by Jason

Hey Simon, Nick, Jamie, and Alex.  Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers by telling where you are from and who plays what in the band?  How did the band form and how long have you been together?

Televise is:
Simon Scott-vocals and guitar
Nick King-drums
Alex Dowding- bass
Jamie Armstrong -guitar.

I formed televise xmas 2003 as I’d written some songs and hooked up with a local drummer nick and started jamming them in this back room of an old pub which was just off Finchley road in North West London. Lots of students, musicians and artists all used to hang out there and that’s how Alex joined when he came in and asked to join in. He knew Jamie and brought him down one day and that’s how televise came about.

I have only heard two tracks from Televise: “Smile” and “If I Were Told.”  How did those songs come about?  How did “Smile” end up in the AC30 series?

AC30 saw us playing at the Spitz supporting ex sex pistol Glen Matlock which turned into a big night as they immediately offered us the chance to release a track on the club AC30 series which we were fans of. Smile was recorded with Pat Collier who had worked with Swervedriver and the Jesus and Mary Chain in his South London studios and it seems to have been really well received since it released.

Can you give us any indication of some sort of EP or LP coming out from Televise?  If so, when?

We’ve literally just finished the new single, again on AC30, which will be a three track single and then after playing shows in the UK and possibly Europe we will go back into the studio to record another three tracks.

How many songs do you have written and recorded at this point?  Are your fans going to get to hear more soon?

As you can tell we’ve got a lot of material, which we are dying, to record and release. The songs are written by the whole group but usually start with my initial idea or we have a session where we just start playing and see what happens.

Simon, if you would, can you tell me what your experience with Slowdive was like?  What have you been doing since?

The Slowdive connection has attracted interest in us as I was in them and I guess we tread the same road musically but different enough for it to sound fresh and new. They were a great band and its flattering that people still remember our records and gigs and I guess a good indication that televise must be doing something right!

What do you want to accomplish with Televise?  Do you ever see yourselves coming to North America to play some shows?

We are hoping to play shows all over the world, not just in Europe, as the interest in us is wide spread and we’ve been invited to go to Japan so it’s going to be exciting times ahead.

What artists do you see as your main influences?  Are there any artists that inspire you?

Influences are pretty difficult to put a finger on as they include film and fiction, non fiction and everyday emotion but I guess living in a city as dirty and emotionally crippling as London tends to infiltrate a great deal of what we are about. I love England but most of our big cities are so intense and brooding its difficult to stay sane. Just take a ride on the London underground in rush hour and you’ll loose your faith in humanity in just five minutes and consider cold-blooded murder I swear.

What are you listening to now?

I hear loads of new cds every week and the times are beginning to get exciting again so 2005 i’m sure is going to be exciting for us all. There are some ace labels out there sticking their necks out for new acts from all over the world so it’s a good time for us to put our songs out there.