit] Albums

  • Everything Must Go! (1993), Humbug

[edit] Singles

  • "Third Term" (1990), Deltic

[edit] T.V. Smith & Punk Lurex O.K.

  • The Future Used to be Better EP (1999), Hiljaiset Levyt

[edit] Bibliography

  • T. V. Smith: Getting There – Punk Rock Tour Diaries: Volume One. Arima, Suffolk 2006, ISBN 978-1-84549-128-4.
  • T. V. Smith: How to Feel Human – Punk Rock Tour Diaries: Volume Two. Arima, Suffolk 2009, ISBN 978-184549-360-8.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Thompson, Dave. "Biography: TV Smith". AMG. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p126556. Retrieved 13 May 2010. 
  2. ^ a b Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 4-5

[edit] External links

[edit] Interview links

[edit] Video

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