TV People
TV People is the project of Paul Donohoe and Brendan Clarke; a band who create their dark and gritty sound from a fusion of alternative rock and post-punk influences. Since forming, they have honed their craft in venues throughout the UK and Ireland such as Whelan’s, The Button Factory, The Windmill, The Old Blue Last and Mike The Pies. The band’s introspective, moody and existential style has received national and international acclaim from leading music magazines, blogs, radio shows, and their continually expanding fanbase.
TV People are building on their growing momentum, having released their debut EP and having been selected as a showcasing artist for Ireland Music Week 2021. They have recently relocated to London and will be continuously gigging and releasing new music for the rest of the year.
New Life - Do Nothing
Do Nothing are a really underrated band that Paul and I discovered a few years ago. We both love them. They have such great clarity in their productions. Their rhythm section is super tight and their whimsical lyrics paint a really interesting picture.
Best of Friends - Palma Violets
Indie rock was the genre of music we bonded over as teenagers. Palma Violets are definitely one of our favorites. When we first formed our band, we used to cover their tune ‘Best of Friends’ and even played it live a few times. They have such an uplifting, nostalgia filled sound that always puts us in a good mood and takes us back to the exciting times when we first started playing together.
Marilyn - Mount Kimbie
I have always been interested in electronic music. I find the beats I hear in bands like Mount Kimbie really influence my own approach to drumming. It's a really interesting process trying to translate intricate drum machine based patterns into a variation that works for an actual drum kit. To this day, we perform a version of ‘Marilyn’ in our live shows. One of my favorite tunes of all time.
Making Breakfast - Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks are another band we absolutely loved when we were just starting out. Their music has such happy vibes. They have great melodies. The post-punk revival is really cool but can sometimes be overly monotone. We always try to maintain a strong sense of melody in our songs. Probably a product of our love of indie and bands like Twin Peaks.
R U Mine - Arctic Monkeys
I had to pick one Arctic Monkeys song. Matt Helders is definitely one of my primary influences as a drummer. I remember it was around my 18th birthday when this song came out. I was completely blown away by it. The drums have a riff-like quality to them, with some of the motifs providing some of the main hooks of the tune. That kind of playing is definitely now part of my drumming mindset. Other drummers I love like Travis Barker, Nick Mason, John Bonham, Dave Grohl, and Ringo Starr also do that incredibly, but Matt definitely made the earliest and probably biggest impact on me.
PDA - Interpol
People often compare our music to Interpol’s. Their singer, Paul Banks, has a similar baritone vocal styling to our singer, Paul. The dark atmosphere of their music is really interesting. Interpol use repetitive down stroke rhythm guitar really effectively. The arrangement and styling of their riffs has also definitely influenced ours. Like a lot of bands we love, they have some great outros. In PDA, the ethereal outro has an amazing sense of progression. I can draw some parallels to our own outros in songs like ‘Die Down’ and ‘Out of the Silence’
Nudge It - Sleaford Mods//Amy Taylor
I feel one of the battles we constantly face creatively is maintaining a balance between making music that is interesting and textured, while at the same time, striving to keep the arrangements simple. I think it takes serious confidence to strip a musical piece back to its core to let the main ideas shine. This song does it beautifully. I always listen to it when I feel our writing is getting too bloated to remind myself that less is sometimes more.
When You Die - MGMT
On the other side of the spectrum to ‘Nudge it’, is ‘When You Die’. This song has so many incredibly cool textures, yet manages to make everything work despite there being so much going on. The theme of this song is really dark, but the music and attitude of it is so uplifting to me. I think this song does the opposite of ‘Nudge It’, sometimes giving us the confidence to play with more complex soundscapes and ideas.
For Everything - The Murder Capital
When I Have Fears is definitely one of the most artistically impressive Irish albums of the last few years. You can almost hear the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making it. ‘For Everything For Nothing’ is a phenomenal song. Its outro is extremely cool in particular. I love the drums in that section. The hi-hat tambourine that comes in during that section helped me realize how little additions such as that can have such a massive impact. I actually incorporated a similar idea into the outro of our tune ‘Kitchen Sinking’.
Out Getting Ribs - King Krule
King Krule is another artist, like many others we like, that makes music with a darkness and edge to it but maintains a strong sense of melody and hook. I guess our music is pretty dark and so it makes sense we are drawn to music that has a similar quality. ‘Out Getting Ribs’ has such a dramatic impact when you hear it. The raw emotion and truth of it is really inspiring. I think we try our best to strive to be as vulnerable and honest in our writing as King Krule is in this tune.
