London-based punk newcomers Television Screams have honed a riotous sound that they describe as “spooky, sexy and fun.” The band label their sound as “riot ghoul” and admit to having a slight obsession with the idea of being sexy punk vampires along with a love of campy cult horror movies and classic punk.
The quartet of Mort Drew, Nancy Napalm, Minnie Gaio and Pete Efstathiou come from all across the UK but settled in London, including Nancy, who moved from Norwich for university. And Nancy told us: “We all ended up meeting and becoming friends around the time we all were individually thinking about wanting to start bands, so it ended up being pretty incredible timing!”
And on the “riot ghoul” label, Nancy adds: “A lot of people started calling us ‘riot grrrl,’ which we never really felt was a good fit for us. Bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney definitely influence us a lot, but there’s also a stronger element of classic punk, a bit of metal and also campy 80s horror movies in our music that don’t necessarily make us a typical riot grrrl band, which is how we settled on ‘riot ghoul.'”
While Minnie adds: “I’m not sure if you can tell, but we’re slightly obsessed with the idea of being sexy punk vampires, so riot ghoul works perfectly for us.”
Our first taste of this is their most recent single Uncomfortably Numb, which was released last month. It opens up with drawn-out guitars and rolling drums. Engaging laid-back vocals take over “I thought when you kiss someone you’re supposed to feel something, But I don’t feel anything at all, I feel nothing, And I don’t know if it’s you or the alcohol, But something’s wrong, And I feel numb, So very numb.”
The instrumentals and vocals build in intensity and launch into a driving riff that’s joined by intense vocals through a vicious chorus. That feeds into a riotous second verse that ends on a scream and leads into another lively chorus to bring the track to a heavy conclusion.
On the track, Nancy told us: “Uncomfortably Numb came about after a particularly bad break-up, which pretty much tanked my mental health for a while. I was really struggling but my ex was doing just fine, and so the song is basically about the anger and frustration that I felt at the fact that he was having a great time whilst I was at my lowest. We really love the track, so we’ve been really stoked that everyone else has seemed to like it as well! We did our first-ever music video for it as well, which was incredibly fun.”
And Minnie adds: “I feel like the song has always been a success at our live shows so I’m glad people can just listen to it when they want to now. We’ve been getting lots of good reviews from the people around us which definitely feels great. For those who haven’t listened yet: expect a fast, spooky, catchy song.”
That follows the equally excellent Don’t Ghost Me, which launches into driving guitars and drums under a cool high-pitched guitar. The vocals start off with the cutting line “I’ve heard what you’ve been saying about me, And I think that you’re a prick.” It picks up pace as it builds into a delicious chorus “It says the message has been seen, Why are there three dots on my screen, Don’t think you can ignore me, Don’t ghost me I’m not a graveyard.”
The engaging vocals continue with the line “You’re the archetypal dickhead and that’s why your girl’s with me instead.” A second chorus drops into laid-back guitars, then lead vocals are answered by “Who the fuck do you think you are.” Then the intensity builds with a big scream, stabbing guitars and wild synth sounds that tee up a final blast of the chorus.
The Television Screams is influenced by bands like My Chemical Romance, Misfits and Type O Negative, and Minnie is a big fan of Neck Deep. While Nancy adds: “For me personally, Viv Albertine’s guitar playing with The Slits was a huge inspiration for me even wanting to pick a guitar up in the first place, because I really loved how she just started playing because she wanted to, regardless of things like technique and ability.”
And on what inspires them to write music, Nancy tells us: “A lot of our music comes from things that make us angry, which definitely influences both the lyrics and overall sound of our tracks. Stuff like mental health, relationships, the general state of the world at the moment, etc… It’s incredibly therapeutic getting to scream about all this stuff.”
There’s plenty more to come from Television Screams, starting with a gig alongside Gen & The Degenerates at The Grace in London on Thursday (17 November). Tickets for that are available here. They’re also working on a debut EP, for which coming up with a name is proving more problematic than writing songs – so any names on a postcard!
And Minnie adds: “If you’re angry at the world / the patriarchy, our music is for you.”
You can follow Television Screams on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
Photo credit: @xandru__
GigRadar 