With The Adverts, Timothy Smith was at the heart of the British punk movement. Then the 1970s were over and The Adverts were already history. But Smith kept going, releasing solo albums as TV SMITH and touring the world’s clubs incessantly until the Corona pandemic and a personal COVID-19-disease stopped him.
An interview about the album that resulted from this, „Lockdown Holidays“, the consideration of how bad times have to be in order to write good lyrics about them, and of course the eternal question: Is punk really not dead at all?
Hi and thanks a lot for taking time for this interview! How are you doing?
I’m fine. Thanks for inviting me.
This introductory question is really important during the Corona period – and for this interview in particular: You yourself were ill with Covid-19 – are you fit again, are you well?
About 90% back to normal, I think. It’s been a long journey, with lots of periods of fatigue along the way, and I still get caught out by it now and again and just kind of collapse – but generally I’m okay.
You were constantly on tour the last few years – is it difficult for you to stay at home now, or can you also enjoy not being „on the road“?
It was weird at first. The main thing was, at the time all the gigs got cancelled I got hit by Covid so I couldn’t have done them anyway. I couldn’t even get out of bed. And by the time I was feeling better, the whole landscape had changed. I had to learn, the same as everyone else did, that everything was going to be different from now on. As soon as you can accept that, you can learn to enjoy yourself in the new environment. In my case, that meant trying new things like online gigs and making videos at home – but I still hope to get back to real life gigs in front of real people sometime.
You will soon turn 65, in a „normal“ job you would be approaching retirement age. Nevertheless, you were tirelessly on stage until the beginning of the pandemic. Tell us: What is the attraction of touring for you?
The attraction is seeing people enjoy what I do. That’s what makes it worthwhile. The reaction from the audience is what makes me know that I’ve done the right thing by writing the songs and making the effort to go out and play them.
What was your trick to make being on the road more bearable?
Well, I’ve used a lot of tricks over the years. I used to write books of tour diaries to let off the pressure and share my experiences. Alcohol has helped too, of course, ha ha! These days I have a simple strategy, which is just to make the physical conditions as nice as possible. That means things like staying the night in a decent hotel rather than the club band room, even if I have to pay the extra myself. And trying to get the routing right so I’m not always travelling all day to the gig and arriving already exhausted.
Have you ever thought about quitting – or are you just waiting to start again after Corona?
I’ve always worried that if I lose the momentum and stop gigging for any long period of time I would find it hard to start up again. And actually, when the Covid shutdown forced me to stop and look at the intensity of the constant touring I’d been doing, it did look like some kind of madness and I wasn’t sure if I should go back to that. But the truth is, I really do want to play live again when the time is right and it’s safe to do so.
Anyway, you didn’t take a holiday in Lockdown either, but wrote and recorded an album: „Lockdown Holiday“. What I like about it is that it is kept simple; it sounds very honest. Is that what punk is all about – and would you even call your music punk?
In that sense, definitely yes. It’s hard to know what punk is these days, so many bands are claiming to be “punk.” For me it just means, be honest and be sincere. The actual musical style isn’t really all that important, it’s all about the content.
A band you have worked with a lot, who have also supported you many times, is Die Toten Hosen. Let’s be honest: Are they still punk or rather mainstream rock?
I think they still have a punk attitude. They are still really genuine about what they do, which is unusual for musicians as famous as they are. I wouldn’t really say if the music they make is punk or not, for the reasons I just gave you, and I don’t think they or anyone else really cares.
In general: Is punk still alive – and does what is sold as punk today still have something to do with your ideals and ideas from the 1970s?
I think it is still alive, but these days I find the whole question of “is it punk or not?” quite boring. It makes punk sound like some elitist club that only some people can join. In fact, originally punk was exactly the opposite of elitist. The whole point was that anyone could be a punk. The real question is, “is it good or not?”
There are still bands from that time, like The Addicts, who were musically quite similar to The Adverts. Is this kind of music still interesting for you today, or have you personally – also as a music listener – grown out of it?
I wouldn’t say I’d grown out of it, but I’ve been so over-exposed to it over the last forty years and heard all the songs so many times that I wouldn’t ever put a punk record on at home.
Do you sometimes find it a pity that your journey with The Adverts was so short?
No, it feels like those few years was enough. I really needed to move on and try new things.
