Ventura, CA punks TV Party are back with their new single, “Pocket Full of Harold,” off of their upcoming album, Psychic Driving, out April 21 via Outro Records.
Named after the 1950’s radical therapy in which patients were reprogrammed with positive messages on never-ending-loop for hours at a time, the album deep-dives into a dark, off-kilter, anachronistic world created through its 12 stunning, hypnotic songs. Psychic Driving—the band’s second full-length—isn’t directly about that insidious program per se, but it still evokes and captures a fitting sense of paranoia and uncertainty.
Bassist Matt Kash says:
“The night before we recorded the album, Jesse and Parker drank, like, 10 pots of coffee and wrote all the lyrics. They just stayed up all night and just wrote and wrote, then showed up early the next morning to go record with bloodshot eyes and a yellow pad of paper saying ‘I think they’re pretty good, but we don’t know. It could also suck.’ So I thumbed through them and went ‘Oh yeah. You did good!’”
Psychic Driving is a formidable and remarkable version of their truth, which can be at times both uncomfortable and comforting. It’s a sleek and sloppy, sophisticated and primal portrait of humanity as it is now, one that’s full of charm and terror, and which marks the band out as something truly special.
“I wanted to make a record that we could look back on one day and be proud of, and I think we did that.” says Kash.
Vocalist Jesse Brinkenhoff adds:
“I’d like people to be able to put on headphones and walk around a decaying city listening to it and just feel kind of cool while they do.”
“Pocket Full of Harold” is the third single to be released from the record and is a dark jangly soundtrack to America’s complicated relationship with opioids and its effect on our collective psyche. TV Party neither sugarcoat nor glamorize drug-taking but provide a window to the reality of their experience with this ever-present substance.
TV Party will perform at the record release party for Psychic Driving on April 21 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center in Oxnard, CA. Closing the party will be Fake Names, featuring members of Minor Threat, Fugazi, Refused, Soulside, and Embrace.
The band will go on to play at Punk Rock Bowling and Shebang Fest, with more regional and national shows to be announced shortly.
Check out “Pocket Full of Harold” below, and pre-order Psychic Driving here.
Follow TV Party: Facebook/Instagram
TV Party are Jesse Brinkenhoff (lead vocals), Parker Cohen (Guitar), Matt Kash (bass), Aidan O’Donnell (guitar), and Justin Dempsey (drums).
Photo courtesy of TV Party
