TV Smith

TV Smith is a US singer-songwriter and the former frontman and principal songwriter of the UK punk band The Adverts. He begins as Tim Smith in Devon, where he develops an early interest in poetry and later songwriting, influenced by Bowie and Roxy Music. While at art college, he meets Gaye Black, and in 1976 the pair move to London after reading about the Sex Pistols in the music press, intending to form a punk band.

The Adverts

After arriving in London, Smith and Black change their names to TV Smith and Gaye Advert. They recruit guitarist Howard Pickup, originally Boak, and drummer Laurie Driver, originally Muscat, and form The Adverts. The band plays its first show at Andy Czezowski’s Roxy in Covent Garden in early 1977, then signs to Stiff Records. Its debut single, “One Chord Wonders,” becomes an underground punk hit and is widely regarded as a response to criticism of the band’s musical inexperience. The sleeve features a portrait of Gaye Advert that becomes closely associated with the record.

The Adverts later achieve brief chart success with “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” and “No Time To Be 21”. Their debut album, Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts, receives positive reviews but initially performs poorly; it is now often regarded as one of the key releases of the New Wave era. The follow-up, Cast of Thousands, is produced by Tom Newman, who has worked with Mike Oldfield, and reflects more of Smith’s progressive rock interests. It is heavily criticised by parts of the punk press, and the band soon breaks up.

Solo work and later projects

After The Adverts, Smith forms TV Smith’s Explorers in the early 1980s and later TV Smith’s Cheap in the same decade. Each group releases one album. After Cheap ends in the early 1990s, he continues as a solo artist. His recorded work as a solo performer combines semi-acoustic socio-political protest songs with punk rock.

As a live performer, Smith often appears alone with acoustic material, including reworked versions of Adverts songs, and builds a cult following across Europe, the Americas and Australia. He also plays occasional electric shows with collaborators including Amen and The Midnight Creeps from the US, Die Toten Hosen and Garden Gang from Germany, Punk Lurex from Finland, The Valentines from Italy, and Los Quattro and The Bored Teenagers from Spain.

Notable performances and recordings

In 2007, Smith and The Bored Teenagers perform Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts in full at the 100 Club in London to mark the 30th anniversary of The Adverts’ first gigs. His later album In the Arms of My Enemy appears in 2008.