Television Personalities
by John Reed from Record Collector #142 - June 91

Last year's "Privilege" was the Television Personalities' first studio album in seven years, and will be followed later this year by the reissue of their entire back catalogue, in an attempt to satisfy demand for these early recordings. With prices soaring, we tracked Dan Treacy down to help clarify the more confusing aspects of the TVPs story to date. Incidentally, Ed Ball's career with the Teenage Filmstars and the Times isn't outlined here, but will be detailed in a future article.

Dan was born just around the corner from the Kings Road in Chelsea where, at an early age, his elder sister's mod boyfriend played him all the latest records by the likes of the Stones, Kinks, Who, Beatles and Yardbirds. But it wasn't until the early 1970s that he took up the guitar, having been inspired by seeing glam rock bands liked the Sweet, Wizzard and Mott the Hoople on TV. And there was someone else from school who was also interested in guitars, as Dan recalls: "I knew Ed Ball because he lived in the same area as me, and when he discovered we both had guitars, he used to come over to my house and basically taught me how to play."

Edward Ball introduced Dan to several other friends, including brothers John and Gerrard Bennet, who, between them, had a drum-kit and some amplifiers in their parents' basement. Augmented by another school pal, one Joe Foster, the five of them would get together at weekends. It didn't last long, though, and by the time Dan left school in 1976, the music industry was about to be turned on its head by the mushrooming punk movement. The new wave opened up a lot of doors for aspiring guitar bands, and with it came the idea that anybody could make a record. Many groups and individuals did just that, often making one bid for glory, and then disappearing. One band which pioneered the DIY spirit was the Desperate Bicycles, whose self-financed records with photocopied wraparound sleeves inspired many, including Dan and Ed who wrote to them to find out exactly how to do it. "We got a leaflet back showing us how", remembered Dan, "and all we needed was £400. So I went to work for a while and saved up the money. I asked Ed along to the studio with me to record a few of my songs, and I figured John Peel would play them, as he seemed to play all the other stuff!"

While the Sex Pistols were riding the charts with "God Save the Queen", Dan - accompanied by Ed and the Bennetts - went into IPC studios, Hammersmith (chosen because the Who recorded there) one Saturday, and for £17 came away with two finished songs, both recorded live in one take because that's how they assumed it was always done. By the time, Dan was using the name Teen 78 but he wasn't totally happy with it. Then came a letter from the pressing plant informing him of manufacturing price increases and, unable to meet the new prices, all Dan could get for his money were a few white label test pressings of his first single, "14th Floor". In a fit of desperation, he decided to send a copy to John Peel in the hope that at least he'd be able to hear it on the radio. Dan recalls how, at this stage, he stumbled upon a new group name: "The band was supposed to be called Teen 78 and as I was writing the titles on the white labels, I decided to put the line-up of the band as Hughie Green, Bruce Forsythe and Bob Monkhouse, just for a joke. It looked really good and the name TV Personalities came to me just as I was about to post off the record."

John Peel enthused over the disc and even offered to help Dan finance it, but by early 1978 he'd managed to save up enough money to press up 867 copies himself; and through repeated radio plays the single was immediately sold to the Rough Trade and Small Wonder stockists. "14th Floor" is now worth £40 in its picture cover, and three different wraparound sleeves are known to exist. Around 100 sleeves were printed on glossy art paper depicting a photograph of young Daniel Treacy sitting on the knee of Santa Claus! A second variant only has writing on the sleeve, while a third variant boasts a picture of Cilla Black and a Queen lookalike riding a bike with Alan Price. The record itself was a shambling punk band thrash. Dan now thinks it must be a contender for the world's worst record, but I would hotly dispute that, as would hundreds of collectors who would happily give their right arm to own this fragment of punk history. The single was in such great demand that two years ago, Overground Records unofficially reissued a numbered edition of the single in a new sleeve design, pressed on yellow, white or black vinyl.

