Interview with Daytime TV: ‘I’m a big melody person, they drop into my head and I’ll build something from that’

Daytime TV, a four-piece alt-rock band based in Edinburgh and London, will release their debut album Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching next week (25 February), which weighs in on humanity and alienation, failed relationships, mental health and our sometimes warped relationship with technology and social media.

The band comprises Will Irvine (vocals and guitar), Gareth Thompson (drums), Chris Clark (bass) and John Caddick (guitar), who initially met in London before re-locating to Scotland. ‘I had a bunch of songs, we rehearsed some of them up and started doing bits and pieces in pubs,’ Irvine said. ‘We were super lucky that people enjoyed them.’ Their name is a reference to their circumstances as musicians: ‘Musicians, especially, spend much too much time at home in the day. It’s ironic, the name, because daytime TV isn’t exactly shrouded in positivity (laughs) when you want to be out and doing your thing,’ Irvine said. ‘We were sat watching Holly and Phil at the time, it’s a little bit of fun, the name.’

Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching consists of 12 tracks and the album name was chosen quite serendipitously: ‘It was one of those funny moments, we were on a Zoom chatting to each other during COVID and I said something with these words in it and said I wanted it to be a shorter version of that and they all looked at me and said “Did you just say the title?”, Irvine said. ‘The title plays into a couple of the songs, it feeds into my own frustrations and my own annoyance at numbly scrolling through videos of cats (laughs). I don’t mean it in a preachy sense because I’m as bad as the next person.’

‘It’s about the dangers and side effects of unknowingly neglecting friends and loved ones’

The opening track, ‘Side Effects’, kicks off with an energetic, fuzzed up riff that sets the tone for what’s to follow: ‘It’s about the dangers and side effects of unknowingly neglecting friends and loved ones,’ Irvine said. ‘The line “power in my fingertips” is that false sense of security that aimlessly scrolling on your phone gives you with that tiny spike of dopamine. The hollow gratification we all seem to crave that is doing nothing good for us. It’s easier to just bury your head in the sand and “pretend that we’re perfect” rather than make a change.’

When it comes to their songwriting, they have a very open approach: ‘When me and the guys sit down to write something, we never have a plan as to what we want it to be,’ Irvine said. ‘We just want to allow the song to breathe and to be honest, lyrically. I quite like lyrics that seem abstract but you can still tell what the meaning is. I think that’s why people have been connecting with ours. There are a couple of songs on the record where people say they’re about COVID but 99% of them were written before then. In our song ‘Zombie’, there’s the line “You need to quarantine because your disease is so contagious” which was written before COVID, it was a metaphor for us all disengaging with everything. Some songs we write together and some I bring to the guys. Normally, the lyrics come last. I’m a big melody person, they drop into my head and I’ll build something from that. What we tend to do is to listen to our home demos and see how they make us feel – sad, angry, miss something – and that tells you what the song should be about. I’ve got a long list of lyrics on my phone that I want to put into songs, it might be something I’ve heard someone say on the train.’

Another track on the album, ‘Hush’, turns out to have been inspired by a Louis Theroux documentary about the porn industry in the US, which both of us have seen: ‘It’s happened a couple of times where I get an idea like this but I try not be one of those guys watching something with friends saying “Oh, I’ll go and get my notebook” (laughs). I’m a huge Louis Theroux fan. I was totally hooked by this one couple, the husband worked a 9-5 office job while the wife was building a successful career in porn. They were being interviewed separately about their relationship and how they cope with it all. The guy said something along the lines of “she’s so busy going to different shoots most days, it’s like she can only love me on the weekend” and I tried to put myself in this guy’s shoes and write from his perspective. I often write songs from my perspective but I’m not 80 years old and sometimes it’s very useful to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. When I was writing it, I didn’t want to make it too obvious that it was about the porn industry, I didn’t want to shine a light on that but I also didn’t want to say that they were doing anything wrong.’

‘Who knows, maybe the next album will be Louis Theroux-inspired songs!’

We chat for a bit about what a brilliant interviewer Theroux is and how good he is at shining a light on murky, difficult topics in a way that is utterly compelling. ‘His conscious naivety at asking questions that he already knows the answers to, he’s so much more emotionally intelligent than they often are,’ Irvine said. ‘It’s obvious to the viewer when he doesn’t agree with them but it’s not obvious to them at all. Who knows, maybe the next album will be Louis Theroux-inspired songs!’

‘Digital Light’ is one of the most reflective songs on the album and feels like one of the most personal tracks: ‘It’s about dis-engagement and loss of human connections,’ Irvine said. ‘We wrote this song before COVID but it’s so mad how many references now sound like we wrote it about the virus. I promise we had no inside scoop on COVID coming! The line “I’ve got fever, fever” was meant to point out that our dependence on technology is like a spreading illness, getting worse and worse. The “digital light shining right between the eyes” came from being sat round a table of mates in a dark pub where we were supposed to all be catching up. Looking round the table, I could just see all this blue light on people’s faces as everyone stared at their individual phone screens. Everyone is planning the next thing on their phones but not engaging in the moment. I’m as guilty of this as the rest of the guys. Most of it is me telling myself off for my own dependancy, rather than having a walk around.’

