On January 15th 1977 the
Adverts played their first gig at the Roxy, so I was particularly
pleased when TV Smith agreed to do an interview for me during this
30th Anniversary of Punk. TV told me he started his carrer writing
things other than great song lyrics TV: "I started writing poetry
when I was young and found I was fitting tunes to some of the words in
my head, so I got hold of a guitar and started trying to find a way to
play what I was imagining. Once I'd found I could fit words and music
together to make a song I never really went back to just poetry."
It was not long after that TV formed his first band
"Sleaze", writing and playing the kind of songs he was into
at the time, in particular Bowie and Roxy Music TV: "Their songs
were more complex...they obviously had something to say compared to
the glam rock bands such as the Sweet or even worse the Bay City
Rollers." Sleaze actually produced an album, 50 copies to sell to
friends. Already TV showing his Punk credentials years before the word
Punk had even been mentioned and the Buzzcocks put together their
classic Spiral Scratch. During this time, TV met Gaye who he taught to
play bass.
Laurie Driver (Drums), TV Smith (Vocals),
Gaye Advert (Bass) and Howard Pickup (Guitar)
At the
end of 1975, Sleaze had kicked TV out of his own band, and Gaye
and himself headed to London TV: "I'd already forgotten about
Sleaze, had written a bunch of new songs and was teaching them to
Gaye .... Then the Ramones album came out, which was mind-blowing
- no one had heard anything like that before." However there
was nothing so immediate and exciting in Britain in 1975, TV:
"The first sense you got that a British band could do
something with a real sense of danger and excitement to it was
when the first reports of the Sex Pistols started appearing which
was early in 1976." I asked TV what it felt like seeing the
Sex Pistols back in the day, his first opportunity came at their
infamous residency at the 100 club TV: "What impressed me was
that not only did they have great tunes, a great attitude and a
great image, but also that they were obviously normal people just
like me and weren't pretending to be superstars. It's a very
empowering feeling to stand in the audience watching a band you
really like and thinking, 'I could do that...'"
As the
summer of 1976 was coming to an end,TV and Gaye had a bunch of
songs and set about putting a band together TV: "I put ads in
the music press for a guitarist and found Howard. We rehearsed as
a three-piece for a while, unable to find a drummer, then Laurie
turned up at the rehearsal room one day - he was helping out there
and said he'd like to have a go at the drums" and so the
Adverts were born. With the release of the classic 'One Chord
Wonders' on Stiff, one would imagine TV and the Adverts would be
happy with the way things were going, however the famous cover
that held that record signalled problems ahead: TV: "Stiff
decided on the cover and only showed it to us when it was finished
and already being printed. It was an iconic cover, but put Gaye
into the spotlight in a way she didn't want, and unfortunately
helped give the band the image of being only about the 'sex symbol
girl bassist,' which was something that was hard to recover
from." For me back then, being a huge fan of the Adverts I
like to think it was the songs, especially the lyrics that drew me
to the band, but there is no doubt the image of Gaye standing
motionless by her amp, leather jacket and the words "Fuck
Off" across her T Shirt was a pretty powerful image for an
adolescent teenager like me.