Spurred on by Dan's success, Edward Ball adopted the name O Level and when his single "East Sheen" had sold out, the duo pooled their resources and set up their own Kings Road record label and art / fashion fanzine. After further encouragement from John Peel, Dan returned to IPC studios in the summer of 1978 to record a follow-up TVPs single. Unhappy with the recordings, Dan re-entered the studio on 26th August, accompanied by Ed Ball on drums and backing vocals. The session cost Dan the princely sum of £22.50 and this time it provided the band's next single, the "Where's Bill Grundy Now?" EP, which was released on Kings Road Records in November 1978. The four-track single was another cult success, due mainly to the inclusion of "Part-Time Punks", which was aired constantly on the Peel show and was single of the week in many music papers.

The first 2,000 copies came in a conventional printed sleeve featuring a picture of a headless Reginald Maudling MP, with track details on the back and the record labels hand-stamped by Dan. This issue is worth £15. The second pressings came in wraparound sleeve designs, with possibly three variants in existence, but the sleeve most commonly found is the one featuring a picture of a punk in sunglasses (could if be Shane McGowan?) with a letter from "Sounds" journalist Garry Bushell on the back. These editions all came with plain white labels, Dan obviously tiring of hand-stamping so many records by this point! An other design features a black square, with a Beatles photo on the rear, while a third again utilises Reginald Maudling, but Ringo Starr and George Harrison appear on the rear as children, along with press cuttings. £12 should be enough to secure these.

When Rough Trade reissued the single in 1979 they reverted to the original sleeve design. The difference with this third pressing was that it had conventional rough Trade printed labels; copies can be picked up for £10. By far the rarest artifact from this period is a "Where's Bill Grundy?" promo single with hand-stamped labels and sleeve, and with individually typed lyrics / poetry featured on the sleeve. Dan recalls sending out only a handful and each would have been slightly different. Expect to pay £25 for a copy, that is if you even see one for sale. Rough Trade also included "Part Time Punks" on their American sampler album, "Wanna Buy a Bridge?" (ROUGH US 3), available in a choice of blue or green sleeves, complete with inner sleeve. This album was heavily imported, but still fetches around a tenner. The band also turned up on a German Rough Trade compilation, through Phonogram (6435 086), issued in 1981.

The EP established the TVPs as cult indie favourites as Dan remembers: "There still wasn't a band as such, and I virtually retired on the profits of that EP so I didn't do anything for ages. When Ed changed the name of his band O Level to the Teenage Filmstars he asked me to play on their debut single, "There's A Cloud Over Liverpool", along with Joe Foster, but I ended up just playing keyboards and singing some backing vocals on the B-side, 'Sometimes Good Guys Don't Follow Trends'." Some journalists at the time were eager to assume that the TVPs, O Level and Teenage Filmstars were one and same outfit, but with few exceptions, Dan and Ed's bands were always quite separate.

Another mysterious TVPs-related disc that has recently come to light is the rare Reacta 45, "Stop the World". Apparently, both Dan Treacy and Ed Ball produced the single, and various band members also play on it. And since only 300 copies are reputed to exist, this may prove to be one of the most obscure collectors items for TVPs fans to track down. Expect to pay anything between £5 and £15 at the moment, though, since many people don't realise the TVP connection.

It was Rough Trade's Geoff Travis who persuaded Treacy to come out of 'retirement' to make some new TVPs recordings in January 1980. This resulted in the band's third single, "Smashing Time", issued in July 1980, appearing on Rough Trade in a standard picture sleeve. The initial pressing of 2,000 copies came with an orange hula-hoop girl on one side of the labels, while later pressings used standard Rough Trade labels. Expect to pay £15 for either pressing. Dan fully expected everyone to have forgotten the band but the single got good reviews and a fair amount of radio play. For those expecting the two-chord thrash of "Part-Time Punks", it certainly would have been a disappointment, but Dan was moving into Byrds territory with a brilliant steal from "Eight Miles High" on the intro to the single's flip, "King & Country" (which could have easily been the topside). Though "Smashing Time" was the band's best single to date, it actually sold in smaller quantities than earlier releases.