Irvine caught COVID, an experience which made him re-think what really matters to him: ‘I got COVID quite badly, I had it for seven months, it did really suck,’ he said. ‘I was quite housebound and that has really, really made me want to aggressively be with the people I love. I’ve been on the war path since, seeing people as much as possible (laughs). It was a blessing in disguise. I read a thing the other day about body language. If you put your phone on the table, you’re saying it’s more important to you than the person you’re having the interaction with, so I make a point to put mine away and on silent now.’

He was brought up on bands such as Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd: ‘Elton John is one of my faves but I wouldn’t say he’s influenced me the most. I have memories of my mum cooking to him. I love Nothing But Thieves and Arctic Monkeys, I’ve been a fan since I was a teen. I listened to Nirvana and The Killers when I was in school and Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa – it doesn’t matter if it’s similar to us. I think I was born into the wrong generation. My go-to cooking music is Van Morrison!’

‘It’s a painful thing when you love someone to pieces but there are circumstances that are driving a wedge between you’

One of the catchiest songs on the album is ‘Side By Side’, which has a real Bastille feel to it, with its driving riffs and outstanding vocals from Irvine: ‘It’s a painful thing when you love someone to pieces but there are circumstances that are driving a wedge between you,’ he said. ‘Sometimes, you’re not around to put things right or to say or do the thing that would make that person feel better. “Maybe we should just let go” is that gut wrenching feeling of “maybe this has run it’s course” even if that’s the last thing you want to come to terms with. We’re all at different parts of our journey at different times and sometimes they don’t match. It’s heartbreaking but it’s the fact that we’re all different that makes us human. The line “in moments we’re bulletproof, but only when we’re side by side” says it all really. It’s a very raw song for us and one that tells a very real story.’ 

Interestingly, ‘Side By Side’ almost didn’t make it onto the album: ‘I thought twice about putting it on the album but it’s good to have some light and shade,’ he said. ‘Everyone has their past relationships that didn’t work out, don’t they? It was based on one of mine. In moments, it was perfect but being in a band you’re constantly away and it wasn’t working, there were arguments. It was a sad reality check. It was really honest. The opening line “How can the city always shine so brightly, I should be feeling like I’m walking on the moon but I’m stumbling blindly, falling backwards from another fight where you get mad ‘cos I’m not where you are” comes from that. I was going to all these great places and playing these great shows but there was a sour note. I always felt bad. I haven’t really written many songs like this but I see writing as a kind of therapy. Most people, me included, bury things, so it’s a form of closure to write about it.’

They whittled down the 12 tracks on the album from around 30. ‘We were busy bees!,’ Irvine laughed. ‘We had a couple of days with our producer, Romesh, in a rehearsal room. Some songs like ‘Dirty Love’ are just fun. I wrote it about someone I really fancy (laughs), there wasn’t a huge deep thing behind it, it’s just an outpouring of thoughts and feelings. Better out than in, as they say! It’s a really honest song, which is what I like about it. It’s a really nice one, musically. It’s really fun to play live. We debuted it on our tour.’

‘For me, lyrically, it sums up the album’

‘Satellites’ is a natural closer for the album and is the most pared back track, with just Irvine’s vocals, the piano and one distant guitar: ‘For me, lyrically, it sums up the album,’ he said. ‘I’m proud of what it says. I sometimes try and spot satellites, these little lonely dots in the sky at night. It’s saying that’s what we’ll become, if we let this other stuff take over. We all need real meaningful human interactions and relationships or we’ll end up living a very cold and solitary existence. Hopefully, these lyrics can bring comfort and hope to people that feel the same way we do. It’s in our hands. Go give your mates a hug and tell them you love them. They probably need it just as much as you do.’

It was also the last track that they put together for the album: ‘This one was sooo late,’ Irvine lamented. ‘We were still messing with it when we recorded the album in the studio. Time is money and money is something we don’t have a lot of. I sat up one night on my own in the B&B we were in in Cardiff before we recorded it. The line “show me a sign of life” is a call to arms to be with the ones you love. It just feels right and true and honest. We’ve never played it live, maybe we will for the encore.’

If he could collaborate with anyone, he picks American singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten: ‘Do you know her? I love her voice and her storytelling,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t get starstruck, I’d be able to perform (laughs). I love Wolf Alice. This is a left-field one but I’d love to collaborate with Tom Waits. One of my favourite songs of all time is his song ‘Martha’, it’s the most heartbreaking thing ever.’ I say that I’m not even sure if I know it. ‘You have to listen to it after this,’ he said, enthusiastically. ‘I’ll put it on as well so that you don’t have to listen to it on your own. The pain in his voice, his slightly out of tune piano, it’s about regret and lost love, it’s so beautiful.’ (I listen to it after our chat and it really is as moving and beautiful as he says.)

I ask him what his dream line up would look like. ‘Dead or alive?,’ he asked. I say he can have both. ‘Ok, I’m going to go with us as the support. Above us, Thin Lizzy ‘cos their live album ‘Live and Dangerous’ (1978) is soooooo good. Phil Lynott (their frontman) was such a badass! I’ll put Thin Lizzy to headline and Arctic Monkeys after them. Hey, what about Elvis? It’s very different but how outrageous would it be to support him?!’

(Photo: Will at the front. Behind him from left to right: Chris, Gareth and John.)