The True Story - Part 1
by Dan Treacy, from Television Personalities Fan Club ‘zine #1 - February 1985

Eddie was the idol of the fourth form. Not blessed with the looks of a matinee star but his angular jaw and thick set shoulders made him a guy we all respected. A man's man in every way. Rugby captain, champion athlete, trophies adorned his mother's sideboard… I hated the bastard! I hated him even more when he nonchalantly strolled into music class carrying a guitar case… everyone flocked around him… "cool it guys" said Eddie, "You never seen an axe before?"… So that was the secret! It was then I knew what had to be done, I ran all the way to the bank and withdrew my life's savings from my Midlands Young Savers account and I ran like I had never done before… I could feel my face, taut, as every sinew strained… the wind hurting my eyes… but I made it, 5.29 PM, the shoppers stared as I ran through the Woolworth's haberdashery, through the confectionery, left at the gardening display… and suddenly it caught my eye, I stood, frozen to the spot, money clenched in my fist… the glittering prize awaited me, a magnificent Winfield Jetstar guitar, cherry and metallic blue… handcrafted in Hong Kong and only £19.95 complete with tremolo arm… I clutched it to my chest all the way home on the number 11 bus. I went to my bedroom and carefully lifted it out of its cardboard case, I strapped it around my neck and gazed into the full length mirror… that morning was to change my life… a new world waited for me… I was a man now!

IN CONVERSATION WITH DAN TREACY:

THE EARLY DAYS

I lived around the corner from Eddie Ball in Chelsea, this was '74. We had never spoken in school, he was different classes from me. In the fourth form though they moved us into the same group and we got to know each other. We had nothing in common except we both had guitars, he had a couple of friends, John and Gerry Bennett, who had a drum kit and amps in their basement. We would get together at weekends and play Beatles numbers, Eddie seemed to know them all. John played drums after failing to get to grips with the bass and Gerald preferred bass anyway. I got left out of it after a while. I was always a loner. I was writing my own songs but the others seemed content playing for fun.

In the fifth year I got to know Joe Foster. Seemingly everyone hated him or ridiculed him. He was a real argumentative bastard. He got chucked out of class about fifteen minutes into every lesson. We got on though. He knew all about the sixties. He had a Rickenbacker guitar as well… well he told me it was. He'd actually put a false Rickenbacker plate on a cheap Shaftsbury copy. That was typical Joe.

Joe got dragged into Eddie's gang despite the fact that Joe once knocked out one of Ed's front teeth. Ed still hasn't forgiven him but it was accidental. After a while though me and Joe started planning ideas together. Nothing much came of it though. I left school in '76 while everyone else stayed on. I think the next time I met Joe was at the Roundhouse, probably a Ramones gig. We were both Mods but we didn't frequent the same places. Being Mods didn't stop us liking other things. We didn't go to Mod clubs much. Occasionally we would go to all-nighters but generally we hung around soho coffee bars. I think he got chucked out of art school after a week. Punk was just happening by now. I lived across the road from Beaufort street market where it all seemed to spring from. I remember when Malcom McLaren opened his shop… I think it was just called SEX. It had a huge pink bow tie above the name. My mother was manageress of the dry cleaning shop opposite and she did all their cleaning, including the Sex Pistols. It was great fun then, there seemed to be cameramen in the shop all the time. Jordan was totally outrageous, nobody caused a fuss like she could. She travelled from Brighton everyday to work. We often chatted in the laundry.

FIRST SINGLE

By this time Eddie, John and Gerald had got a band together and played a couple of school dances. They called themselves O'LEVEL. We had often talked about putting out a record. The first indie singles I remember where The Desperate Bicycles, Thomas Leer and Robert Rental records. We all got to know each other as pen pals. The only people we got to know well were Scritti Politti. They helped with information and for a time they roadied for us. Ed had suggested that O'LEVEL were going to make a single but it did not look like they ever would. By this time I had been working and saving money. I figured out that if Eddie would come and play drums in the studio I could record a single. He agreed he would.