Coupled with this shift in musical direction came the TVPs move towards playing live, as Dan recalls: "I knew Joe Foster from school and though he didn't have a band, he always encouraged me to do things, so we got together with drummer Mark Sheppard and began to rehearse. We were pretty awful to begin with but we gradually improved, and when Rough Trade offered us a gig three months in advance, we rehearsed liked mad. We were special guests of This Heat and Essential Logic at the Clarendon, Hammersmith, and as we were first on, we decided to organise an elaborate film and lighting shown and the gig turned out to be a great success for us." While this was their first 'proper' performance, a previous live venture had gone very wrong: "Our first attempted gig was at the Central School of Art in Holborn," recalls Dan, "and it was a disaster for me. Someone had spiked my drink with LSD and so I left the stage abruptly. Thankfully, members of the Swell Maps were in the audience and they jumped on stage with Joe Foster and Mark 'Empire' Sheppard to complete the show!" This acquaintance with Nikki Sudden's band was apparent on the Swell Maps first 45, "Read About Seymour": in fact, the rear sleeve featured an interview with Dan, discussing the TVPs' situation at the time.

During the summer of 1980 the TVPs recorded their one and only John Peel session, taped at two hours' notice, due to the Skids' cancellation because singer Richard Jobson had the 'flu. While taping the session, Joe attempted to decapitate Mark in the studio, a story often recalled by producer Dale Griffin, who was terrified and locked Joe in the studio until Dan managed to cool him down! Just about together the three-piece TVPs embarked on their first European tour, which included a residency at a club in Berlin in October 1980. Dan: "On the first night, the audience was made up of people who'd bought 'Part-Time Punks', and we played for around three hours. It was a bizarre performance, even by our standards. We were spray painting and smashing guitars, something they'd not seen the like of since the 60s. The next night, people brought their friends along, and by the end of the third night the club manager offered us another week's worth of gigs."

But due to a rails strike, the band were left stranded in Germany. Not wishing to cancel a gig they were supposed to be playing at the Rock Garden in London, the TVPs then pulled off their most notorious stunt. Dan telephoned Ed Ball who had by this time assembled a live band, and so his Teenage Filmstars stood in and played as the TVPs - funnily enough, few of the audience noticed and the imposters received two encores!

Musical differences forced Joe Foster out of the TVPs soon after the European gigs, but not before he'd recorded a solo single under the name Missing Scientists for Rough Trade. The record, a cover of Dandy Livingstone's "Big City", also featured fellow TVPs Dan and "Empire", along with Daniel Miller, who at that time had just set up his Mute Records label. In its picture sleeve this early rarity fetches £16.

Accompanied by 'Empire' on drums. Dan Treacy went to a small recording studio in October 1980, and recorded an album's worth of material in just three days. The results turned out to be the band's debut LP, "And Don't The Kids Just Love It", finally laying to rest their "Part-Time Punks" reputation with some excellent Sixties-influenced garage pop songs. The sleeve credits Edward Ball as playing on the album, though in truth, he actually contributed bass on five songs. The quaint ode to the ex-Pink Floyd genius, "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives" was drawn from the album as a single which, in its picture cover, is currently worth £18. The 7" was later released in Japan in a gatefold sleeve, and with its different B-side "Magnificent Dreams", is definitely the rarest TVPs single at around £60 a copy - that is, if you can actually find someone selling one.

