TV Priest - 'House Of York'

From the outskirts of London come a new band to be intrigued by – TV Priest.

‘House of York’ is the debut single from TV Priest and it does not hold back. It begins rather subdued, with a simple drum beat, bass and some eerie noises in the background. The vocals come in, followed by some filthy guitars to wake you up. It’s similar to The Murder Capital’s heavier songs, such as ‘More Is Less’. Charlie Drinkwater starts to sing with that Murder Capital meets Ian Curtis vibe, but later on morphs into more of a Mark E. Smith snarl. And that’s because he’s pissed off. ‘House of York’ “addresses the approach to class and the philosophical and psychological impact a monarchy has on our country”. It’s fair to say, that TV Priest don’t like it. But what makes it interesting is that the band use the House of York as a metaphor for “how history and myths are at best sketchy and at worst lies built for the benefit of an establishment”. Pretty cool, don’t you think? The climax of the repeated line: “This is not our national anthem” brings it all together wonderfully.

An impressive debut single, and expect more singles to come from a promising new band.

Words by Matthew Brocklehurst

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