I think I was a little suspicious when Eddie arrived at the studio with the other guys from O'LEVEL. I did not recall suggesting they all played on the record. We were very unsure what to do. The studio engineer was not that helpful. We knew nothing about studio techniques. We assumed we had to record it live. After a few goes though I was pleased with it. It was all very spontaneous. Eddie played a ridiculous solo on the b-side and kept muffing the words. The two tracks we recorded were "14th floor / Oxford Street W.1" . I went away with the tape feeling very pleased. It took four hours recording and cost the huge amount of £18.00 plus the bus fares. This was august 1977. I was quickly disheartened to find that my original costing was wrong and I had not enough money to release the record. I had got two test copies made and in my disappointment I sent one to John Peel hoping he would be sympathetic. The name TV Personalities was a late afterthought. I was going to call the group Teen '78. I scribbled the name of TV Personalities on the white label I sent to Peel. He played it the next night and appealed for someone to release it. After a few plays my parents said I could borrow the money if I promised to go back to work. It finally got released in January 1978. I pressed 500 copies which I sold quickly to Rough Trade and Small Wonder. Then I got another 387 copies. That was the total amount. We could have sold more but we were paying too much to have them made. At least we knew better next time.

I kept my promise and went back to work. I got a job at Swansong records which was Led Zeppelin's label. I was not easily impressed by the supposed stars I met. They got me running silly errands all day. They were also annoyed that I was getting more press articles than any of them! I eventually got sacked after three weeks. I was supposed to go and cash a check for Jimmy Page the Zeppelin guitarist. I got followed out of the bank by two nasty looking villains and eventually got back to the office two hours late. They threw everything at me… gold discs etc. and told me to go. That was a relief.

My suspicion about O'LEVEL were confirmed by the way. A week after my recording they went back to the studio and recorded their first record… "East Sheen / Pseudo Punk".

PART TIME PUNKS

I thought it was petty that they treated it as a competition to see who could be first. It didn't concern me though. My record was much better. Their single got banned by John Peel as it had the word S**T in it. Me and Ed soon got together again though. John and Gerald had left O'LEVEL so Ed was on his own like me. We decided to pool what resources we had and start our own label called "Kings Road". We did a fanzine too. In August 1978 we went into I.P.S. studio in Shepherds Bush and recorded the "Where's Bill Grundy Now?" EP. A week after Eddie recorded the second O'LEVEL single "We Love Malcom" entirely on his own playing all the instruments himself. Both were released in November '78. Peel again went potty and played the "Part Time Punks" track every night for a month. It topped the Indie charts for months and it sold enough to be a Top 20 hit. The powers that be though made sure it did not get in the chart. It got number 76 in the BBC chart and then it mysteriously went down despite selling twice as many in the following week. It sold about 20.000 on Kings Road. I did little for the next six months except making and gluing self made sleeves for the record. Only 1500 appeared in a proper sleeve. I made myself very ill after a while and became a bit of a recluse. Rough Trade kept pestering me for more of the Grundy EP and they eventually suggested re-releasing on Rough Trade. They thought they may sell another 1000 copies. They repressed it with a label designed by the Swell Maps. Since then it has sold another 15.000 copies!

I was greatly depressed though. I wanted to be in a band but my nerves were bad. Joe was back in touch now. He had got a band together who called themselves the NEW ACTION. They then changed their name to the GIFTED CHILDREN. He suggested that everyone was waiting for the TVP'S to play live. I persuaded him to join me… besides he knew a kid called Mark who had a drum kit so we got together for rehearsals. We knew about five numbers, mostly Mod and Soul stuff and my own handful of songs but we still took a risk and fixed a performance at the Central School of Art in London. It was the first "PSYCHO-DELIC" HAPPENING since the sixties. The early Sex Pistols gigs were no comparison! I got to play two numbers before I started hallucinating. Someone had spiked my drink with LSD! Apparently the Swell Maps got up and played with the other members! I was blue in the face for a week but vowed that I would be back for our first proper live performance at the Clarendon Hotel in Hammersmith supporting This Heat and Essential Logic. It was to be quite an evening and the start of a year of mayhem, drama and hi jinks. I will tell you all about it next time. And… the recording session that went horribly wrong, not forgetting our first trip to Germany… the Germans have not forgotten it!

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