Public Access T.V.

Hailing from New York City, the indie quartet Public Access T.V. specializes in catchy, confident power pop. Lead singer and guitarist John Eatherly put the group together after leaving high school to play with Nashville indie rock outfit Be Your Own Pet and later relocating to N.Y.C. for studio and road work as a musician. He recruited lead guitarist Xan Aird, bassist Max Peebles, and drummer Pete Star, after which the four-piece posted its debut track, “Monaco,” on a music-sharing platform during January 2014. The new-wave-flavored number quickly drew attention from outlets including the U.K.’s NME, which labeled the band “New York’s Hottest New Band.” Their inaugural concert followed later that month in New York and immediately sold out. That summer Gudrun Records put out the limited-edition, vinyl-only EP Rebounder. By year’s end the quartet had toured the U.S. East Coast and the U.K., serving as support for Weezer and Gang of Four.

While traveling in March 2015, the members learned that a gas explosion widely covered in global news had destroyed their Manhattan rehearsal, recording, and living quarters. They responded by filling their calendar with everything from house concerts to European festivals, a stretch that featured an opening slot for the Strokes at Hyde Park. During the same touring period they issued their official debut EP, Public Access, through Terrible Records. Ahead of their first album, the September release of the ’60s garage-styled single “Patti Peru” built anticipation. Early the following year Entertainment Weekly placed Public Access T.V. among the 30 top acts at South by Southwest. Cut in Oxfordshire, England, the debut full-length Never Enough appeared in September 2016 on Cinematic Music Group; it landed on NME’s list of the 50 Best Albums of 2016 and prompted further dates across Europe and North America, among them U.S. shows with the Pixies in the first half of 2017. Later that year the band entered the studio with producer Patrick Wimberly (Solange, Wet) to track the follow-up. Street Safari, a modestly more polished collection of gliding hooks, emerged on the same Cinematic label in February 2018.