After some disagreements with Rough Trade, Dan and Ed set up a new record label together. Whaam! was launched in early 1981 with Ed Ball's new band the Times' debut single, "Red With Purple Flashes", and the Gifted Children's one and only single "Painting By Numbers". The Gifted Children was actually the TVPs line-up of Dan, Empire and a mysterious bass player called Bernard Cooper. The name change was simply because Dan Treacy wanted to do something different anonymously. "Painting By Numbers" is now worth £15. A Gifted Children album was also planned, but was scrapped with Bernie disappeared. With a TVPs tour already booked, Ed Ball stepped in on bass for UK gigs during February and March 1981, but his involvement was short-lived as he was busy with the Times. At this stage, Dan Treacy was considering folding the TVPs because he felt Ed Ball was irreplaceable; but when the offer of two gigs in Berlin with Nico came up, Joe Foster played bass on the understanding that he and Mark Sheppard would put aside their 'musical differences'.

Ed Ball briefly returned as the TVPs' bass player for their memorable debut tour of Holland in August 1981, a time when the "Syd Barrett" single scaled the Dutch charts. On their return, and at the height of the first of many psychedelic revivals, the pair because heavily involved with the movement's nucleus, the Groovy Cellar in London, which was run by Mood Six and their manager Clive Solomon. Ball and Treacy were resident DJs while Ed Ball helped create the right atmosphere with some live action painting. That autumn and early winter saw the Times' debut album and the second TVPs long player committed to tape. Dan played guitar on about half of the Times' "Pop Goes Art" album, while bass duties on the TVPs' "Mummy You're Not Watching Me" were shared between Ed and Bernie Cooper, who made a brief return before suffering a nervous breakdown, never to be seen again. During this period, the TVPs briefly became a four-piece with Ed Ball on second guitar and the mysterious Bernie on bass, while the Times performed live with drummer Paul Damon and Dan Treacy on guitar, often without a bass player.

Dan recalls this period in the Times: "We did some wild gigs at various psychedelic night which were promoting the "Splash of Colour" compilation album. The most infamous event occurred at the Rock Garden in London's Covent Garden. There was a three-night promotion for this LP and I swear every band wore the same paisley shirts from Kensington Market. Ed had other ideas and suggested the Times dress like the Jam! So we came on, turned the volume up to 11, and I performed the gig entirely as Paul Weller while Ed was Bruce Foxton, leaping in the air and doing outrageous Pete Townsend impressions! It was hysterical but no one understood the joke. After slagging the audience off for being hippies we smashed our instruments and trashed the stage. We didn't get invited to any more gigs promoting the record."

In January 1982, Whaam! released the Times' "Pop Goes Art" album and the TVPs' second long-player, "Mummy You're Not Watching Me". Like their first album, "Mummy You're Not Watching Me" is now very scarce, selling for around £40 with its original insert. "Three Wishes" appeared as the TVPs' first single in two years in June 1982 in a photocopied wraparound sleeve design. Several variations in the lettering exist: with a coloured paper sleeve, the single is valued at £12, although white sleeves are far more common and can still be found for just under a tenner.

The band's second album of the year, "They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles", surfaced in August 1982, as 2,500 individually spray-painted copies. On paper, the contents didn't sound so promising - failed recordings, demos, out-takes, and a re-airing for their debut single "14th Floor" - but it turned out to be a surprising success, as Dan remembers: "I had this great title which I thought sounded like a retrospective album from a band that had split up, so we played at the London Musicians Collective in Camden and billed it as the last TVPs gig ever. We fooled everyone into believing it was going to be filmed by Channel Four and I even dragged some friends along with video cameras to pretend to be the TV crew. The music papers, who had virtually ignored me since "Part-Time Punks", all churned out misty-eyed obituaries. It worked so well I thought that it should end there but to my surprise the "Beatles" LP received some really good press in Europe."

Dan's well-documented nervous breakdown put paid to any gigs to consolidate the success of the "Beatles" album, but the TVPs re-emerged in autumn 1982 with new bass player and TVPs fan Mark Flunder. Dan wanted to try something new and so, several gigs later, expanded the group to include Dave Musker on organ and, returning to the fold, Joe Foster on 12-string guitar. This line-up survived one disastrous tour of Italy and by the time of a German tour in January 1983, Mark Flunder had been replaced by ex-Swell Map Jowe Head. Dan explains: "I wasn't prepared for how big we had become over there. Joe and Dave were insufferable and most nights they ruined my songs by acting like prima donnas. I actually played the last week of gigs with my guitar unplugged."