So 40 years later, interviewers like me still come up with The Adverts. How does it feel to be constantly reduced to that – is it just pride, or does it also offend you because it belittles your solo career?
I’m still proud that the band has so much impact – but I do think that is partly because the period itself was so groundbreaking. You don’t get many times when the whole of society get so shaken up by a few kids in bands. I admit that for a while I got sick of hearing about the Adverts all the time, but these days it’s such a small proportion of what I do that I don’t mind. Playing live puts it all into context really – I’ll play a set of, say, thirty songs and four or five of them will be Adverts songs – the rest from the solo albums. That’s a decent balance.
You play music that is actually quite suitable for the masses, tour the world as the opening act for Die Toten Hosen – and yet it was never enough for a big breakthrough, for big headlining shows. How do you explain that?
I really can’t explain it. I’d like to think that my music is suitable for the masses, but then again when I listen to what’s actually popular it doesn’t sound like anything to do with me or the kind of people who come to my gigs. They are what it’s all about for me. I’m certainly not going to compromise what I do in search of some potential breakthrough.
Lyrically you are still biting, the lyrics on „Lockdown Holiday“ are a bit more critical, maybe even darker. Is that right?
Well, I found myself in a very dark place and in the middle of a period of turmoil that was unlike anything our generation had experienced before. That really concentrated my mind and made the lyrics even more important than usual. When you’re in a dark place you have to throw some light on it. The lyrics had to make sense of the situation and they had to bite.
Is something like „Join The Mainstream“ or „Let’s Go Back To The Good Old Days“ still irony or already sarcasm?
Irony, I’d say. It’s sometimes a fine line though. Maybe ‘Send In The Clown” gets closer to sarcasm.
On the other hand you write in „Bounce Back“: „Looks bad now but it won’t last“. Is the glass more half-full than half-empty for you, are you an optimist despite everything?
The one thing I refuse to do is wallow in despair or self-pity. When things are bad, you have to accept it and then start working to change the situation and make it better.
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You’ve been writing critical punk rock lyrics for over 40 years now. Has that become easier or harder with regard to society and world politics?
It can be hard to keep coming up with something relevant and new, but with “Lockdown Holiday” it all fell into place fairly easily. I didn’t even intend to write a new album, but I wanted to write one song about the way Covid was affecting the world in general and my life in particular, and as soon as I finished that one I realised there was more to say. I just kept going and suddenly found I had eleven new songs.
Talking about politics: What is your position on Brexit?
It’s a disaster. Just when we should all be pulling together to try and solve a crisis, some populist nationalist idiots in Britain decide we would be better off on our own. There was a lot of manipulation and marketing went into getting a majority to think that was the right thing to do. I think a lot of people who voted for Brexit will be regretting it over the coming years.
The motto under which „Lockdown Holiday“ stands is: „Stay safe. Think dangerous“ – what exactly is „think dangerous“ for you?
Basically, make your own mind up.
Nowadays, some people believe that they already „think dangerous“ and to make their own mind up if they only believe alternative facts from the internet rather than experts and the media. And what is your message to corona deniers and conspiracy theorists?
I don’t think they are thinking dangerously, quite the opposite. It’s a really easy option to believe that it’s all a big conspiracy, but when you really think it over, that makes no sense at all. This is a disaster for everyone, big business, rich and poor alike. It devastates economies and undermines governments and the Establishment, the very people who are supposed to gain from it according to the conspiracy theorists. I don’t like losing my freedom, and I don’t like being told what to do by the government either – but on this occasion there is a good reason for it. The important thing is, when this virus has finally gone away, we have to get our freedom back.
Thank you very much for the interview. Let’s wrap it up with our traditional brainstorming – what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the following terms?
Donald Trump: rude lying cheat
What did you learn from the Lockdown: it’s possible to let the wheels stop turning beneath you and still enjoy life.
The last real punk band: hasn’t been formed yet.
„An Tagen wie diesen”: nice song
Funniest thing that ever happened to you on tour: I can’t think of it right now. It’s buried in among a lot of not so funny things.
Your hope for 2021: Take the best of what happened before Covid, and the best of what we learned during Covid and move forward into a new and better way of life post-Covid.
Once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours – is there anything left you want to tell our readers?
I just want to say that I hope to see you at a gig somewhere, sometime, somehow. At the moment it’s hard to imagine real gigs will happen again, but I believe they will.
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26. Januar 2021 Moritz Grütz
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