Although just about a year old and currently unsigned, NYC pop punk group TV/TV is already starting to get a lot of buzz. Their music has been used on several MTV shows and they were recently selected as one of AP‘s “Top Unsigned Acts.” PopWreckoning’s Bethany had the chance to catch up with the group’s lead singer Josh Ocean to learn more about this up and coming act:
Bethany, PopWreckoning: How are you?
Josh Ocean, TV/TV: Good, good.
PW: Well, let’s just start at the beginning. How did you guys meet and decide to form TV/TV?
JO: We started, I started the band in my apartment in the East Village of Manhattan by just kind of writing songs with my roommate [Joe Esposito] and just kind of for fun as like a hobby. We would do music that we wanted to listen to and just combine pop sensibility with that.
We started booking shows around NYC. We got a residency at Pianos on the Lower East Side, it’s a nice little club. We actually searched MySpace and found a drummer and the bass player. The bass player is still in the band, his name is Francois. That’s kind of how the band got formed. We’ve been around now for a little over a year. That was in April of 2007.
PW: Had you guys done any bands before this or is this your first band?
JO: This is really my first real band. I was in small pop punk bands in high school, but nothing like really serious. This is the first serious endeavor.
PW: You’re the singer and do you play instruments, too?
JO: Yeah, I play guitar.
PW: And what’s the story with the drummer, are you guys looking for one?
JO: We have a drummer now, actually, that came on board like five months ago, I’d say.
PW: OK, so fairly new. I hadn’t seen a drummer listed on your MySpace, so I wasn’t sure.
JO: Yeah, we haven’t officially announced it on MySpace because we’re waiting for the new photos and stuff like that.
PW: Understandable, you got to have the cool photos. So what’s your guys’ songwriting process?
JO: Usually it starts with an idea that either myself or the guitar player might have and we kind of just go back and forth between the two of us. We’ll usually do like home demos on GarageBand on our laptops and then we bring them to the band and that’s when they really take shape. We bring the ideas to the band and we get their take on them.
PW: So what are some of your inspirations? You guys have played with The Bravery, would you cite them as one your influences?
JO: Yeah, I mean, they’re definitely a band that we like, admire and listen to often, but the biggest influences are like The Police, The Killers, The Hives and The Rolling Stones. Also like a lot of the classics. We really try to make our music as timeless as possible, instead of doing just what’s cool now, we try and do something that’s good all around and we look to the classics for inspiration for that.
PW: Something to Get Excited About, is that your new EP that’s coming out or is that the already out?
JO: Oh that was released in January of last year. We’re actually going to be releasing a new EP this January 2009. We’re really excited about it.
PW: So, you do have new music on the way?
JO: Yeah, we do. Very soon. And a new music video that will be out probably by February, hopefully.
PW: Oh cool, for what song?
JO: We’re debating, but I think that it’s going to be “Get It, Get It”.
PW: What’s the new EP called?
JO: We actually don’t have a name yet. We’re bouncing a few ideas back and forth, but nothing yet.
PW: But you’re working on it?
JO: Yeah.
PW: You’d be releasing that on your own because currently you don’t have a label?
JO: Yep.
PW: Now, you were just featured in AP as one of their “Top Unsigned Acts”, has that prompted any label interest in you guys?
JO: To be honest, there has been a lot of label interest from the very, very beginning. We do a lot of things right now by choice because we feel they are important to develop the band as organic as possible.
In this day and age it is easy for a band to get caught up and burnt out really quick. We’re trying to do this for the long haul. Yes, there’s definitely been some more label interest from the Alternative Press piece. But, I mean, we talk to labels all the time.
PW: Does some of your do-it-yourself attitude come from your interest in, well I know you guys got your band name from TVTV, the San Francisco video company. Does that sort of play into your attitudes toward labels and releasing your EPs?
JO: I think definitely. One of the reasons why we liked the name, why we picked the name is because it has such meaning and history behind it. We come from that kind of punk state of mind that’s very DIY and that kind of stuff. It does play into it, so yeah.
PW: Do you have an interest in video making as well?
JO: For me, personally, I would say that yes I do. I actually was really into film. I work with a few TV shows every once in a while when I’m back in New York. I’m very interested in the film making process. Where the band is concerned, I’m so busy writing songs that I don’t really get a chance to do that sort of stuff.
PW: Will you play a major role in the video you said you were going to have in February? Would you want to take charge of that?
JO: I definitely will write the treatment for that, but I think we’d have somebody else set it up and direct it.
PW: OK, cool. On one of your songs, “Let It Go”, you have a line that says, “Your mother says not to hang out with guys like me.” Has that ever happened? Are you kind of a bad boy? Do mothers have to watch out for you?
JO: I’d say yes and no. We’re a band that does the heartbreaks, but not the hard core, sort of.
PW: Haha, OK. So what’s the deal with Francois’ name? Is it just Francois or does he have a last name? I saw on a press release he was referred to as Mr. Francois.
JO: Yeah, Francois is kind of like a name that his party reputation gave to him in NYC. And we go back and forth between how to say it, but it’s just sort of a name he uses.
PW: Now, you other guys don’t use stage names? These are your real names.
JO: Yeah.
PW: Do you have 2009 releases that you’re looking forward to or the last month of 2008?
JO: I don’t know what’s coming out. I’d definitely say my most anticipated of 2009 is going to be our new EP in January.
PW: I know it’s not 2009 yet, but since there’s still some time left in 2008, are you pretty excited for the new Killers, since you did cite them as an influence?
JO: Oh yeah, definitely. When does that come out?
PW: The 24th.
JO: Of this month? Yeah.
Due to some techinical difficulties we decided to wrap up the interview here, but be sure to visit TV/TV’s website and keep an eye and ear out for their new EP this January.