On the band's return, Dan suffered a second nervous breakdown and has little recollection of anything until late 1983, when he went into the studio with the help and interference of Joe Foster. Much of the recorded material was performed by Dan though there were some out-takes with Mark Sheppard who then left to join Robyn Hitchcock. The album that emerged was provisionally entitled "And God Snaps His Fingers" and was planned as a Whaam! release, but when Rough Trade heard the recordings they were keen to issue the album. As a taster, the "A Sense of Belonging" single was lifted from the LP. This record ran into controversy almost immediately over the sleeve design, which depicted a photograph of a battered child. The press misinterpreted it as some kind of bizarre publicity stunt and when the label's distributor refused to handle the record, Rough Trade quietly deleted the single from their catalogue, a move which signalled the end of their relationship with the TVPs. In its picture sleeve, "A Sense of Belonging" is now worth £12.

The delayed album, "The Painted Word", finally appeared on Illuminated Records almost a year after being recorded. It sold several thousand copies before disaster struck when the label went into receivership overnight - and with it went the TVPs' last studio LP for seven years. The album is now worth £35. After more or less taking over production duties on "The Painted Word", musical differences forced out Joe Foster for the last time, and he took Dave Musker with him, to help set up Alan McGee's Creation label. Dave Musker joined the Jasmine Minks, while Joe was jointly responsible for the sound on many of the seminal early Creation 45s, and released two excellent singles as Slaughter Joe, "I'll Follow You Down" and "She's So Out Of Touch" (the second was backed by a superbly manic rendition of the legendary Byrds bootleg favourite, "I Know You Rider"). But after a much-publicised dispute with the Jesus and Mary Chain, Foster left to set up his own Kaleidoscope Sound label, and nurtured a soon-to-be-brilliant My Bloody Valentine, among others. A planned solo album has still to materialise.

Back in the TVPs camp, Dan resumed gigging in late 1983, with Jowe Head on bass and new drummer Jeff Bloom; and it is this line-up which has survived to the present day. The Creation label connection had also yielded a much sought-after flexidisc featuring the band's rendition of "Biff Bang Pow!", originally recorded by Sixties cult heroes the Creation (obviously the inspiration for the label's name). Copies of the flexi may well have come free with McGee's fanzine "Communication Blur", but either way, this item is valued at a minimum of £20. While heavily involved in the band, Dan also concentrated on the Whaam! label, which was first to release records by the likes of the Marine Girls (whose vocalist Tracey Thorn later achieved success with Everything But The Girl), Dr. and the Medics (remember "Spirit In The Sky"? - the Doctor also DJ'd at the Groovy Cellar), the Direct Hits (a Sixties / mod outfit whose first album Dan played on), mod band Small World and the mysterious Le Mat. Other releases included a single from Sixties synth pop duo the Page Boys (who went on to form Dreamworld act 1,000 Violins), ex-VIP Jed Dmochowski (other VIP's went on to form Mood Six, the band central to the Groovy Cellar scene), the Marble Staircase (featured on "A Splash Of Colour") and Glasgow band the Pastels. After Whaam! folded, Stephen Pastel's group issued one single for Rough Trade, "I Wonder Why" (now worth £20), before signing with a fledgling Creation Records, kicking off with a live version of "I Wonder Why" on a flexidisc free with the label's first single. This is still easy to find for £5, unlike "Something Going On" (Creation CRE 006), which again fetches at least £20. The Pastels were a pivotal influence on many of the so-called 'jangly' mid-to-late Eighties guitar bands, and finally managed to achieve some albeit overdue recognition with their debut album, "Up For A Bit", on the now-defunct Glass label. Finally, look out for a lone single by Onslaught on the Complete Control label, since this had connections with Whaam!

