TV Smith

Born in Romford, England, in 1956, TV Smith, real name Tim Smith, established himself in the late 1970s in the wake of British punk as the singer and principal songwriter of the Adverts, formed in London with Gaye Advert. The band left two albums, Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts in 1978 and Cast of Thousands in 1979, where punk energy already fused with a more narrative and melodic writing. After this initial period, TV Smith continued with TV Smith’s Explorers, oriented toward a tense and broader post-punk, around The Last Words of the Great Explorer in 1981, then began a long solo career from Channel Five in 1983. His discography, nourished by constant live activity in the UK and Europe, includes notably March of the Giants in 1992, Immortal Rich in 1995, Generation Y in 1999, Not a Bad Day in 2003, Misinformation Overload in 2006, In the Arms of My Enemy in 2008, Coming in to Land in 2011, I Delete in 2014, Land of the Overdose in 2018 and Lockdown Holiday in 2020. TV Smith also led the band Cheap at the end of the 1980s and collaborated occasionally with Die Toten Hosen or Fehlfarben. His repertoire preserves the direct punk-driven energy, with a marked taste for social-observation lyrics, sober choruses, and stripped-down rock formats, which he defends both in the band and in solo acoustic performances.