TV GIRL SITTING DOWN WITH TV GIRL

WORDS Emma Ní Fhuitnigh

Aforce in indie pop since the debut of their critically acclaimed album French Exit in 2014, TV Girl has found a new fan base due to the popularity of soundbites of their songs on the app TikTok. You can scarcely scroll through the app without hearing a snippet of either ‘Not Allowed’ from their 2016 album Who Really Cares, or ‘Lovers’ Rock’, from the aforementioned French Exit. With the revival of indiesleaze and Tumblr aesthetics in 2022, it is certain that the future remains bright for the trio, whose 60’s pop samples and sharp lyricism have captured the attention of a new generation of indie music lovers.

I sat down with Wyatt Harmon, the band’s percussionist just before their sold-out show in Paris with Jordana and MICHELLE.

Emma: So, do you think that TikTok has hurt or helped your career?

Wyatt: I think that it has definitely helped our career. I mean, just to look at the numbers on it. There’s a lot more listeners, I mean a lot, a lot more than say, two years ago when maybe this was a thing for the first time for us. But that was all very abstract, just seeing a listenership, grow in a pandemic-bubble vacuum. So then if we’d have had to wait until we had played some shows for the first time to see if there was anything different and that didn’t happen until September 2021. The shows were way bigger than before and selling out faster and people were like screaming along. And it wasn’t just to one or two songs, or now three songs that are on TikTok, but they would do their homework and they were just like rabid teens. If you have rabid teens going to your show, that’s a good thing. They buy t-shirts, they sing along, they’re really nice people and so I say thank you TikTok, thank you teens!

Emma: Perfect, and my next question is-why the name TV Girl? Who is she, what does she represent?

Wyatt: If only it could represent more than it is. It’s the way many bands are named, it’s simply a song by a band that we like. That song is called ‘TV Girl’ and it’s by the band Beat Happening. It’s a great band; The guy who made K Records in Washington-it’s like a big ol’ thing. You’ll have fun checking it out. Beat Happening, great band.

Emma: I’m curious what’s your favourite place to tour.- You know, there’s a right answer to this

Wyatt: That would have to be Dublin, Ireland. I was two nights in Dublin, it was the highlight. The favourite place to tour in generally speaking is the United States because everything is simple and we know how to do it but after doing that ten times it is definitely exciting to go to places that we have never gone before like what better reason to go to Prague? Than to play a show? Now I think the best place to tour is anywhere that we have never been before. But not everyone agrees (laughs). The closer to home, the better.

Emma: How did you come to join the band. Originally it was just Brad Petering and Trung Ngo, right?

Wyatt: Yeah, it was the two of them and it started as a gag. They wrote a song that they thought would pop off on the blogs and that’s exactly what happened. And then they were in a bind because they had to like, make a band immediately so they could play shows and maybe capitalise on the hype that they had just conjured up for themselves and they did it that way. Jason, our drummer now, joined the band around that time, really early and has always has mixed and mastered, all the songs, as well as being a wildly capable drummer in his back pocket. And then when Trung left, that was in 2013 -I was in a different band and that was having a crisis so I just swapped out. Brad asked if I knew how to play the keyboard and sing and I said ‘No. But I’ll try’ and he’s been very patient with me ever since.

Emma: And what was it like, having a mini explosion in fame? Compared to maybe five years ago?

Emma: You don’t have to be modest.

Wyatt: Yeah, it’s just weird - we are some older guys and so I do understand that there are a lot of people on planet earth who maybe know who our band is now. But it kind of doesn’t track it doesn’t really connect in a normal way when you think of like -Phoebe Bridgers is a famous person and there’s a lot of branding and image work done around that. And our brand and image has remained the same -the logo, this ‘Dream Girl’ is not an accident, and I don’t think any of us are particularly interested in having lives uprooted by recognition and fame, so to have the benefits of having bigger shows and having people being excited and selling a lot of records is amazing. Those are the things that you want in a music career, and you don’t want it to be like you can’t go to a restaurant and here we are in a restaurant, so life is good.

Emma: Great, well thank you very much Wyatt!

TV Girl will play All Together Now on the July Bank Holiday 2023