However, by the end of 1984, after threatening legal action and substantial compensation from the pop group Wham!, the label was discontinued. Rumours abound that George Michael paid Dan £50,000, although this seems unlikely. Prior to this, one of the label's final releases was the compilation "All For Art And Art For All" which contained two previously unissued TVPs tracks, "The Dream Inspires" and "Happy All The Time", plus "My Favourite Films" as the Gifted Children. Only 1,400 copies were pressed, and so not surprisingly, the album has risen in value to £30. Interestingly enough, two TVPs albums, "Live In Berlin" and "Tune In, Turn On", were pencilled in for release on Whaam! but were never actually issued.

The band's final album of the decade was the live set, "Chocolate-Art (A Tribute To James Last)", which was recorded during their late 1983 tour of Germany and released in that country only by Pastell Records. The sleeve, featuring an Andy Warhol-style repeated image in black and orange, was designed by Jowe Head and with its insert, the album has been known to sell for as much as £30. Recently, however, "Chocolate-Art" was re-pressed by Pastell, so it's now possible to obtain the LP for under £10. That same label is also planning a CD release for the album, with an additional 35 minutes of live material.

Dan set up a new label, Dreamworld, in early 1985 chiefly to reissue out-of-print and in-demand old TVPs albums, but it soon carried on from where Whaam! left off releasing records by new bands. Among these were Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, Birmingham hopefuls the Mighty Lemon Drops, the Looking Glass, Blue Train, Go! Service and One Thousand Violins.

The TVPs first single since their disastrous "A Sense of Belonging" was "How I Learned To Love The Bomb", released on 12" only in January 1986. 3,500 copies were pressed and in its picture sleeve, this is now valued at £10. The TVPs were on fine form and the disc made 'Single of the Week' in many music papers. In typical TVPs fashion, the 7" appeared nearly a year later, totally re-recorded and with different B-side tracks. This format is considerably more scarce than the 12" release as only 1,000 copies were pressed: in its picture sleeve expect to pay £15.

In mid-1987, Dreamworld reissued the two Whaam! TVPs albums, "Mummy You're Not Watching Me" and "They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles" in new sleeve designs. This time round the records sold more copies and met with critical acclaim. Both came with inserts and again now fetch around £20 apiece. 1987 also saw the release of a limited edition 7" single on the German Constrictor label called "The Prettiest Girl In The World", and its popularity amongst collectors ensuring a £10 price tag.

Work commenced on what was provisionally the next TVPs single, "Salvador Dali's Garden Party" and the "Privilege" album, both for Dreamworld, but when the label became inactive, the band turned its attentions towards establishing itself on the European concert circuit. "Just Me And My Desire" was also mooted as a single release and the "Privilege" LP turned up in 'Music Master' listings as Dreamworld BIG DREAM 10 as late as January 1989. But it wasn't until October 1989 that the TVPs finally came out of hibernation, with a new single on Fire Records. "Salvador Dali's Garden Party" was issued on 12" and limited 7", the latter format boasting two extra tracks. The single, complete with psychedelic effects and megaphone-style vocals, put the band back in the spotlight again and not a moment too soon.

The group's first new studio album since the ill fated "The Painted Word" was indeed entitled "Privilege", issued in January 1990 and became the first TVPs album to be issued on all three formats. Unfortunately, vinyl fans lost out when extra tracks appeared on the cassette and compact disc editions. The album was met with critical acclaim and, for a band whose sell-by date has long since passed, the TVPs are still proving as vital, if not more so, as many of today's crop of indie bands. With all their albums due for reissue later this year, a new single "Strangely Beautiful", prepared for release, and a follow-up, "She's Never Read My Poems", already in the can, we can certainly look forward to a revitalised Television Personalities in the Nineties.

All the material is (c) the author and / or the publisher.