The final track to be lifted from ‘Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching’ ahead of its release; it’s a beatific, if bittersweet anthem to lost loves.
A tale of two lovers heading in two very different directions, “Side By Side” is a song of acceptance and redemption, chemistry and compassion, fate and those “foreign feelings” that only make sense when it’s already too late. As Daytime TV’s frontman Will Irvine says:
“It’s a painful thing when you love someone to pieces but there are circumstances that are driving a wedge between you. Sometimes you’re not around to put things right or to say or do the thing that would make that person feel better. We’re all at different parts of our journey at different times and sometimes they don’t match. It’s heartbreaking but it’s the fact that we’re all different that makes us human…. It’s a very raw song for us and one that tells a very real story”
From its spectral, subdued beginnings to the skyscraping, swooning chorus that rises-up like a lover’s last plea in search of salvation; “Side By Side” will stir the soul of anyone who has ever felt someone special slipping through their fingertips. The track was written in collaboration with Nick Atkinson & Edd Holloway (perhaps best known as the writers of Lewis Capaldi’s debut album).
Pairing primetime pop/rock arrangements with a captivating lyrical narrative, “Side By Side” provides another salivating reason to tune into Daytime TV’s upcoming album: ‘Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching’ when it debuts on 25 February.
An album about humanity and alienation, connection and disconnection, interactions and distractions; ‘Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching’ explores our relationship with technology and the complex relationships it creates between us as human-beings. As Will Irvine explains:
“‘Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching’ is an album about the way we, as humans, can alienate ourselves from real life connections and meaningful relationships through our dependence on technology. We’re less and less present with the people around us, which can leave us all isolated and alone when the lights go out at night. It’s a call to action for us to remember how to interact with each other, show love and be human. We all need it.”
Zooming-in on the gogglebox-like hold the latest tech seems to hold over our daily lives, Daytime TV offer nuanced and relatable commentary on how it is impacting us physically and emotionally. Electrifying opener “Side Effects” reflects on that sinister spike of dopamine which hooks us on the very hollow gratification of doomscrolling. Elsewhere the frenetic “Digital Light” highlights the sense of dis-enagement that prevails when a group of friends get-together only to spend it glued to their phones, whereas infectious stand-out “Zombie” satirises the dead-behind-the-eyes dullness that has afflicted just about everybody with a smartphone in the 21st Century at some time or another.
Gazing past the tech itself however, ‘Nothing’s On…’ is also a record that finds a band diving deeper into the lives that lie behind every device. Love songs framed in radiant glow of a silver screen, to twisted tales captured in the stark reflection of the black mirror, Daytime TV relay stories of the conventional and unconventional, the real emotions and untold fantasies that make us who we really are.
From musings on the mental health issues many struggle to come to terms with in the social media age (“Ugly”, “Learning to Talk”), to the perverse pursuits of love in a lonely world (as on the Louis Theroux inspired “Hush”), brittle break-ups (“Side By Side”), the complications of friendship (“Communication”, “We Can’t Be Friends”), or secretive longings for lustful encounters (“Dirty Love”); and much more, the 12 songs of ‘Nothing’s On…’ touch on all facets of life and offer deep introspection on that which really separates man and machine.
Seeking to create an engrossing soundtrack for their vision, Daytime TV enlisted the assistance of GRAMMY®-nominated Romesh Dodangoda (Bring Me The Horizon, Twin Atlantic, Lower Than Atlantis) to produce ‘Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching’ with mastering by the legendary Robin Schmidt (Placebo, The Black Keys). The results make for a record that flickers from ‘AM’-era Arctic Monkeys rock swagger (“Side Effects”, “Zombie”) to heart-swelling electronic-gilded anthems (“Communication”, “Dirty Love”) with a pop appeal that’s tailor-made for entertaining the masses.
The album closes on the affecting ‘Satellites’, a song that sees frontman Irvine hanging very human notions of hope on those hardwired heavenly bodies that drift solemnly overhead.
“I sometimes try and spot satellites in the sky at night. They’re always alone, there for a second and then they’re gone. It’s all too similar to the cold reality of humanity heavy with the pressures of the modern world” Irvine reflects. “I feel like ’Satellites’ tells the story of the whole album. We all need real meaningful human interactions and relationships or we’ll end up living a very cold and solitary existence.”
DAYTIME TV are a four-piece alternative rock band currently based in Edinburgh + London. Releasing a string of singles in their short time together including ‘Communication, ‘Ugly’ and ‘Zombie’, the band have taken over the airwaves of Kerrang! Radio, Amazing Radio and BBC Radio Scotland, notched up plays on major playlists including Apple Music’s ‘New In Rock’, plus Spotify’s ‘Scotify’ and ‘Hot New Bands’. Championed as one of Rock Sound’s Breaking Through artists for the future, the band have even earned an unlikely fan in Hollywood star Margot Robbie.
Completing their (beyond ironically named) ‘The Tour That Will Absolutely Happen’ Tour in the Autumn (which included multiple SOLD OUT shows), Daytime TV also performed to huge crowds at TRNSMT and Murrayfield Stadium, as well as supporting Two Door Cinema Club and The LaFontaines at major venues.
With a dedicated audience already hooked and an album of arresting alt/rock anthems ready to hit the bigtime, Daytime TV will release their debut album ‘Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching’ on the Allotment label imminently.
A record that encourages humanity to stare beyond the screen and see the bigger picture, tune and turn it up from 25th February… Pre-save the record here.